Old Man Cherry

When we first moved into our last home it was Sept 2006. In the back corner of our yard stood a great old cherry cherry. In a neighborhood where cherry trees line the streets, this was the grand daddy of the all, spending his retirement creating the cool shade of my back yard. He must stand 25 - 30 feet tall with a wide reach. This tree may not live much longer and the year we moved in there did not appear to have been much of a crop. There were no pits or stems on the ground or in the alley way under his stretched out limbs. The next year was much the same, no crop. In the summer of 07 I added some composted top soil underneath to start a small garden, and started a compost bin underneath as well. (Side note, a compost bin under a tree is not usually a good idea, but with the age of this cherry I don't expect its roots to grow up into the bin.)

I think that with those two steps combined with the dry spring and early summer, which allowed for more pollen to float around and find its way into the cherry blossoms, this year we got a bumper crop of delicious dark red cherries.The challenge of harvesting a cherry tree this age is the height. There are no branches low enough to reach the ground and I do not own a step ladder. I started on the roof of our carport the first day. The second day I tried to get a ladder in the alley before the neighboring produce store's multitude of delivery trucks started their daily pilgrimage of keeping the store stocked with fresh produce and clogging my alleyway. When the first truck did arrive I was up an extension ladder resting on an old tired arm that swayed with my every movement, with my wife holding the base and trying to maintain control over our 2 year old running around the hood in a diaper. The drivers offer their assistance.
Being able to get up on the truck gave me access to many branches with have to move a ladder around and I was able to fill two containers within 30 minutes.
We snacked on some, a pie was made and the rest went into the freezer to be enjoyed in the winter.

Our new home, an apartment you will learn more about in future posts, does not present the opportunity to pick cherries right in the back yard, but it did come with a deep freeze, so we have been making more trips to the farmers markets and u-pick berry farms and filling the freezer for winter. The next few years will bring a chance to learn many new things, like the art of freezing and container gardening. We are also gearing up to learn more about canning and preserving.

I hope you will continue to read and learn along with us.

Here today

Look at the size of this Cherry Laurel Hedge, Prunus laurocerasus. She stands proudly at about 12-ft and provides privacy and protection from the busy alley way behind this house.

Here it is from the alley. Other than needing a little trimming on the top nothing wrong with this old girl right?

Have a look at the side view. Nice and full, lush, think. A good sound barrier. Do you see the post of the carport on the right side? That represents the property line and here in lies the problem. The city has ordered it to be removed! I hated to do it, but when asked to quote the job I jumped right in. Most conventional companies would have brought in a backhoe and some chain saws and had that sucker down in a matter of a couple hours. Is this really the most cost efficient way. For the company yes, they can have the job done and move on to the next, completing 4 or 5 small jobs like this in a day.

But what about the cost on the environment. Those small little two stroke chainsaw motors give off more emissions then a mid sized car. Most backhoes are not much better.

Besides that, the equipment and operator could cost you between $1500 and $2000. The manual labour doesn't cost that much.

With those facts in mind, these are the tools that I brought to the job site. Saws, pruners, loppers, shovels, picks, and brooms.

No time to waste. We got right to it cutting back the branches and dragging them away.

We left a couple feet of trunk so we could have the leverage to remove the stumps. If most of the root ball is not removed the hedge will grow back, and very quickly.

After seeing this gnarly, twisted trunk one has to wonder if the hedge had been cut to the ground once before and this is shoot. That could be why the hedge itself is growing off the property.

The extensive roots made this job very challenging. One can certainly see the draw to use heavy equipment. But this is a choice of what's better for everyone, not just one person.

Besides reducing the carbon footprint that could have been made to remove this hedge, we wanted to make a difference another way as well. We wanted to reduce the impact this job would have on the local landfill. The city have Vancouver does have a good green waste program where materials are chipped and/or composted and used in local parks. But there is still a great burden put on the system not to mention the carbon foot print of the process. Trimmings are delivered to the transfer station, then pushed into a tractor trailer by a large loader, haul to the facility, chipped, loaded again, and hauled into the parks. The more material that we can keep on the property for reuse the better. We removed as many leaves as was possible in the time allotted. We filled this wheelbarrow and container as well as a black garbage can. These leaves can be saved and distributed into the compost through the year. We also cut any stocks that were straight enough and thick enough to be burnt in the fireplace for winter warmth. The ashes can then be mixed into the garden in the spring as a good source of potassium in the form of pot ash. These methods of reusing materials is the essence of sustainability.

