What was your most interesting recent non solar project?

[gotbeans]

How deep did you make the hole underneath? I worked as a gardener for 7 years and i used to plant olive trees. I used a mini excavator because they insisted we dig holes at least 120 cm deep (around 4 feet). It helped greatly the development of that tree in the first two years, making it reach a bigger size much earlier.

I planted them where the dirt line was on them, they had dirt on the stems.
I dug my hole about 2ft by 2ft and put in some nicer dirt, but the tiny root mass I got probably only went like 8 inches... hence the huge amount of hay on top to keep moisture higher
generally mycorrhiza fungus seems to make the biggest difference early on

 

[JJJJ]

Sounds like some great projects with gardening with warming weather. We are looking at getting some plants in soon as well.

 

[OffGridForGood]

There is not much difference in latitude.

London England is further North than my location, but they don't see -40 degree winter!
Latitude is not actually a very good proxy for temperatures.

 

[gotbeans]

Making big trellis thing's footers.
Growing hardy kiwis / kiwi berry / arctic kiwi (all 3 are same thing), planted behind this post there. That's a temporary cedar log cut from the end of my 9ft tree/log I'll be putting here after the concrete footer dries
The vines can get a few hundred pounds, can grow pretty much anywhere in USA & Europe so worth checking out if you like kiwi flavor in grape form.
Just found out about them a few months ago

 

[Aridom82]

London England is further North than my location, but they don't see -40 degree winter!
Latitude is not actually a very good proxy for temperatures.

Oh wow! -40 degree winter is something else! Olive trees dont survive that, to be honest i dont know how many species of trees can survive that, specially when they are small.

 

[gotbeans]

Oh wow! -40 degree winter is something else! Olive trees dont survive that, to be honest i dont know how many species of trees can survive that, specially when they are small.

conifers hahaha
pretty much why taiga / the boreal forest is only a few types of tree.

As for fruiting only one that could survive it that I know of is the pawpaw tree, which goes entirely dormant, probably need heavy mulching. A good layer of snow to insulate them helps too

 

[OffGridForGood]

Oh wow! -40 degree winter is something else! Olive trees dont survive that, to be honest i dont know how many species of trees can survive that, specially when they are small.

The natural trees on my property are pines, spruce fir, cedar, ash, poplar, birch, larch, maples willows elm and cherry.
The previous owner planted apple trees, and I may plant a few more for pies.

Edit: and my neighbour has pear & plumb trees they planted seem to do well.

In my post I wondered if an olive could grow in my Greenhouse - but looking up the size of a fully grown Olive tree, too big,

 

[green mountain boys]

conifers hahaha
pretty much why taiga / the boreal forest is only a few types of tree.

As for fruiting only one that could survive it that I know of is the pawpaw tree, which goes entirely dormant, probably need heavy mulching. A good layer of snow to insulate them helps too

Apple trees can be quite cold hardy. The Macintosh Apple originated in Canada and I have seen them survive -36F without any damage. Duchess of Oldenburg is reported to be hardy to zone 2, but I do not have any personal experience with that variety. There are more apple varieties hardy to zone 3.
Some Plum and Pear trees are also hardy at those temperatures.
I would not be surprised if there are some cherry varieties that would work as well.

 

[Aridom82]

The natural trees on my property are pines, spruce fir, cedar, ash, birch, larch, maples and willows elm and cherry.
The previous owner planted apple trees, and I may plant a few more for pies.

Edit: and my neighbour has pear trees they planted seem to do well.

In my post I wondered if an olive could grow in my Greenhouse - but looking up the size of a fully grown Olive tree, too big,

Next project then:
AI does not understand that there is not supposed to be snow inside of the greenhouse

 

[green mountain boys]

View attachment 217004
Making big trellis thing's footers.
Growing hardy kiwis / kiwi berry / arctic kiwi (all 3 are same thing), planted behind this post there. That's a temporary cedar log cut from the end of my 9ft tree/log I'll be putting here after the concrete footer dries
The vines can get a few hundred pounds, can grow pretty much anywhere in USA & Europe so worth checking out if you like kiwi flavor in grape form.
Just found out about them a few months ago

I grew a variety of arctic kiwi about 40 years ago. The vines grew very fast and were very healthy. They flowered well and set fruit, but for some reason the fruit would drop off the vine well before reaching maturity. I was never able to determine the cause. Very disappointing to lose hundreds of pounds of fruit every year.

