September 25, 2018
September is pear picking time. I always wait for a few windfalls before I harvest so I don't get them too green. I read once that pears don't ripen until you pick them, but that's not true. Right off the tree they're sweet and crisp. Every day after they get picked they get sweeter and softer. The windfalls attract raccoons, which often travel in packs, and can wipe out the whole tree in one night, so getting a bunch of them indoors insures you of some harvest..
Windfall apples are a good indication of their being ready to harvest also. My son has a tree that is a cross between pear and apple. It's called an Asian Pear. They are not as sweet as a pear, but not as crispy as an apple, so the parent tree must be much disappoint. He also has a Pluot tree, which is for those times when you don't know if you want an apricot or a plum..
September 26, 2018
The oak leaves are beginning to turn color and I don't know if I like them better on the tree or on the ground. I can't get enough of them for garden mulch, and I need to start saving more of them for the summer. Spreading them around as you gather them is so much more rewarding that bagging them, that I tend to forget how much the soil prefers repetitive applications rather than heavy doses. Water retention is not needed in the winter, and that is one of their primary benefits..
They do feed the microorganisms through the winter, and add tilth to the soil, so spring weeding is made easier. They keep the rain from battering the ground and breaking up it's tiny particles, that have been joined together by microbial excrement, and aid in air and water movement. The particles also retain plant nutrients within them and between them, so they act as a resistance to leaching..
September 27, 2018
I built a compost pile yesterday. It's too late in the season to get a finished product before the winter cold shuts down the decomposition process, but if I can get it turned twice and covered with a tarp l can get some fine, black, fluffy spring mulch. You should stop turning your pile in November to retain the accumulated heat, and covering it keeps the rain from leaching out the finished product. The internal temperature can raise to 160ð which kills the pathogens and weed seeds. Ironically it also kills the microbes that cause decomposition, so turning it after it begins to cool restarts the process with the live bacteria from the outer parts of the pile..
Alternating green and brown material in layers, with some soil added in, will get you a quickly heating pile without having to add any nitrogen. Turning it every 2-4 weeks, and keeping it moist, can yield a batch in 3 months if the material is in small enough sizes. Running it through a shredder is ideal, but running a lawnmower over it works well also..
