This and that

There were two or three tasks from yesterday that I did not write about.

I excavated the lid to our septic tank. The tank is scheduled to be pumped out on Wednesday. The last time the thousand gallon tank was pumped out was in 2019. 

With just the two of us living here, I thought six years might be a little bit soon, but Mrs ERJ reminded me that for most of that time we had between one and three additional residents.

I also picked the cucumbers. EVERY gardening book tells you to not "work" garden plants when the leaves are wet, especially beans and cucumbers. That has been an impossible requirement this year. Three of the cucumber were overly mature. Two were close. I had enough cucumbers to put six quarts of refrigerator pickles in the refrigerator.

Running notes

I ran one mile on Sunday and 1.5 miles on Monday. Not impressive distances, but I am feeling my way along. I want to get up to three miles and that might be my maintenance level.

I did not take a stop-watch and had a very pleasant run. To my surprise, cardio-pulmonary were not the limiting factors. My lower legs, especially my left lower leg were an issue. Secondarily, my core muscles that "torque" were talking to me.

Weight lifting can make in-plane muscles strong while running involves throwing opposite-corner limbs forward while their mates travel rearward. Basically, you are energetically twisting your trunk clockwise/counterclockwise 800 to 1000 times per mile.

Today my shoulders and upper arms are pleasantly tired and heavy. I can see why weighted blankets are calming.

Grape arbors

Markshere2 suggested pergolas or arbors covered with grape-vines for quick shade.

That is a great idea.

I did that an the house I lived in before we moved to Eaton Rapids. I was ignorant and planted an early, seedless Concord hybrid that split badly after a rain. The variety was a raccoon and Yellow Jacket magnet. In fact, we had a raccoon start to enter our bedroom through the window screen one late-summer night. Nothing like having an intruder push through the screen to ruin the mood.

If I were to go that way, I would stick with very late ripening grapes with outstanding resistance to splitting. I would take a hard look at the Munson hybrids because many of them are noted for vigor and crack/dropping resistance. Champanel and America would be a couple of the varieties I would strongly consider.

There are other vines worth considering. Kiwis and hops come to mind. Many kiwis require a male plant to ensure pollination. Trumpet vines have glorious flowers and there are "improved" varieties. Climbing roses are also used for that purpose although the most vigorous cultivated rose varieties struggle with Zone 5 winters.

Food plants for wet situations

I encountered a gentleman who is building on a two acre parcel. One acre of his parcel is about 6' above the water table. The other half drops down rapidly to the flood-plain of a small creek and is between 12" and 30" above the usual, low-water level of the creek. The flood-plain portion is cut by an old, pre-channelized ox-bow that has some water in the bottom of it.

The forest canopy over the floodplain was mostly ash. The ash died due to Emerald Ash Borer so now that acre is filling up with pucker-brush. 

Due to circumstances that I am not going to discuss, the gentleman wants the property to be capable of sustaining him with minimum inputs of money. His timeline is to have everything buttoned down in less than fifteen years (when he anticipates retiring).

While there are many species of plants that thrive in spite of occasional wet-feet, there are not very many that can take THAT much wet.

Possible candidates to get the most use out of the waterlogged acre.

Wood products

Plantation grown Gray Alder. Nice, straight stems

• Gray Alder (Alnus glutinosa) fixes nitrogen, wood products
• Bald cypress
• Catalpa 
• Purple osier willow (Salix purpurea) 

Fruit 

• Marge European Elderberry
• Low acid Vitis riparia like "L-50s"
• Other grapes grafted onto V. riparia rootstock
• Currants
• Some gooseberry clones with Ribes hirtellum ancestors
• Aronia 
• Raspberries, phytophthoria resistant varieties  ‘Bristol,’ ‘Dundee,’ ‘Jewel’, ‘Latham,’ ‘Boyne,’ ‘Killarney,’ and ‘Nordic’ (St Lawrence Nursery has some of these varieties)
• Persimmons (on the slope)
• Pawpaw (on the slope) 
• Mayhaws (Crataegus opaca)
• Selected clones of Viburnum oplus, lentago, rufidulum
• Highbush blueberries on hummocks 
• Swamp rose (Rosa palustris) 
• Cranberries 

Other 

• Apios ("Groundnuts")
• Cattails
• Wild rice
• Hops (they seem to associate with willow)
• Watercress
• Ipomoea aquatica 
• Chives 
• Muskrats
• Beaver
• Ducks
• Geese 
• Fish 

I intend to make this a dynamic list and to add updates.

You might notice that there are very few "improved" fruits on this list. Picking these unimproved fruits tends to be slow, tedious work although there are various rakes that can be used.