The vines grow larger and thicker each year. They will destroy all but the strongest of lattice work. I had to rebuild my lattice after I discovered how they grew. I would suggest nothing less than a 2" x 2". The vines are similar to oriental bittersweet or a very vigorous wisteria, if you are familiar with those plants.

 

[Skypower]

Next project then:
AI does not understand that there is not supposed to be snow inside of the greenhouse
View attachment 217022

Perfect test to weed out a bot. What’s wrong with this picture in one word?

 

[OffGridForGood]

my greenhouse is 30x40 feet in plan (9m x 12m) and has a peak height in the centre of 20 feet (6m) height.
however looking up the dimensions of a full-grown olive tree - Google tells me 20-30 feet tall with some as much as 40 feet tall - (6-9m tall 12m for some). So seems fresh olives are just not practical for me, at least not in a small greenhouse.

 

[Aridom82]

my greenhouse is 30x40 feet in plan (9m x 12m) and has a peak height in the centre of 20 feet (6m) height.
however looking up the dimensions of a full-grown olive tree - Google tells me 20-30 feet tall with some as much as 40 feet tall - (6-9m tall 12m for some). So seems fresh olives are just not practical for me, at least not in a small greenhouse.

No olive tree that is grown for harvesing olives grows that big. I have never seen one that big and i have worked collecting olives from around 400 of them. Every year they are pruned in a shape that resembles a wide cylinder. I have rarely seen an olive tree taller than 4 meters.

 

[OffGridForGood]

No olive tree that is grown for harvesing olives grows that big. I have never seen one that big and i have worked collecting olives from around 400 of them. Every year they are pruned in a shape that resembles a wide cylinder. I have rarely seen an olive tree taller than 4 meters.

So I have a chance then!
is there a dwarf variety that produce well?
Would 2-3 of these produce enough fruit to make any olive oil at all? - it seems just like Maple syrup - it takes a lot of the starting material to make a small amount of the final product.

 

[Aridom82]

So I have a chance then!
is there a dwarf variety that produce well?
Would 2-3 of these produce enough fruit to make any olive oil at all? - it seems just like Maple syrup - it takes a lot of the starting material to make a small amount of the final product.

I really dont know the species that well i think that there are hundreds of them. I will conduct a little search to see what were those i worked with and i will tell you. You usually get around 12% of oil in weight. 3 fully grown trees will produce from 50 kg to 100kg in a good year, but it will take 10 years for the trees to reach their full size.
I dont think that with only 100kg a professional will process them for you unless you can join them with other small producers, so probably you will have to do it the old fashioned way, grinding them into a paste being careful of not heating it too much and them pressing it to squeeze the oil out. Some people like it filtered after, others dont.
Probably there are home appliances to do it i have never looked for it.

 

[Aridom82]

Ok, the species i worked with were called 'Frantoio' (same name of the business that processes them) and 'Moraiolo'.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Ok, the species i worked with were called 'Frantoio' (same name of the business that processes them) and 'Moraiolo'.

Thank-you @Aridom82 !! very nice of you !
If I start this year, I have ten years to plan for how to do the processing! LOL.


Edit
Interestingly: I can actually get 2-year old starters in Ontario and they are in fact called Frantoio ! who knew? likely these are grown in the south part of the Province where winters are surprisingly mild. little snow.

 

[SoggyShoes]

Apple trees can be quite cold hardy. The Macintosh Apple originated in Canada and I have seen them survive -36F without any damage. Duchess of Oldenburg is reported to be hardy to zone 2, but I do not have any personal experience with that variety. There are more apple varieties hardy to zone 3.
Some Plum and Pear trees are also hardy at those temperatures.
I would not be surprised if there are some cherry varieties that would work as well.

