January
2002
"In a way winter is the real spring, the time when
the inner things happen, the resurge of nature."
—Edna O'Brien (1932 - ____) Irish novelist, pacifist
"To see a hillside white with dogwood bloom is to know a particular
ecstasy of beauty, but to walk the gray Winter woods and find the buds
which will resurrect that beauty in another May is to partake of continuity."
—Hal Borland (1900 - 1978) US journalist
"What fire could ever equal the sunshine of a winter's day?"
—Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) US essayist, poet, naturalist
The season of increasing light is upon us! We who live here in Texas do
not have much to complain about in the winter compared to, say, Buffalo,
New York where they have just received as of this writing 82.3 inches
of snow. That is almost seven feet of snow, folks! Yet even with our relatively
balmy winters, many of us still rejoice when, starting at the winter solstice,
we see the days getting longer. Perhaps we notice it being a little lighter
outside when we leave our workplace, or arrive home in the evening. It
seems like it is the "dead" of winter, but the light shows us
that we are on our way to spring.
January can be a month of reflection, planning, repairing, studying,
and hoping. It can also be a time of great activity. It is always a good
idea to have a balance of reflection and activity, isn't it? Therefore,
this month let us plant fruit trees and learn a little about permaculture.
My grandmother, Carmen Katherine Van Ness, lived in an average-sized
yard in Houston. She preferred plants that would give her something in
return, something nutritious in addition to their beauty. She had two
pecan trees, one on either side of the sidewalk in the front yard. Her
father, a carpenter, boxing coach, and a nurseryman, had planted them
sometime after they had moved into this house in the nineteen-teens or
twenties. By the time I saw them, they were huge: they towered over the
small frame house. In addition to these two monoliths, she had a persimmon
tree, banana tree, loquat tree, a small kumquat tree, and a fig tree,
from which she would make her wonderful fig preserves.
To plant a fruit tree (or two) provides us with so many benefits and
lessons. The lessons discovered in growing fruit parellel the lessons
in any kind of gardening. But the perennial nature of a fruit tree seems
to intensify the lessons. From the beginning, as we plant the little whip
and must wait for three to five years for the tree to bear fruit, we learn
patience. As we prune it and train it, we see how our actions today mold
the future. As we give it compost and water and look after its needs,
we see how a nourishing heart receives nourishment, even if there are
no immediate, tangible "rewards." As our fruit tree begins to
flower, we receive the intoxicating scent, and know the beauty that has
no price tag. And as we watch the first, and the next, and the next fruit
form, we may have to learn patience all over again! When the fruit is
ripe, and we pluck it and take that first bite, we know gratitude, self-sufficiency,
a direct connection (obviously!) with nature, and just plain pleasure.
Now, there are also the hardships along with pleasure, as we all know.
So, we have a spray schedule. So we have bird netting and/or plastic owls
hanging around to save at least some of the fruit for our non-feathered
friends. So we put tape and goop around the trunk. So we cover that early
blooming tree to protect it from the surprisingly late frost.
So we see how these fruit trees do need more care than our native oaks
and yaupons. Therefore, it helps to have a reference guide before you
get started. A great fruit-growing reference in a poster form is the "Fruit
and Nut Tree Growing Guide for Central Texas" put out by TreeFolks.
(Call 512-443-5323 or visit http://www.treefolks.org)
It not only contains basic selection, planting, and care information for
the most popular fruits like peaches, pears, and apples, but highlights
some unusual selections as well. For example, if you want fruit, but without
the hassle of a spray schedule, try planting a fig tree. It is an easy,
small tree. There is always the mulberry tree, which provides an abundance
of sweet berries in the spring. Some may say they provide an overabundance,
when a mulberry is planted near a driveway or walkway. But where can one
find a mulberry tree in the nursery trade anyway? To those horticulturists
out there who by now are saying something about mulberry being a "trash
tree," I would be saying something like, "to each her own,"
or something about "the eye of the beholder." I admit I derive
great joy from eating mulberries right off the tree as soon as they are
ripe. That is, I did until Bob Holden pointed out emphatically that there
is ALWAYS an abundance of almost invisible bugs on mulberry fruits. So,
now I wash them.
Other easy fruits to grow without a spray schedule are our native agarita,
escarpment black cherry, Blanco crabapple, Texas persimmon, and Mexican
plum. These aren't exactly the "pluck and eat" variety of fruits.
However some, like the agarita and the persimmon, can be eaten fresh,
and some make good preserves if you are dedicated.