By doing this we managed to reduce that 12 ft by 10 ft long Cherry Laurel hedge enough to fit into this trailer. I use a uHaul trailer instead of buying my own for 2 reasons. First, I do not yet need a trailer and the additional cost that goes with it, storage, insurance, repair etc. Not to mention the waste of materials that goes into making a new trailer. And a uHaul trailer is very affordable, $20 per day flat rate. When the time comes I will buy a used trailer to reduce my impact.

After a few weeks the owner decided to replace the Laurel with a Cedar Hedge, Thuja occidentalis, but not add any soil. The existing soil is not to bad after removing the Laurel, except it is loose and doesn't hold water very well.

We planted six Cedar about 2-ft apart stock to stock as the roots of the Cherry tree would allow. I then spread some of the leaves over the ground to protect from water evaporation in the soil and to add nutrients. We kept them wet for the first couple weeks, watering in the evening after the heat of the day. My son is seen here helping with the process.

A week or so after the Cedars where in the ground, Vancouver was hit with a heat wave and heavy water restrictions. I did my best to adhere to the restrictions and give the hedge ample water. I think two of them will need to be replaced but I will give them every chance to bounce back.

Composting

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 20% of all waste going into landfills is made up of yard clippings.  Close to another 20% is kitchen waste.  Reducing your waste and carbon footprint is only one reason to compost.  The result is the best part.  As Joe Lamp'l says in this book, "The Green Gardeners Guide," composting is "turning waste into gardening gold."  The organic matter can be reused in your gardens and provide all the nutrients your plants need, without having to use harmful chemicals.  So not only will it save landfill space, reduce chemicals getting into the water table, but it will also save you money.  You will not need to buy anymore composted soil or the fertilizers.

I have two compost bins on the go.  We just finish filling the second one and so it was time to use up the first bin.  We only started composting late last summer so you can see just how much waste is saved in the process.  My wife Suzanne is into the Raw Food Diet and drinks a lot of juices and "Green Smoothies."  The pulp that is produces in this process is great for composting.  Most of the breaking down process has already taken place, so it really speeds things up.

This is my composting centre, with Cillian getting ready to transfer some soil.

The Picture is not great.  Next to the green wheel barrow on the right is a large black container that I store some larger cutting that need to be broken down a little more before being composted.  On the left is my city issue garden waste can.  I do not ever put it out, instead I use it to store leaves and grass clippings.  Behind it is my first compost bin and next to that is my second that came from the city transfer station.  If you are looking to start composting, most cities have the bins for sale at very reasonable prices.  

The process is simple.  I put kitchen waste into the compost bin and then cover it with a layer of brown and/or green yard waste, like leaves and grass.  I do this until the bin is full and then I start with the next bin.  While I fill the second bin, I maintain the first.  I aerate it every time that I am out there.  This is to insure enough air is getting into the bin, crucial to the process.  If there is not enough moisture you may need to add water, so far I have had no need to but we shall see what the summer brings.

This is what the bin looked like in February, almost ready.

This is what we have a month later. This compost my not be 100% ready to be distributed, but I am not going to start a third bin and the second is full, so its time to take it out.  I opened the bottom door of the bin and pushed the compost out.  

Look at the colour of this soil!

Cillian and I then transfered the new soil into the wheel barrow,

and then distributed it into the rose bed against the house.  Ugly wall, but the sunniest place in my yard.

We applied it pretty think, being careful not to burry the rose stems too much.  Cillian thought the grass could use a little compost top dressing.

Some items that you add may need your help.  Like branches.  Anything branch bigger then a twig I cut up into smaller pieces about an inch long.  I do this with anything smaller in diameter than my thumb, its my, "Rule of Thumb."  Anything bigger than that could either be chipped and used as mulch, or burned and the ash used for potash.  

We use a lot of coconut and I have to break the shell up with a shovel, but they still haven't decomposed enough for the garden so back into the bin they go.

Joe Lamp'l also writes about shredding paper to compost as well as dryer lint.  I haven't done this yet, but I don't think that it is a good idea if you are growing eatable harvest.  I don't have any numbers to back up my theory, but I worry about the inks and dyes that will get into the soil.  Even without a food crop, these chemicals could effect the bacteria in the soil as well as leach into the water table.