April #20.2: Droughtnaut

In a world where weather patterns get scrambled by the never-ending need for good stock returns, April is usually the month that sets the course for the entire season. It's funny because people, for example, expect to have cherries available in stores for the majority of the year while watching AI slop on TikTok, slop that produces an imperial shiton of carbon dioxide, which contributes to the warming of the northern Atlantic, causing a blocking mass of warm air to push northward while pushing cold arctic air into my garden.

As you can see, I am a bit salty because half of my cherries are frozen dead. My beautiful cherry tree is now cutting its losses.

Well, and it's not the only thing, but I am now getting ahead of myself.

the cherry on top

You have probably figured out how my cherry trees are doing by now. It's like 2024 all over again. The large tree was set for a great, almost record-breaking harvest. Basically, every node was hosting around five theoretical buds.

I was even surprised by those two cherries from last year. These were blooming too, but then we got the forecast. For the last night of April, expectations were below zero, around -4 degrees. That's too low for cherries and other fruit trees at this delicate stage. I tried wrapping at least those new ones, but to no avail. The lower branches of the large one and all branches of the new ones are done for.

Looking at the damage not only on my tree but also on a walnut tree next to my flat bothered me even more. I would expect the damage to be somewhat uniform, but it's very random. Look at this branch: a damaged bud is right next to a healthy one. And I can observe the same pattern on my cherry tree.

But it's only mildly interesting because overall, half of my cherries are dead. Speaking of dead stuff, though, makes me think about the living ones. The red currant shrubs I planted last year are looking promising. At least one of them.

A similar situation is happening with my blueberry shrubs. As I forgot to label them, I can't now identify the variety that's doing particularly well, because one shrub is vastly outperforming the others. I will have to think about protection from birds, I see.

And because of the great success, I decided to order some more plants. By "great success", I don't mean the performance of those plants, but my ability to complete an order. I ordered some dwarf apple trees.

I want to try growing them in an espalier setup. That's a method of guiding and training branches to closely follow a line, usually a string or steel cable, to form a flat, compact structure.

I got two dwarf varieties, and while I was at it, I also ordered a column-shaped one, just for good measure.

the great reset

I intentionally forgot to mention the real reason why I ordered those apple trees. Last year, I had some success growing ornamental bananas, cold-hardy varieties. And I loved those plants: the look, the feel of those leaves.

I took one shoot home for the winter. It now lives in the office at my job and is the only one that survived the winter, as mentioned in the first half of April.

There is actually one funny B-side story to this. My girlfriend lived in an apartment building with a hallway full of random plants. That's actually a common thing here in Czechia. One day, I noticed a small and sad Musa Tropicana plant. It was in a shady spot with waterlogged soil, and it had a sibling that was already dead. I was passing that plant long enough to commit a theft. I took it home, transplanted it into a light mix that I would otherwise never use for a banana plant, and waited.

And as you can see, I now have a Musa Tropicana plant! So that's a funny story, but now let's get back to the new ones.

I ordered five fine specimens of Musa Basjoo for my garden, and this year I won't leave things to chance. I will grow them on a mound and pot them up for the winter, because I don't really want to order another batch next year.

the frost focus

Keeping the focus on the frost damage, because there is still much to tell. The potatoes have exploded during the second half of April. The weather seemed nice and tolerable, so I moved them outside.

Big mistake. Morning frost took a bite out of some plants, and I had to cover them for a few nights with a fleece.

But why did they have to go out? Because the greenhouse was getting hot, and potatoes love this hot environment. But because they love it so much, all the energy goes into green production, leaving very little for tuber formation. The other reason I had to move them out was that, thanks to the greenhouse, the plants are one or two weeks ahead of schedule, and I need to tone it down a bit, or else there will be no energy or nutrients left for those tubers.

Speaking of the hot greenhouse, I had to exterminate the spinach because it bolted and became inedible. Which leaves only lettuce in the greenhouse for now. I am harvesting and eating a lot of it. The timing turned out to be just right for peppers and some cucumbers.

the pepper variability

As the last frost date closes in, it's time to start prepping peppers and tomatoes for the transition. I am really happy to see the tomatoes in such good shape this year.

Yeah, sure, some black sheep are acting up with deficiencies, but looking at the compactness of each plant, boy, I don't have to dig deep this year.

The peppers, especially the Sweet Chocolate, are bonkers. All but the habaneros, because they looked at me and said: "Fuck you. That's why." I really don't have any idea why these are so picky this year. Habanero Bonda Ma Jacques were much more easy-going for me. But they will come around. I do trust them.

I have yet to decide which plants to keep and how to grow them. I have roughly split the tomatoes between hydroponics and soil, but I don't yet have a place for them. I would love to have about 16–20 plants in hydroponics and the same number in soil. But for peppers? I so far plan to grow them in the soil, which, by the way, finally went down to pH 6.8. But maybe it's time to try growing them in coco peat as well, since tomatoes are having great results. Well, we will see.

I am already out of excuses for why I post updates so late, so I will spare you. My free time is now divided between gardening and apartment work. I keep fixing stuff and often don't have enough energy to write about it. Here is a little sneak peek at what I am doing these days.

We are currently in the middle of a severe drought here in the region, which is bad because I need a lot of rainwater for the hydroponics. Also, regular water in the soil for my trees, and the forecast for the summer is very… suboptimal, to say the least. But that's an unfolding story. Let's see what the gods of global warming bring upon us. Until next time.