Osage-Orange hedge, part 2
I finally planted the
first of the hedges I've been talking about all
winter. For this initial stage, I'm simply starting a solid mass
of Osage-Orange, with plans to intersperse
other hedge plants in gaps at a later date. Osage-Orange was a
no-brainer as the hedge base since this first hedge is in the floodplain (optimal Osage-Orange
habitat, but likely to kill many other plants due to the waterlogged
soil.) The trees will be liberally decked with thorns and will
form a prickly, impenetrable barrier that works well at keeping animals
in. In addition, the seeds are reputed to be edible to humans and
beloved by squirrels, so maybe the eventual inhabitants of the forest
pasture will get something to eat from the Osage-Orange.
The
first step in the Osage-Orange process was a unique type of
stratification. I put the fresh Osage-Orange fruits in a sink in
the shade and let them soak up the rain and snow all winter. When
I went to look at them Wednesday morning, the result was not
appetizing, but the weather had done its job. I was able to mash
the fruits up easily with the trake,
exposing the seeds to view. (The pulp is pretty stinky --- you might
want to wear gloves for this step if you're following along at home.)
Next, I created a very
basic mound where I wanted the hedge to go. Internet sources
suggest planting Osage-Orange seeds in a shallow trench, but I've
learned my lesson with other trees --- nothing grows directly in the
ground in damp spots on our farm. I smeared the Osage-Orange goo
liberally across the turned over sod, planting thickly so that the tree
seedlings will be able to compete with the weed roots I was too lazy to
remove from the soil. I didn't cover the seeds, though maybe I
should have? If I see any squirrels at work, I'll head back down
and cover them up. For future reference, my sinkful of fruits
created about two gallons of pulp, which in turn seeded about 35 feet
of hedge.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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PE Norris --- I haven't posted any more updates, because none of the seeds seem to have come up. Or maybe they came up and weeds killed them before they could grow big enough to take hold?
Knowing what I know now, I would have laid down a kill mulch around the area to ensure that wouldn't happen. Maybe I'll experiment again when a few more osage-oranges wash up in the creek....