Fruit Trees and IrriPans

I've been in my house for a little over 3 years now.  I've been slowly planting fruit trees during that time.

Pear tree.

Just recently I found out about a product called IrriPan weed mats.  They looked interesting so I thought I'd give them a try.  I ordered them from here.

Their web site claims that they multiply water by:

• Capture rain water falling in a 5 square root area and funnel it to your plant
• Prevent precious soil moisture from evaporating
• Keep weeds from stealing moisture from your plants

I would add that they'll also prevent chickens from digging up the roots.

IrriPan weed mat

These things capture rain water and focus it to the roots of the tree.  Water will also condensate on the bottom and go back into the ground.

Pear tree with IrriPan installed.

Installation was easy.  I didn't count how many stakes they sent, but I had enough to use 4-5 stakes per weed mat.

Second pear tree with IrriPan in place.

Peach tree.  I put the logs there to prevent the chickens from scratching that area (which they tried to do as soon as I put the tree there).

Peach tree with IrriPan weed mat.

This is a mulberry tree.  I'm hoping that one day it will produce fruit that my chickens will enjoy.

Since I just installed these things I can't really comment on how well they work.  Installation was easy, and they're sturdy.  I have no reason to believe that they won't do what they claim. 

An update on blueberries and strawberries.

I planted some blueberries bushes back in May of 2012 (see here, here, and here).  Two years have passed, so an update is long overdue.

 When I put these plants in they looked like little twigs.  Now they're actually producing blueberries.

Same plants different angle.

You can see all of the berries on this plant.  They aren't close to being ripe yet.

If I have any complaints it's that the berries don't ripen at the same time.  I get 3-4 ripe berries per day, which I then eat immediately.  I'm not getting enough to use for anything like pies or ice cream.  I'm not really complaining though since I still get to eat blueberries.

Below is a picture of my strawberries.  These things spread like weeds.  You'd never know it by looking at the picture, but I thinned this bed out last September.  I need to thin it out again in the fall. 

I did manage to get a quart or two of strawberries at the end of May.  There were OK.  They were little, and by the time I picked them they were on the squishy side.  They made some good ice cream though.  So I can't complain.

Strawberries from my back yard.

Homemade strawberry ice cream.

Front yard hugelkultur status

I've noticed that I sometimes write blog posts and then fail to followup with the results.  I need to get better about that. 

Anyway, long ago I attempted to put a hugelkultur bed in my front yard.  I haven't been overwhelmed with the results.  You can see the difference in the two pictures below. 

It's been nearly two years since I put this in.  Since then I've added 4-6 wheelbarrow loads of compost.  I added rabbit manure.  I added more compost and planted hairy vetch and rye grass in hopes that the root system that developed would hold everything in place.  The rye grass grew to be a foot tall.  I cut it down and left it in place as mulch. 

September 2012

June 2014

I made a few attempts at growing beans, kale, and even onions here.  None of it worked real well.  I think I have at least two problems.  The first is that this area doesn't get a lot of sun.  The second is that I don't think I've sufficiently covered the wood.  The third would be that there's only 3-4" of soil on top of the wood. 

I pulled back the top layer of mulch the other night and found that a lot of the buried wood was exposed.  The areas that were exposed appeared to be dry and not rotting.  The areas that were covered did show signs of rot.  (I have to say that the soil here is beautiful.)

Closeup of exposed wood.  The bottom is damp and the top is dry.

I pulled out three of the logs near the end.  Two of them had a fair amount of rot and the third did not.

I have a guess as to what happened. When I dumped the compost on top of the wood a lot of it fell off to the sides.  That's fine.  The wood needs to be covered.  At one time it did cover the wood, but it eventually settled.  I would need to make it much deeper to keep that from happening again, and I don't think I have enough compost for that.  I'm thinking that I might just remove the wood core and leave the beautiful new soil behind. 

Front yard strawberries?

Sometimes plants amaze me.  I planted some strawberries last year.  Most of them went in my back yard.  I had a few extras that I planted under one of my crepe myrtles out front.  They didn't do anything last year, so I just mulched over them.  Then out of nowhere this year, they appeared.  They pushed through the mulch and are producing berries.  Go figure.