Pleasantly tired

[carynb]

I spent the day yesterday outside, gardening, planning new gardens, moving around the BBQ, doing some weeding, talking with the neighbors...

Y'know what? It was a really good day. My legs are tired today (mostly from crouching to weed - making our front garden as wide as we did may have been a little short-sighted *g*), but they're a good tired

Comments

[psychedelicbike]

I think I recently read something in NatGeo about American Chestnut trees, originally nearly wiped out by disease, now being cross-bred with Chinese Chestnut trees, and they grow quickly.

[carynb]

The chestnut is a really good idea, as long as we can be fairly certain that it won't be susceptible to the fungus that killed out most of them. Thanks!

[psychedelicbike]

Thus saith Wikipedia:

Chinese Chestnuts have evolved over a long period of time in coexistence with the bark fungal disease chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica, formerly Endothia parasitica), and have evolved a very successful resistance to the blight, probably more so than any other species of chestnut, so that, although it is not immune, it typically sustains no more than minor damage when infected. This is in stark contrast to the American Chestnut, which had no resistance to the blight, and was nearly wiped out by it after its introduction from Asia to North America. An active program has been pursued in North America to cross-breed Chinese and American Chestnut to try to maximize the traits of the American Chestnut, such as larger stature, larger leaf size, larger nut size, and greater nut sweetness, while also isolating and carrying the blight resistance from the Chinese Chestnut.

[halfabee]

IIRC Black Walnuts are toxic to other plants.

Also, check to see what sex requirements any trees have. Many trees will not produce fruit / nuts on their own. They may require a tree of the opposite sex, or another variety.

[carynb]

Black Walnuts are toxic to other plants.

Really? Mike had a number of them out in Cambridge, and the grass, at least, seemed to grow ok around them. And there was a mix of trees around them, as well... I'll have to do more research on them, I guess. They were definitely walnut trees, but maybe they weren't black walnuts. *g*

We're not really looking for crops out of the trees of either fruits or nuts, so I'm not really worried about the sex requirements for the trees. The blossoms would be nice, though. If we go with cherry or peach, we're just looking for the pretty flowers - the fruit is actually a disadvantage, since they make so much mess.

[psychedelicbike]

I was a member of an outdoor wedding party, with the ceremony being held under a black walnut in fall. We're lucky that none of us came away with concussions :/