Back to Eden Gardening and Hugelkulture and other non-conventional garden methods

[ImNotYogi]

Gonna have to make time to peruse this thread. A coworker recently showed me YT videos from a guy named James Prigioni who does a Back to Eden style of gardening. I haven't gardened at all since I was a kid but will start one soon so I'm still in the planning stages. Seems like there's so much to it, all I remember from youth is "till ground, dig hole, place seed, cover, then water".

 

[pennyJo1960]

hey good place to start right

 

[HoopyFrood]

@lazy gardener Apologies, I can't remember where we were talking about this: I was trying to propagate an ancient dying apple tree via getting cuttings to take root and you wanted to know how it went.

Since I can't remember which thread that was in, I'm posting here. Please let me know if you want it moved elsewhere and I'll do it

On March 24th I took 15 cuttings from our old, dying Mr. Apple. I wouldn't be surprised if it's over 100 years old. It was split by a maple, languished on the road side, has no heartwood left and I had to cut the last real life-supporting limbs off last fall for road easement reasons. It also grows the most delicious apples.


I want about 12 fruit trees for the future orchard. It would be nice if there were some variety in there, but the over-wintered buds were in rough shape due to plow damage and I've never done this before, so I took 15.

A little prepping, rooting hormone, and 50/50 sand/potting soil mix later I had it (and five red prince weigelas - our beloved three were all girdled by voles this winter) all ready to go:

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They say rooting should take 2-4 weeks on the apples. We are 13 days in and:

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We have new life! Four of the apple cuttings are opening their buds! I wonder how many more will pop up in the next couple of weeks?

I really only needed one to take to carry on the old apple's legacy. But since I have zero experience in fruit trees, I greatly appreciate having many chances to practice

 

[pennyJo1960]

Wow look like success good job I sure hope you get more to root
son here has done the same with a antique apple here

 

[HoopyFrood]

Wow look like success good job I sure hope you get more to root
son here has done the same with a antique apple here

Aw, thank you! It is pretty amazing to have a hand in keeping something alive that was around decades before you were born. And, hopefully, it will continue to last long after I'm gone

 

[Arielle2]

@lazy gardener Apologies, I can't remember where we were talking about this: I was trying to propagate an ancient dying apple tree via getting cuttings to take root and you wanted to know how it went.

Since I can't remember which thread that was in, I'm posting here. Please let me know if you want it moved elsewhere and I'll do it

On March 24th I took 15 cuttings from our old, dying Mr. Apple. I wouldn't be surprised if it's over 100 years old. It was split by a maple, languished on the road side, has no heartwood left and I had to cut the last real life-supporting limbs off last fall for road easement reasons. It also grows the most delicious apples.
View attachment 1327310 View attachment 1327311 View attachment 1327312

I want about 12 fruit trees for the future orchard. It would be nice if there were some variety in there, but the over-wintered buds were in rough shape due to plow damage and I've never done this before, so I took 15.

A little prepping, rooting hormone, and 50/50 sand/potting soil mix later I had it (and five red prince weigelas - our beloved three were all girdled by voles this winter) all ready to go:

View attachment 1327313​

They say rooting should take 2-4 weeks on the apples. We are 13 days in and:

View attachment 1327317
​

We have new life! Four of the apple cuttings are opening their buds! I wonder how many more will pop up in the next couple of weeks?

I really only needed one to take to carry on the old apple's legacy. But since I have zero experience in fruit trees, I greatly appreciate having many chances to practice

perhaps contact Fedco, explain the dire situation and ask to find someone who can graft these for you. asap.

apples cannot make roots hence the need for footstock.

 

[Mommaj89]

Following along!! We are currently renting so just doing the traditional "till the garden" approach this year, but when we find something that's officially ours, I have had my eye on "deep mulch"/hugelkulture but I like to see people that it works for first hand rather than just a blogger posting the latest and greatest!

 

[HoopyFrood]

perhaps contact Fedco, explain the dire situation and ask to find someone who can graft these for you. asap.

apples cannot make roots hence the need for footstock.

Thank you for your concern! You weren't aware that I was intentionally doing this in order to avoid rootstock and grafting. It's a long, involved story as to why...

I'll spare the other readers the tale as it does not exactly tie in to BTE and HK themes of the thread... Hence me apologizing to LG about posting it here! I just can't remember where we were talking about it

This is definitely an experiment! I'm reasonably confident some of the cuttings will take root just fine (and the growing buds seem to be evidence along those lines). But if it's an utter failure, the tree would have died regardless; so there's not really anything to lose. But it is a big, potential learning opportunity; and I'm all about those! I generally learn more from my failed experiments than the ones I'm successful at

 

[Arielle2]

Thank you for your concern! You weren't aware that I was intentionally doing this in order to avoid rootstock and grafting. It's a long, involved story as to why...

I'll spare the other readers the tale as it does not exactly tie in to BTE and HK themes of the thread... Hence me apologizing to LG about posting it here! I just can't remember where we were talking about it

This is definitely an experiment! I'm reasonably confident some of the cuttings will take root just fine (and the growing buds seem to be evidence along those lines). But if it's an utter failure, the tree would have died regardless; so there's not really anything to lose. But it is a big, potential learning opportunity; and I'm all about those! I generally learn more from my failed experiments than the ones I'm successful at

I wish your all the luck in the world!!!!!! Nothing like loosing an old friend like an apple tree.

I plan to take material from an old tree from the place of my teens in hopes of continuing the tree. It is VERY Very old.

My plans are to use rootstocks to get a tree going, then be able to work with the material it grows.

Let me know if it grows roots....

Fingers crossed!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I would love a little more info on how to do the rootstocks if it's appropriate in this thread.