Covering the fruit trees from snow & other fruits trying to grow

It was a cold and snowy morning so I prepared for the snow last night by covering the tulip garden and blooming fruit trees. When I woke up this morning, I knocked off the snow from the tree covers and the row covers on the tulips.

Obviously I can't cover the bigger fruit trees, but I can cover the blueberries and actually I should have because they're trying to bloom as well.

The two large pear trees and plum are too big to cover

The old peach is too big to cover

I have kept the 3 fig trees covered all winter & spring so far

I think there's less than 10 blueberries and most of them are trying to bloom

2 goji plants are leafing but the other 2 are not

The other 2 goji are here with aronia plants and grape vines that are leafing

The raspberries are leafing out here, but the 5th goji here is also not leafing yet 

Early spring: how I'm covering the flower garden & Fruit trees

Many of the flowers this Spring are blooming three weeks ahead compared to previous years. The fruit trees such as Pears, Nectarines, and Peaches are blooming in the garden as well. With the fruit trees I covered almost all of them with Agfabric with a drawstring that you see in the picture below. 

For the trees that were blooming, I double wrapped them with an additional garden cloth or blanket. With the biggest pear tree that had blooms and the nectarine with blooms, I covered them with two cloth fabric sheets and a plastic sheet. With the fig trees, I covered them with plastic and the fabric cloth on the outside. For the flowers like Hyacinths and Tulips that are blooming early, I have covered them with plastic sheeting and plastic cloches to retain moisture and heat throughout the night. This week it will be below 20 degrees amid some risk of snow/early frost warnings, so I am keeping the fruit trees and flower and garden covered as well as the polytunnel garden as you can see in the last photo. 

Plastic sheet covering Tulip/hyacinth/crocus/flower seed mix bed

Tulips protected with recycled dog cone

Hyacinths covered in small plastic tub with foam sheet over top & refrigerator glass shelves

Plastic over cabbage plants

There are 2 holes in the 'reservoir' center to slowly drip rain water

What's growing on in the Winter Garden 2017

Now that Spring is closer upon us in the US, I'm cleaning up the garden mounds to be mulched soon. Today I'm starting some seeds indoors in my mini greenhouse with grow lights. Some of the plants I will be starting is a Artichoke, Lettuce, Brussels, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and I want to pick up some Radish seed to start growing them early indoors. Then towards mid-March or early April I will transplant these in the garden. Before I transplant though I want to have composted and mulched the mounds and made polytunnels to protect the plants. Afterward that point, I will start Tomato and Pepper plants indoors to be transplanted in May. I hope to have mulched and composted the mounds for these plants, then in May I will directly sow Squash, Melons, Gourds, and other things in the garden.

As of now, I have been growing a couple of rows of Arugula, Collard greens, lettuce, and carrots in the Hugelkultur garden. There is some cilantro and Red Russian kale growing among the greens as well. Because here in Kentucky the winter has been mild, the greens have been growing with little protection from now in the beginning of February from September. All I have used to protect the greens from the cold and snow is cloth row covers like garden canvas. I have been able to have greens to eat in salads or eaten fried. I also harvested a couple of carrots that I noticed were a decent size to pull up. Today I had a surprisingly long carrot that was growing in one of the garden mounds. Below are photos of the winter garden and the carrot harvested today.

collards

 

collards

lettuce

carrot harvested

row of Carrots

row of Arugula & Collards

Over wintering Fig Trees in Zone 6

In this video I show you what I used to protect the Fig Trees over winter. Fig trees are typically grown in warmer climates, but the variety Chicago Hardy Fig allows me to grow them in USDA Zone 6.

The following pictures are the Fig Trees I have mulched 4 feet high supported with wire cages and tobacco sticks. Something I do not mention in the video above, is that I will also be putting tarp over top of the cages to protect both Fig trees from snow and colder temperatures.