Remember that many fruit trees must be planted in twos in order to be
pollinated. For more in-depth information on starting your home orchard,
consider one of the following books. The Backyard Orchardist and The Backyard
Berry Book, both by Stella Otto are thorough and helpful. However, even
though she provides organic alternatives to chemical insecticides and
fungicides, in some cases she says there is no organic alternative. I
would disagree and recommend the organic, albeit toxic, Rotenone/Pyrethrin
over Malathion or Carbaryl any day against Plum Curculio, for example.
Where she may explain how to choose a synthetic fertilizer, I would suggest
an organic fertilizer. Of course, as with any national publication, we
have to use a more regional information source to choose the right varieties
for our area and soil. Get this information from your county's Agricultural
Extension Service, or from a reputable nursery. Call the Travis County
Agricultural Extension Service at 854-9600 for fruit, nut, and berry variety
recommendation sheets. (Ignore their chemical recommendations, too). Our
nursery provides a great deal of fruit tree information for the asking,
as well.
Two more books to help you get started are Fruits and Berries for the
Home Garden by Lewis Hill, and The Apple Grower - A Guide for the Organic
Orchardist by Michael Phillips. The latter selection proves that there
is no need to use carcinogens to produce edible crops, and this book could
be an overall guide to growing the most popular fruits. Phillips is concentrating
on the apple, but has information on the apple's cousins, too - the peach
and pear. Another good guide which is unfortunately out of print is Growing
Fruits, Berries, and Nuts - Southwest-Southeast by George Ray McEachern
via Gulf Coast Publishing. It might be at the library, or for a dedicated
sleuth it may be found through one of those out-of-print publication search
services.
When it gets down to the nitty-gritty of planting a fruit tree, there
are two schools of thought. Do you amend the soil with compost or not?
TreeFolks recommends putting only native soil back in the hole. That philosophy
is based on the fact that the tree roots will need to get used to the
native soil eventually, and an amended soil could make it harder for the
roots to cope once they reach the unamended soil. If you wish to amend
the soil, use 30% or less good manure compost, and perhaps some of our
"Garden Booster" sand, which helps to lower the pH. If you do
not amend the backfill, at least put a layer of compost on top of the
soil, then a layer of mulch. Never put compost or mulch up on the trunk,
though.
Dig an ample hole so that the roots (of the bareroot plants) can be spread
out. It may help to make a little hill of soil in the center of the hole
on which to spread out the roots of the bareroot plants. When planting
a pecan, for example, with a tap root, gently work the tap root into the
center of the hill, and spread the fibrous roots out on top of the hill.
Sprinkle rock phosphate or bone meal into the hole so the roots touch
it. Spread out the roots (of the bareroot plant) and fill the hole gently
with the soil. Do not bury the trunk, or expose the roots: be very careful
to keep the original soil line on the plant level with its new soil line.
You can often determine this line by noticing the difference in color
and/or texture where the trunk turns into the root. Water immediately,
and follow with a drench of seaweed solution. It is helpful to water any
new planting with seaweed regularly.
Whether you know it or not, planting a fruit tree could be an act of
permaculture design. What is permaculture? We will find the answer contained
in THE text on the subject - Permaculture - A Designers' Manual by Bill
Mollison.
"Permaculture is a word coined by the author. ... Permaculture
(permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally
productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience
of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape
and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material
and non-material needs in a sustainable way."
What I have seen of people who have taken permaculture classes is that
they return inspired, excited, and full of life and great ideas. The philosophy
behind it is one that my grandmother taught over and over again, "Waste
not, want not." Everything has a purpose, and hopefully more than
one purpose and use. The pecan trees in her yard provided food AND shade.
Her kitchen scraps were not thrown into the garbage, but fed to the earthworms,
who in turn made a rich compost for her plants AND were available in case
she was invited to go fishing sometime. Permaculture is design - for our
backyards, our office buildings, and everywhere - that is patterned after
the intricacies and the efficiency of nature.
If you are not quite ready to dive into permaculture completely (Bill
Mollison's beautiful 574-page hardcover book retails at $50.), there are
a couple of other books you can dip your toes into. Gaia's Garden - A
Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway is a nice choice, as
is the even smaller Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield.
We've made it to another new year. January can be the time when we take
advantage of the sunny, warmer days by working outside, and we can use
the colder, rainy days indoors to study the design principles that could
save our planet AND our utility bills. May everyone's new year be peaceful,
lovely and fruitful!
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8648
Old Bee Cave Road
Stacey
(Rosina) Newton is a graduate of the Texas A&M University (Aggieland)
Horticulture Department, class of 1984, and has been in the environmental/horticulture
field ever since. She learned everything she knows about organic gardening
while working at The Natural Gardener, starting in 1997.