Survival Gardening Diary
December/January
This is the time of year to be tidying up the garden and making plans for the coming season. 'Tidying up' includes infrastructural work such as pruning trees and clearing away residues from the previous year's crops. If you don't have a garden, or no access to one, this is the time to be considering options. Ask around friends to see if anyone has a small piece of land available. Alternatively. campaign for allotments: local councils have powers to make land available for allotments is they can be convinced the demand is there. Finally, consider guerilla gardening: find a piece of abandoned ground and start using it. There is a growing movement of guerilla gardening in Ireland. It follows a long tradition, both in this country and elsewhere, of utilising unused land resources for the purpose of producing food.
Pruning Trees
The pruning of trees is an important task. Trees can easily outgrow gardens - often to the deteriment of food crops. There is a compromise between factors such as light, space, shelter and aesthetic factors. Although shelter is an important attribute in a garden, one can have too much of a good thing. A certain amount of wind blowing through a garden is beneficial as it reduces pests and diseases. Trees covered with mosses and lichens are often indicators of too little ventilation in a garden.
Recently, the Sustainability Institute has been involved in restoration work in an old walled garden and orchard in North Roscommon. The garden is surrounded by a high wall and trees. Until recently, a thick blanket of ivy covered one of the walls. The ivy has now been stripped away and all overhanging branches from the adjacent property removed. Meanwhile, various trees which had colonised the garden have been cut back. It is hoped these measures will allow much more wind and light into the garden and provide a better environment for the many old fruit trees within.
Wood of course is a useful resource. Apart from the obvious use for firewood, straight pieces can be used for stakes, poles and a variety of other tasks. Cut wood takes several years to fully season (dry). It should be stacked where the wind can blow through it. A cover is not necessary for the first 6-9 months. However, before the following winter, it is good to move the wood to a more protected location.
Pruning should be done carefully so that the opportunities for disease spores to invade the tree are minimised. Ideally, the final cut should be almost flush - back as far as the obvious shoulder where the side branch joins the tree - with the main branch or trunk as the tree can heal these cuts more easily.Sometimes this means cutting back in stages. The bulk of the material to be removed is taken away with the first cut, with the final cut removing the last 30-60 cm of stump. Where cuts close to the main branch or trunk cannot be achieved, the final cut should be at a downward angle so that it can shed rain. Cuts can be sealed with a proprietary sealant or even old paint.
The pruned wood should be cut into lengths for easy stacking. My own preference is for short lengths of under 1.2 meters (4 feet) as these can be stacked on an old pallet. I use all side branches down to less than 2cm in diameter (with straight pieces of harder woods like hawthorn I go down to 1cm) as these come in handy for kindling wood. The 'waste' material is still a useful resource - it can be piled up in an out of the way corner to provide a habitat for wildlife. Over a period of years it will eventually it will rot down into rich compost.
Pruning Fruit and Nut Trees
Fruit trees require careful treatment. Large cuts should always be painted with a proprietary sealant such as arbrax. Also it is more important to do a neat job and to carry out the pruning in the winter when disease spores are few. Although the pruning of fruit trees is regarded as a job for the expert, much of the basic technique is common sense. Gardening books can provide specific details for particular fruits. Generally speaking the idea is to prune away old, unproductive or weak growth, thin out branches where they compete with each other, and to keep the tree to managable proportions to facilitate fruit picking.
Planning the New Season
It is a good idea to make a list of gardening objectives for the coming year. Given Ireland's changing economic circumstances, food production and the development of food-growing skills should be a priority. With this is mind it is helpful to list the current assets (such as the area of tillage land available) and identify ways in which these assets can be improved on or expanded. It may be possible to extend the area of land allocated to food production or alternatively improve yields on existing ground by improving soil fertility. Ideally, all organic (plant or animal based) wastes should be recycled into compost. Rat proof compost boxes are essential for food wastes.
Compost Boxes
A simple compost box can be made out of unmortared concrete blocks, built in a square of 2-2.5 block lengths each way. The blocks should be laid flat, not on their edge. A piece of old plywood weighed down with another block makes an ideal lid. Providing blocks are also used for the base, rats will not be able to get inside. This means all food wastes - including meat waste - can be recycled. Generous amounts of paper or cardboard should be added to the composting material as this provides carbon and facilitates the composting process. Generally speaking leaves should not be added fresh as they rot down more slowly and will hinder the composting process. Leaves can be put in their own customised compost box, or alternatively, can be soaked in water over the winter and then mixed in with food wastes. Woodier material such as briars and twigs should never be put in the compost box as they break down very slowly and will rob the compost of essential nutrients.
Ordering and Planting Vegetables
Now is the time to be ordering stock. Lists can be drawn up of desirable vegetables and fruit. From a practical point of view, roots crops, grains, legumes (peas and beans) and squahes offer the best nutritional return per unit area of land. . Garlic, onions and leeks are also worth having as they complement most meals, and have good medicinal properties (especially garlic). It is probably not worth attempting to grow grains on a very small scale.
Salad vegetables are nice to have, and provide vitamins and trace elements but should be fitted round the main food crops. Many wild plants (dandelion and nettles for example) are an even better source of vitamin C, iron, calcium and other minerals.
Early sowings can be made of peas, broad beans and garlic. These can be sown right through the winter in most areas providing the soil is not too wet. However, do not sow during hard frosts. Not all varieties of peas and broad beans are suitable for winter sowing - check seed packets or ask around among friends who are keen gardeners. If conditions are unfavourably cold or wet, wait for better conditions.
Seeds of most common vegetables can be bought in local nurseries or hardware stores. A wider range is available from mail order and specialist sources. Vegetable seeds are often much cheaper when bought in bulk - considering sharing an order with friends and buying from trade sources.