The Columbia George (Oregon/Washington border) has some world class Apple orchards and it gets really cold and very windy.
I used to have a co-worker that had an apple orchard at the eastern base of Mount hood. It was bitter miserable in the winter. But they grew amazing apples. Their entire market was individually wrapped apples sent ot Japan.

 

[gotbeans]

I grew a variety of arctic kiwi about 40 years ago. The vines grew very fast and were very healthy. They flowered well and set fruit, but for some reason the fruit would drop off the vine well before reaching maturity. I was never able to determine the cause. Very disappointing to lose hundreds of pounds of fruit every year.

The vines grow larger and thicker each year. They will destroy all but the strongest of lattice work. I had to rebuild my lattice after I discovered how they grew. I would suggest nothing less than a 2" x 2". The vines are similar to oriental bittersweet or a very vigorous wisteria, if you are familiar with those plants.

Probably potassium issues in your drop off, if you don't cut back vining plants they'll be unable to deliver all nutrients to every part of the plant too.
My posts are 6 inch diameter, in the picture the concrete is 8 inch diameter. I know how big they get, they're great growers I hope they do well.
The build will keep the wood 4+ inches away from the ground too so rot will be unlikely, also easy to build onto 20 years in the future if I need it
I'd say 2x2 inch is too small to be honest, minimum 4x4 post (~3.7 x 3.7 inches)

 

[gotbeans]

So I have a chance then!
is there a dwarf variety that produce well?
Would 2-3 of these produce enough fruit to make any olive oil at all? - it seems just like Maple syrup - it takes a lot of the starting material to make a small amount of the final product.

grow raspberries up that high
the Joan J variety will be thornless and produces very high yields on first year growth. So you cut it all down come fall and heavily mulch the ground / thick straw / hay it (they still last in the cold but mulch saves them even more)
They'll grow several feet during the spring/summer and produce tons of berries before the fall comes

some of them here https://www.burpee.com/raspberry-joan-j-prod001558.html
says zone 4-8, youtube videos show people grow them all over washington state and new york state etc
plenty of people do raspberries in canada as well. If you're actively cutting them come fall and bury them well you can grow it anywhere.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

The natural trees on my property are pines, spruce fir, cedar, ash, poplar, birch, larch, maples willows elm and cherry.
The previous owner planted apple trees, and I may plant a few more for pies.

Edit: and my neighbour has pear & plumb trees they planted seem to do well.

In my post I wondered if an olive could grow in my Greenhouse - but looking up the size of a fully grown Olive tree, too big,

maybe if you carefully pruned them bonsai style to keep them short but wide? purposely bend the branches using supports to force it to spread wider. use gorund supports to support he branch and prevent cracking of the limbs when they are carrying fruit?

just some thoughts. I have seen a couple of my friends bonsai with 3+ meter branches that are only 2 meters tall.

 

[gotbeans]

Good video on cutting strong growth in favor of slower growth stems to produce more fruit yield, shorter plants, and slower growing plants

 

[OffGridForGood]

grow raspberries up that high
the Joan J variety will be thornless and produces very high yields on first year growth. So you cut it all down come fall and heavily mulch the ground / thick straw / hay it (they still last in the cold but mulch saves them even more)
They'll grow several feet during the spring/summer and produce tons of berries before the fall comes

some of them here https://www.burpee.com/raspberry-joan-j-prod001558.html
says zone 4-8, youtube videos show people grow them all over washington state and new york state etc
plenty of people do raspberries in canada as well. If you're actively cutting them come fall and bury them well you can grow it anywhere.

Raspberries are a native plant here, so they grow well all on their own! but thanks for the ideas.
-in fact, part of the area for the greenhouse was covered in raspberries that I cut down to make some room

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Raspberries are a native plant here, so they grow well all on their own! but thanks for the ideas.
-in fact, part of the area for the greenhouse was covered in raspberries that I cut down to make some room

give them a few years they will replenish where ever you do not cut them back... and they make a damn fine jam or jelly as well.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Damned raspberries are taking over... Need to do some serious work in this bed ...