Lavender
One more harvest before the dormant season begins.
Before the rain come down!
We are expecting a small shower tonight so why not plant some more trees and holly? You can’t have a Christmas tree farm without some American Holly trees!
Before the rain come down! Read More »
Mulch!
The Michigan State University Real Christmas Tree Board sponsored a study of interventions to help Christmas Tree Seedlings. Their results showed that adding a half bucket of mulch was the only method that had a statistically significant impact on growth. So mulch we did! The co-farmer was a big help!
Try Again
Well we had some plant mortality as most farmers do. So we are adding more white pine since it has done the best on this particular tree plot.
Norway Spruce drought impacted
In 2024, there was a drought in Charlottesville from June 27-September 2. It appears to have impacted the Norway Spruce the most. How would you feel without adequate water for 67 days? Apparently, this was not limited to our area. A recent article by Pope et al. (2024) in Forest Ecology and Management found that
Norway Spruce drought impacted Read More »
Lavender ‘25
Today we addressed a reality you rarely see in homesteading posts: sometimes plants die! The heat dome was hard on our Lavender plot last year. We ended the year with 22 Hidcote/36 and 2 Phenomenal/36. Why is the hidcote doing so well and the phenomenal not so much? Is it possible the deer or some
Mountain Laurel
They say when you buy a farm property you should start by inventorying your assets. Is there good water? Forest? Meadow? Mountain Laurel?