Soft Fruit
The Worcesterberry - a relative of the gooseberry - is hard to beat as a trouble free fruit. The red-purple fruits are like small gooseberries and are sweet enough to eat raw when fully ripened. The plant itself is very vigorous and will grow to 1.5 meters wide and high. Yields on mature bushes are often heavy enough to weigh branches down to the ground. Blackbirds like the fruit however, and will systematically strip a bush in less than a week once they decide the fruit is ready for harvest! The only other serious pest is the caterpillar.
Blackberries and their relatives (Tayberry, Loganberry etc) are good for training against fences or allowing to run wild round the perimeter of a garden where they take up little space.
Blueberres do well in peaty acid ground, provided it is well drained.
Tree Fruit
Although plums, pears and cherries will all grow well in Ireland, apples are the more versatile fruit. An impressive range of container grown native Irish apple trees has been built up by the Irish Seed Savers (see link below) and this is by far the best source of non-mainstream apple varieties. Some supermarkets and large DIY shops also sell apple trees, often very cheaply but care should be taken that the varieties offered are compatible with Irish conditions. Refer to a good up-to-date fruit growing textbook first before wasting money on unsuitable varieties.
Generally speaking, beginners should go for early-mid season varieties that ripen on the tree. Two or more varieties are needed to ensure pollination and a good crop. In poor soils, vigorous varieties will do better. One of my favourites, Bramleys, is a very tasty cooking variety which grows in almost any soil and is an exceptionally reliable cropper.
Apples are not usually grown on their own rootstock. Instead, the fruiting part of the tree is grafted onto a seperately raised rootstock. The choice of rootstock determines the ultimate size of the tree. For example, large orchard trees are often grown on MM111 and M2 rootstock, smaller orchard and large garden sized trees on MM106, medium sized garden trees on M26, and the smallest trees of all are grafted on M9 and M27. Trees grafted onto M9 and M27 generally do not live as long, but begin cropping at a very young age.
Nuts
Nuts featured in articles in both Issue 1 and 2 of Sustainability magazine. They are and a massively under-utilised resource in Ireland (and elsewhere). In the southern counties of Ireland, both Spanish chestnuts and walnuts can produce viable crops while cobnuts (cultivated varieties of the common European hazel Corylus avellana and the Balkan Corylus maxima) will crop almost anywhere.
Cobs
The cultivation of cobs dates back to the 1600s and commercial production of nuts continues to this day in England, the United States and a number of continental European countries.
The nuts are similar to those of the common hazel, but bigger and sweeter. On fertile ground, yields of 1-2 tonne per hectare are achievable.
It is necessary to plant more than one vartiety of cob nut in order to achieve good pollination. The Common Irish Hazel may also work as a pollinator.
The nuts are similar to those of the common hazel, but bigger and sweeter. On fertile ground, yields of 1-2 tonne per hectare are achievable.
Trees require a 5x5 meter spacing on rich ground but should be planted closer together on less fertile soils.
I first began growing cobs at the Fleskwater Collective in Co. Antrim in the mid 1980s and can vouch for the trouble free nature of the trees. Although the trees are tradtionally grown as a 'standard' (technical jargon for tree shaped) for nut production, some growers prefer to coppice the trees similar to the common hazel. This latter method allows for the production of useful poles for fences, windbreaks, yurt construction and supports for climbing varieties of pea and bean.
Suitable varieties of cob include:
Cosford, Kentish, Gunslebert, Hall's Giant (Merveille de Bollwiller), Ennis, Butler, Fertile de Coutard, Corabel, Longue de Espagne, Pearsons, Tonda di Giffoni, and Webbs.
Many of these varieties are being raised at Woodkerne Nurseries in Co. Cork (see below). A surprising number of local nurseries sell the odd variety of cob, often pot grown. The Sustainability Institute is also offering cob nut trees for winter/spring delivery 2008/2009.
Planting Hints for Fruit or Nut Trees
If using barerooted stock, water generously and protect roots from drying winds while the ground is being prepared. Container grown stock will also benefit from watering prior to removal from the pot. Usually it is beneficial to cut back the main shoots by one third to one half, and remove ones which do not enhance the shape of the tree.
Dig out a hole at least deep enough to accommodate the root system, but prefably 20-30cm deeper. Replace the sub-soil (the deepest layer, often very hard and a different colour) with better quality soil. If the upper soil is very heavy or stony, add compost or other rotted organic material to lighten it up. A lot of compost is not necessary however, and over-feeding tends to encourage vegetative growth but delay fruiting by a number of years.
If a stake is to be used, drive this in before planting the tree. It should be long enough to drive into the hard ground below the hole ( use a crowbar to make the pilot hole first) and reach at least 30 cm higher than the graft on the tree.
Water the hole lightly before putting in the tree. Spread out the tree roots and gradually fill in the hole, taking care to fill in all the gaps between the roots. Before firming up the tree, check it is at the right depth. The original planting line on the tree should be slightly below the top of the hole. This provides space for a slight hollow which will facilitate watering should the weather be dry in the first year, and allows room for mulching. If the tree is too deep or too shallow, gently pull it out and start again. Take care to keep it reasonably upright.
Once the tree is planted correctly, firm it in well by treading the soil down around the trunk, and water well. If staking, the tree can be tied to the stake in a figure of eight configuration ( which protects the trunk of the tree) using an old bicycle innertube. This can be removed after one year.
A piece of cardboard (with a slit up the middle in order to fit it round the tree) held down by stones will suppress weeds. A more effective method is to thoroughly soak half a dozen newspapers, then lay them around the tree. It is best not to open out the newspapers.
Happy gardening!
Andy
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