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We slept in yesterday and then i went out and finished my bean trellis: two tripods constructed of heavy twelve foot poles of sweetgum and dogwood, thanks to the power company cutting a path through our woods. The tops and crossbars are attached with proper lashing technique with completely inappropriate perled cotton number 3 "thread". I've some thin hemp rope and twine in my Amazon cart: i should get some if i plan more rugged structures. The perled cotton held nicely last year so, fingers crossed it will again. There's a very warped black cherry cross beam -- so light compared to the dogwood -- and then i've used apple and autumn olive cuttings, thin and pliable, to weave a random lattice.
I suppose the lattice could all come crashing down under a heavy bean crop. It's hard to imagine a heavy bean crop actually occurring. Admittedly, deer love beans and this will be the first protected bean crop.
After, i sat with Christine on the back porch. We talked a bit about the thicket beyond the porch and i noted it was deer habitat and Christine remarked we have plenty of that. It's autumn olive and honeysuckle choking black cherry and sweetgum trees. We will progress through it over the year, i suspect. I then stood up to see if the columbine planted just beyond the porch had bloomed -- and then let out a primal scream as i realized a deer had chomped the flowering stalks.
Christine laughed, "What part of deer habitat did you not understand!"
There are some lower stalks that might flower.
In the late afternoon Christine continued clearing up around the woods edge in the front, getting vines and dead wood away from a toppled young black cherry tree. I am curious how much deer will forage on the cherry branches and whether i will be able to reach cherries myself. I've pollarded a black cherry just beyond the back porch to see if it would sprout branches at the cut. It looks like it will. I think it fruits on second year wood.
I chipped and shredded branches and have finally caught up with Christine's and the power company's clearing. I look at the autumn olive and wonder if i will someday carefully maintain one or two for the whip like branches and the chipping productivity. Then i imagine that i will trespass on the neighboring land to exterminate the plant, leaving native fruit seedlings or cuttings in my wake.
No ticks yet, a surprise given all the mosquitoes.
I suppose the lattice could all come crashing down under a heavy bean crop. It's hard to imagine a heavy bean crop actually occurring. Admittedly, deer love beans and this will be the first protected bean crop.
After, i sat with Christine on the back porch. We talked a bit about the thicket beyond the porch and i noted it was deer habitat and Christine remarked we have plenty of that. It's autumn olive and honeysuckle choking black cherry and sweetgum trees. We will progress through it over the year, i suspect. I then stood up to see if the columbine planted just beyond the porch had bloomed -- and then let out a primal scream as i realized a deer had chomped the flowering stalks.
Christine laughed, "What part of deer habitat did you not understand!"
There are some lower stalks that might flower.
In the late afternoon Christine continued clearing up around the woods edge in the front, getting vines and dead wood away from a toppled young black cherry tree. I am curious how much deer will forage on the cherry branches and whether i will be able to reach cherries myself. I've pollarded a black cherry just beyond the back porch to see if it would sprout branches at the cut. It looks like it will. I think it fruits on second year wood.
I chipped and shredded branches and have finally caught up with Christine's and the power company's clearing. I look at the autumn olive and wonder if i will someday carefully maintain one or two for the whip like branches and the chipping productivity. Then i imagine that i will trespass on the neighboring land to exterminate the plant, leaving native fruit seedlings or cuttings in my wake.
No ticks yet, a surprise given all the mosquitoes.
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