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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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:



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Less than 2 weeks till Halloween

The gardening season is almost over. Most mornings we wake up to frost -though we're also seeing glorious, sunny fall afternoons - and there's not much more we can do in the yard.

The hoses are drained, the nursery is covered with hay, the temporary fence is in place and electrified in the open areas, the cover crops have germinated, and the sheet compost is rotting. We even cleaned up the garage and garden shed.

To do:
1) Look for an ignition switch for that darn tractor - hoping we'll do better searching online than at the local parts stores.
2) Take some cuttings from our existing red-osier dogwood and salmonberry and plunk them in the nursery.
3) Pack up the van, man (don't forget seed catalogs).

Here's the tucked-in nursery (I added 16 pots of mint to it yesterday, and started a mint bed over by the cistern):


The Hugelkultur area has expanded quite a bit, and we are waiting for one last load of compost:


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Nootka Rose

Hardrock Ranch is recruiting

Needed: community member with mechanic skills. Do you love working on things that make noise? Are internal combustion engines your thing? Can you keep the chain saws running? Sharpen mower blades? Fix Fergy's hydraulics, figure out why the charging system doesn't work, do some welding on her bucket and oh yeah, the key broke off in her ignition yesterday and we can't get it out.


Other requirements: must be younger than us and have a strong back. Hound dog compatible. Ability to ignore bad words erupting from Husband when key breaks off and engines won't start.

Compensation: none, but we're pretty fun to hang out with and we'll feed you. There's plenty of room for your tent.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad