Grafting Japanese Maples
Summer heat is upon us and while many gardeners in Western Washington are simply trying to keep things alive during these hot dry months, we are in the heart of our propagation season. Mid July is when the new wood of the Japanese maples begins to harden off, and that’s when the grafting begins. We […]
Thinning Season
We’ve posted on this topic before, but it is worth saying again how important it is to thin the fruit on your fruit trees. Typically, most trees set much more fruit each spring than they have the energy to ripen. By thinning the fruit while it is small, you direct the tree’s energy into the […]
Summer Cover Crops
Most folks know that winter cover crops like rye and vetch can be a huge benefit to their soils. Winter cover crops benefit their crops by providing soil cover to prevent erosion, keep valuable nutrients cycling through the microbiome below the soil surface, suppress weeds, fix nitrogen for spring plantings, and provide a break in […]
Results of a Cold, Wet Spring
Many fruit trees are starting to show the signs of a cold, wet spring. Our first indication of the weather showed up on peach trees, in the form of peach leaf curl. Established trees of leaf curl resistant varieties like Frost, Avalon Pride, and Betty showed much more leaf curl than normal this spring. Non-resistant […]
High Tunnels- Training Tomatoes
At Cloud Mountain Farm Center, we grow about a thousand tomato plants each year in our high tunnels. All of the varieties we grow are indeterminate varieties, meaning they are varieties that continue to grow and produce over a long season, rather than setting all of the tomatoes at once. Because of our cool summers […]
Codling Moth Tracking Tool
It’s time to track heat units so you can control codling moth and apple maggot in your orchards. If you haven’t set up this tool for yourself at home, I’ll walk you through the steps. The past two summers have been hard ones for the home orchardist. Both codling moth and apple maggot pressures were […]