Author: Liz Braithwaite

Tree Staking

I went to a park up in Ceder Hills (the park was really neat with a triple story playground). While there I noticed a gorgeous tree with a trunk that looked like this:

This is after I attacked the girdling wire with a pair of hand pruners. The tree was not badly staked to begin with, but that was years ago. They did cover the wires, but the material they used has degraded, and the wire has started to grow into the tree. Without intervention, the tree will be girdled and die. Unfortunetly this is pretty common.

I wrote about tree staking a while ago, and how I staked a few trees that needed staking. If you go and look, it is very different than what you normally see. The most common mistakes made with tree staking is:

  • Staking too often: Many trees simply don’t need staking. A tree should only be staked if it is wobbly or tilting to one side.
  • Staking too tightly: When finished the tree should still be able to move about, just prevented from tilting too far in one direction.
  • Leaving it on too long: Staking material should always be removed after the first year. That’s the main problem behind the staking job above.

I contacted the parks department and they at least said they send someone out to see if the trees are properly staked. The trees actually shouldn’t be staked at all anymore–but hopefully the problem will get fixed. Better than my pair of hand pruners did.

Fall Garden Finale

I  dug out my veggie garden over a week ago. The first freeze is coming tonight, which is several week past the average. It has been cold enough to harm the cucumbers and melons, but the tomatoes were still going strong when I yanked them. I was done with tomatoes and had extra time and beautiful weather, so I put the garden to bed. Felt wonderful. I had a large tomato forest going on. The tomatoes chocked out the peppers and eggplants nearby. The yellow pear was all over everything. Some branches were over 6 feet long–I didn’t bother to keep up with staking and pruning so it was a lovely mess I was happy to tear out.

Pulling out the Garden

Looking back on the year, I  loved my Cherokee Purple tomatoes. My other varieties, romas, fourth-of-july, and yellow pear also did well. The other heirloom I planted, Great White was a little late but good after it started producing. All my peppers and eggplants did not produce well because of poor placement. The potatoes did okay, but I think potatoes had been planted in the same spot for too many years beforehand (not my garden before so I didn’t know). I think they got a wilt disease early on and would have done better with some proper crop rotation. Onions and leeks were less than spectacular, they mostly didn’t ever catch on after transplanting. The blue hubbard and butternut squash did great. The blue hubbard squash are decorating my front porch. It might take a while to break into them. I planted two cucumbers–a striped Armenian and a regular aremenina. We had loads of cucumbers even with horrible powdery mildew.  The best melon wasn’t the two I planted (they did okay, not great), but a volunteer that sprang up and produced eight good melons. Beets did well, lettuce was good in the spring, and the chard was always there, I just didn’t bother to pick it.

That was a bit long, but it was a great garden year. I’m also glad it’s over now. Time for new projects.

Two Week Walk Challenge

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So apparently it’s already been two weeks since the walk challenge from This Grandmother’s Garden. I didn’t necessarily go on a walk everyday, but I did go outside. It was beautiful. I made it hiking three times–once up to Battle Creek just up the hill, once on several hikes scattered through Nebo Loop and the final hike on Saturday to Silver Lake up American Fork Canyon. Fall comes and goes so quickly and I’m glad I didn’t miss it. The one thing I do still miss is the maple of Cache Valley. We moved away from there two years ago and in some ways all the fall leaves were a little disappointing because it wasn’t the red maple forests that are up there. I did discover that scrub oak does not necessarily just turn brown. I found orange, gold, and even bright red scrub oak that made up for the lesser amount of maples.

Many of my walks also involved parks due to the nature of having a two-year-old to entertain. At one park I was pleasantly surprised to find some old pear trees. I have no idea what varieties they are–but they included Asian-type and other delectable finds. I went ahead a grabbed a bundle and have been enjoying them at home. I also found gorgeous sunsets, changing leaf colors, fall blooming flowers, and interesting things for my two-year-old who usually accompanies me.

Here’s just some of the pictures I took. There are more in previous posts too.

