See you on March 3

In the meantime, expect no new posts. Snowed today, we're outta there.

Practicing Proper Propagation Procedures

We have an existing stand of red-osier dogwood, so we decided to do some propagation via hardwood cuttings. According to our book, this is the correct time of year to do it, and we even followed most of the other instructions. Unfortunately, we never got around to getting any growth hormone (even after Becki said for $15 she could get it over here), which would have greatly improved our chances for success.


We tried an alternate method using willow branches, which are supposedly naturally loaded with growth hormone. We scaped off the bark, chopped them into little pieces, and tossed them, along with the dogwood cuttings, into a bucket of water. We'll soak them overnight, then stick each dogwood cutting into a pot of compost. We'll cover the pots with hay and see what happens by spring. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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Cover crop progess

Even though we planted late - and we are getting a good frost most every night now - our cover crops look happy and seem to be growing. Here's the clover:


And the annual mix:



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Save the Date!!

We placed our large plant order with Clallam County Conservation District and we would like to invite you to come to our Planting Party on March 3. I was just kidding about the "hardrock" thing, it will be fun, really.

We ordered 100 each of Tall Oregon Grape, Red Flowering Currant and Nootka Rose. Smaller orders are accepted in January and we plan to buy some salal, evergreen huckleberry, serviceberry, filbert, Indian plum, and twinberry. Plenty to keep everyone out of trouble for a few hours. Refreshments to follow.


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