Sunday, June 20, 2010

LEARNING CURVES


Momster Pumpkin growing between
precious young Moringa trees
I learned some important lessons this last season.

I had a favourite pumpkin go rotten before I had a chance to even cut into it. Desiring not to waste it, I hauled this mess into my new Food Forest bed, and just squished it all into the soil. The resultant plants were magnificent and like some welcome monster it grew and grew from one bed to another until it reached beyond and onto the lawn by the wash lines. In my exuberance at its splendour I had no heart to cut it back in any way; I was too curious to see how big it could really grow, little thought being given to what I would do with hundreds of pumpkins. That proved of little consequence anyway. The Vervet Monkeys thought it all a splendid experiment too and feasted first on the blooms, then on the tiny fruit and then on the larger pumpkins later. They have the advantage over me; I like to wait for it to mature and ripen before considering it food. Ah, well. I need dogs again.

Dogs require fencing to keep them separate from potentially unhappy neighbours. I have hit on a marvelous plan to get me some fencing up. I am going to do a living fence. Right within my price bracket…..free!

Beautiful and useful Honeysuckle
I plan to use the berries of the Chinaberry planted along the border of my Food Forest and let my fence poles grow in place. When each trunk is thick and strong I will pollard them off at perhaps 2-3 meters. The wood makes excellent firewood so the loppings and prunings will be useful. I will then weave honeysuckle between to make a living fence. Honeysuckle is so pretty and fragrant and is animal fodder too. It grows like a weed here.

We are leaving autumn and going into winter and so I will have plenty of Chinaberry seeds available shortly.

PS: I have just learned that monkeys can be chased away by hanging CDs around where they frequent. They move in the wind and the light catching them is supposed to frighten them off. Willing to give it a go! Won’t that be a hoot if something so simple does the job!

Until next time,
Chelle

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