Organic Oasis

   Several tree seeds are being stratified outdoors this winter to select cold hardy strains.  With this method I got 2 peach trees from last year's seeds, Most peach trees  are  hardy to USDA Zone 5. My new peach trees dropped leaves as late as cottonwood did, which is one of the trees that drops their leaves late right before winter . Hope they could survive the harsh Zone 4 winter.

  The new place needs more work than I realize. Sheet composting worked well this summer. No water was used at all despite the late summer's drought.  It is not easy to collect materials. Rodents love to  tunnel under cardboard, maybe feast on some crops. One day I lifted a covered area and found a snake under it. . It's a slow work to prepare plot this way, The potentials are I don't need to fertilize or water my crops and thus save my labor.

  I threw several tomato plants around unfinished plot for lack of space . They were started before we moved. All the plants I planted had no disease at all this summer. I thought it was the sheet composting at the beginning. Later I remembered that  I put mycorrizal spores to seeds when sprouting them. All the neighbors' and farmer market vendors' tomatoes were sick with blight, but my tomatoes were strong and healthy, with sweeter fruits than last years' without any care...I let them sprawl on the ground ,yet the ground touching leaves were not yellowed, mildewed, or withered. Amazing!

  The tree seeds are on their way becoming cold hardy trees. My fifth baby is on the way, too. 2012 will be a busy year for me.