Unexpected help, dirt clods and another hundred hills of potatoes

All of the purchased fruit trees are now in the ground. I planted the last five of them Saturday.

I was packing up when one of the neighbors came over and started mowing at the bottom of the Hill Orchard. Word had leaked out that my riding mower was in-op and he was helping out. I think the guy who fixes my mower ratted on me. He also maintains the mowers across the street.

In my world, that means that I am not leaving. I started picking up sticks that were going to be in his path. Then his wife came over and started picking up sticks.

Good neighbors are better than money-in-the-bank. 

Saturday's tally of trees:

One Galarina/MM-111 planted into stiff clay in the northeast corner of the Upper Orchard. The high vigor of Galarina combined with the vigor of MM-111 might offset the infertility of the soil they were planted in.

One Liberty/G.890 was planted in the east row of the Upper Orchard where a Kerr/Malus baccata had unexpectedly died.

Another Liberty and two Winecrisp (a low-vigor variety) were planted in the Hill Orchard.

The package arrived on April 15 and they were all in the ground or "gifted" by April 25. I am happy with that.

Guerrilla gardening

A "Chuckit"

One of the "tricks" used by guerrilla gardeners is to knead seeds into damp clay and then mold balls from the mix. The balls can then be hurled by hand or using a "Chuckit"

A fellow can cover a lot of ground with a Chuckit and an apron full of seed-laden pellets.

The challenge for me is to find and easy-to-use "clay".

Today was my first crack at it. I do not represent this as optimum, merely as usable.

• 200 grams of sand for bulk
• 100 grams of Dr. Elsey's Ultra UnScented Clumping Clay Cat Litter (Bentonite for binder).
• 20 grams corn masa (short-term binder)

Mix dry ingredients very thoroughly, then add 

• 100 ml of water  

Stir. Let sit five minutes and then stir/knead again. If the mix is too runny, add slightly more masa.

 

This is a small batch that I mixed up without seeds to get a feel for proportions. The mix is elastic and not excessively sticky although it prints material onto the palms of your hands when rolling the pellets. These are about the size of small, Black Walnuts.

I have them outside on some newspaper to see if they firm-up overnight. 

After drying for 8 hours.

Bentonite swells when wet and shrinks outrageously as it dries. The inside is still damp while the outside is dehydrated. Consequently, the cracks. They are still solid and I think I could load four or five at a time into a Chuckit and start spreading seeds.

The next step is to make a larger batch with an ounce of stratified Redbud seeds in it and see if they withstand being distributed.

There is a west-facing slope east of the Hill Orchard where the stand of Bigtooth Aspen (Populus grandidentata) is in severe decline. I think there is enough light hitting the ground for the Redbud to thrive. 

Another 100 hills of potatoes in the ground

We had a surprise rain come through at 4:00 p.m. yesterday. I was hoping to get three-hundred hills planted.

Focus on the positive, Joe. Focus on the positive.