Silver Lake

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We’ve gone on lots of walks and trips to the park recently because the weather has been incredible. I doubt it will last much longer, so the more time spent outside the better. Yesterday we went on what will probably be the last long hike of the season. We hiked up to Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon. The leaves were every color imaginable and the hike was beautiful. I’m not in very good shape though, and it felt a little too long. Peter slept through a large protion–he was a very tired kid. He’s also turning into quite a good hiker. He can go almost a mile by himself and no longer gets too distracted by everything. The hike leaves less than three miles until I hit 100 miles hiking this year. I’m excited that I’m going to make my goal.

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Enjoying Fall

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We’ve had the most amazing autumn weather. It’s been wonderful to go outside and be able to spend time on hikes, walks, and gardening. I took a hike up Battle Creek (just up from my home) this past week and also drove the Nebo Loop down south. The Nebo Loop was absolutely beautiful and full of reds, oranges, and yellows. Even the usually brown scrub oak had a golden color to it. Here are pictures:

Get out and go see Autumn. It’s amazing how fast it pops up. Last week nothing was that interesting: now all the trees are starting to turn colors.

Nebo Loop Day Trip

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I think I picked one of the best weekends to go on a long drive. We drove down to Payson to drive the Nebo Loop. The fall colors were fantastic. We hiked three separate hikes–Grotto Falls, Devil’s Kitchen, and Box Canyon. The first two are pretty short, boring hikes to neat destinations. Box canyon was an adventure. It’s in Maple Canyon just north of Ephraim.  Joe had been there several times during his Snow College years (before he met me) and had always wanted to take me. We managed to scramble our way to the end, even with Peter in tow. There are some fun little climbs up boulders. We had to hand Peter off to each other, and almost turned back, but made it all safetly. I wouldn’t recommend it with toddlers though. I felt like I was on a vacation yesterday and love the time I was able to spend with my family. It so trumps staying at home.

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Birthday

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My little boy recently turned two. Crazy how fast time goes. We had a family party for him which he thoroughly enjoyed. The cake was very fun for our fan of Cars. He had to blow out his candles twice (he wanted to do it more actually). When his presents were all done he started to look through the box where I had put all the wrapping paper and said, “One more time,” wanting to open up more. Peter is a lot of fun to be with and is growing up just right. He can talk in sentences now, his favorite of which is “One more time.” One more time actually usually means many more times because he always wants another horsey ride or story.

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Autumn Walk

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I was excited to hear the challenge over at This Grandmother’s Garden to go on a walk every day for two weeks. It was around seven when I read it and already getting dark and stormy, but I immeditely went out on a walk. I was so blawed in life, a walk was just whated I needed to perk up my soul. I’m including the pictures I took, but it wasn’t the views, plants and scenery that really woke me up. It was the smells. The rain came and went as we walked and I could smell that rich earth smell in the air. We would pass by evergreens and sage and I would pause enjoying the smell. There was also the smell of a wood burning stove, reminding me of camping trips and late, fun evenings. The air was crisp and rain came down, but in soft drops that simply enlivened me. Today I went out with my toddler. We didn’t make it far, but we saw sticks, flowers, acorns, rocks, and a lot of other interesting things that little people like.

Autumn is amazing.

On the Moon

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We went up to Salt Lake to entertain Peter, Grandma and Uncle Will. There’s lots of fun free stuff. We mostly went to Temple Square, including the Church History Museum where they had a new children’s exhibit. (I even danced in a flowing Mexican skirt. No picture luckily.) We took a short train ride (just to give Peter a train ride) to the Planetarium, where the pictures were taken. Peter and I have enjoyed having Uncle Will around and he’s leaving in just a few days to go on his mission. I’m very excited for him, but at the same time we will miss him a lot. I asked Peter one day who his favorite person was and he said Uncle Will. It’s been fun to be able to spend a lot of time with him before he leaves for two years. Good luck William!

Logan Canyon in Autumn

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My sister, the kids and I took a drive up Logan Canyon while our husbands were at Priesthood session. It was lovely. I visited second dam where I had my first date with Joe, and saw the start of autumn. I also managed to get my sister carsick.  I love going out and enjoying the changing season. Fall has always been one of my favorites and I’m enjoying the cooler weather. Mowing the lawn this morning was almost magical, with perfect weather, green grass, and the end in sight.