Little Orchard

We added two cherry trees and two more apple trees to the two apple trees we already had, and created a tiny orchard.  About 10 years ago, Landon brought some apple seeds home from an apple he ate at daycare, and asked Pappy to plant them. From those seeds, we grew two apple trees.  (There were originally three, but a lawnmower took out one, and damaged another.  The moose also damaged both remaining trees heavily each year, and the largest tree just started blooming last year.)

We learned that apple trees need a second variety to pollinate with, so we needed at least one other apple tree planted nearby.  At the nursery we found several varieties to choose from, and decided on a Norland (planted closest to the bluff), and a Goodland (planted farthest from the bluff).  Both are hardy in our zone.  Since we were already getting apple trees, we decided to add two cherry and two plum trees to fill out our tiny orchard.  We found two Evans Sour cherry trees, and planted them in between the four apple trees.  We couldn't find any plum trees left this year at the nurseries, so we'll have to add them later. The only other fruit tree that does well in Alaska is pear trees, but none of us are fond of pears, so we decided to leave it out of the orchard.  Our six-tree orchard is on the new yard we filled in two years ago, and will hopefully start bearing some fruit next year.

A black bear visited our compost bin. He didn't stick around long, and didn't damage the bin. There was a dead rabbit left in the trail at the center of the camera field of view (hard to see in the video).  We're not sure if the bear dropped the rabbit to check out the compost bin, and left it behind once he smelled human scent, or if something else left the dead rabbit, and the bear was brought in by the scent of the decaying carcass. Unfortunately, the video didn't catch the act of the rabbit being dropped, so we'll never know.  We have several fox dens nearby, so I carried the rabbit carcass to their den a few hours later, so if it was dropped by a fox, then I guess they got their rabbit back.  If it was dropped by the bear, then he lost out.  It was a skinny bear, not too old.  In our 12 years here, this is the first bear we've seen around the house, but it is also the first year I've had a camera set up this far away from the house, so they may have been around before.

This bull moose strolled through our middle potato plot, prompting me to build some new barriers (picture later).

Not sure why the thumbnail won't load on this video, but it shows a moose walking around our greenhouse.  I think it hears the camera click on, so you can see it jump a little as the video starts, though it looks away from the camera not towards it.

The raised beds are really taking off.  We haven't done much thinning, so the plants are pretty thick.


We've been eating the onions, lettuce, broccoli and herbs.  Our broccoli is growing more than producing, so we're trying to figure out how to get more broccoli and less leaves, but the rest of the raised beds are doing well with beats, carrots, onions, cabbage, celery, Brussels sprouts, peas and beans.  Next year some of these types will only go in the in-ground beds, and the raised beds might just be carrots, onions and some others, since we eat more of them.


I stained the wine barrel to match the beds.  Looks a little nicer, and hopefully it won't hurt its water-tight integrity.


The pumpkin patch is starting to produce. We'll bring out our other pumpkins from the greenhouse to sit here as well, since we need to make room in the greenhouse, which is rapidly filling beyond capacity.


Our upper potato plot.  I've hilled the potatoes twice already, and at this point I'm just going to let them grow. I can hill again with straw after they bloom if I need to cover up any potatoes exposed above ground.  It will be a while, though, before I expect them to bloom.


The middle potato plot.  This is the beefed-up barrier to keep the moose out. Since moose don't eat potatoes, all the barrier needs to do is to persuade the moose to walk around the plot.


The strawberry transplants we got from Jolene's friend.  They are starting to bloom.


One of the no-dig beds, sprouting beats, onions, kale, lettuce and spinach.  This is the one Jolene planted.  The one I planted isn't pictured, because none of the cantaloupes and cucumbers I planted in the bed came up, only a few dill and carrots sprouted, so we'll transplant some cucumbers from the greenhouse into that bed.  The asparagus also hasn't sprouted yet, but I just planted them last week.


The greenhouse - on this side is the pumpkin (will be moved outside), peppers, squash, watermelon, corn, cucumbers, okra and herbs.


On the opposite side sits the tomatoes.


A female pumpkin flower, with pumpkin at its base.  Plants like pumpkin, cucumber and squash have separate male and female blooms, and need to be hand-pollinated when in the greenhouse due to the lack of bees.


Tiny tomato.  The tomatoes and peppers self pollinate within one bloom, so we just have to tap them every now and then to mimic a bee buzzing nearby, and that gets the job done.


Habenero peppers.


Bell Peppers.


Squash - thanks to the Finley's for pollinating this one for us - it is our first squash to set so far.


Cucumbers.


Female cucumber flower, hopefully already pollinated.


Our State Fair was canceled due to COVID, so they sold off all the flowers being grown to decorate the fair grounds.  Jolene bought two flats, and planted them around the garden.


Update on the compost bin, it is working well so far. I keep one bay empty and turn the pile from one side to the next every week or two.


Just a few hours after turning the pile, it has already risen to 145 deg F. That's right in the sweet spot for hot compost.  Anything over ~125 will break down nicely, and once it gets over 140 deg F all the weed seeds should be sterilized.  So far, so good.