Forest Update

      A week ago I planted two new trees, both of them Cedars, they are my first. Both trees were in the middle of a hiking trail I'm working on in the woods and rather than simply rip them out or trample them, I transplanted them into my ever expanding forest. The soil was extremely sandy and rocky which means the roots pluck out of the ground more easily, the problem is that this makes them harder to transport. Roots can't be exposed to the air for long at all or they dry out so it's important to cover them up with dirt as quickly as possible. It's also good to have some of the original soil in its new transplanted destination, it seems to help them reestablish their root system. So when transplanting it's a good idea to throw some of the tree's native soil over its roots in the bucket or wheel barrow you're transporting it in.

      A few weeks ago I grabbed a couple green pine cones from the forest floor, a real forest, not my backyard one. I've had success growing trees from pine cones before but they never make it once I put them outside. So this time around I put them in a flower pot with soil and left them in the sun until they turned brown and opened up, allowing their seeds to fall out. I covered them with a very thin layer of topsoil and sprinkle some water on them every couple days. Since it's getting so late in the summer I may need to bring them inside for the winter and put them in the greenhouse until Spring. But we'll see how big they get come Fall. With any luck I'll be able to plant them outdoors. I like to grab pine cones from gorgeous areas in the woods, I suppose I'm hoping they'll grow trees in my yard that will one day be equally as beautiful.

      Not a single one of the trees has died this year, other than the transplant that lost its taproot during the uprooting process. I was a little iffy on some of the trees in the new cluster part of the forest but they're all doing great with new shoots and the oak tree even producing a new batch of healthy leaves bigger than the ones originally there at the time of transplant. The ants were attracted to the largest pine tree in the cluster which worried me because last year this happened in almost the same location and the ants ended up ruining a similar pine tree's root system. This time around their presence doesn't seem to be hurting the tree or its neighbors which are all in very close proximity. The trees are too close to one another to make it as healthy adults but it's more of an experiment really. The goal is to make the forest look as natural as possible and in nature trees grow practically on top of one another, some make it, some don't. We'll have to wait and see how they weed themselves out

      Speaking of weeds, it appears to be a losing battle. The layer of cardboard from last year helped considerably but the persistent weeds are still making it through. Unfortunately, there are a lot of persistent ones, and they're the ones with the giant prickers, naturally. What seems to help the most are the tiny pine needles that fall around the base of the trees. The long needles of the Eastern White Pines help a little but not enough, it's the small needles that seem to make the ground too acidic for weeds to grow. I'm thinking about laying another batch of cardboard and covering it with pine needles and leaves again but it's a lot of work being so late in the season, so that might be a Spring task next year.

      The Maple tree we weren't so sure about after severing two of its three main roots while digging it up is doing excellent. It actually is two main trunks wrapped around each other which gives it a very interesting appearance, both of which have new leaves, lots of them. Most of the old ones died and fell off but that one root must have been enough because it kept the rest of its old leaves as well. The first maple has survived.

      In other news, First Tree, which I'm pretty sure is a Birch, is now easily taller than me, and still growing rapidly. That makes one tree in the forest that is actually human height. I may need to rake its leaves up this autumn. Okay never mind I won't rake them up, but there may be leaves on the ground, oooh, my first fall foliage. While on the subject of pretty things, the rosebush grew like crazy over the course of a month and actually produced multiple roses. Then the Japanese beetles devoured them, but not before I snapped a photo or two. All of the Eastern White Pines are really fluffing out and looking beautiful, they however do grow a bit slower than the birches as far as height goes. And if you were wondering, Zombie Tree is still alive and sprouting new shoots, but, the new leaves develop the same fungus on them. We'll see what next year brings for him.