We’ve got the canker!

:sigh:

Now that we have time to do so, focusing on our backyard has opened my eyes to how much work we have to do back there. It’s in pitiful shape, folks. And all I keep wondering is how I didn’t notice the extent of it before.

Our goal after removing the non-bearing fruit trees was to mulch it all with hopes of using or donating it. Well, that ain’t happenin’ now. As it turns out all of them had Cytospora Canker.  (Nasty picture huh?) Silly me just assumed that trees ooze sap on occasion. Don’t they? So I guess I’ve solved the question of why these trees wouldn’t produce fruit. Now comes the exciting job of hauling many truckloads of tree debris them to the dump, the last place I wanted it to end up.

So then I started thinking about our other trees and wondering just had badly our yard has been neglected by us and its previous owners. Turns out the front tree looks great but the last one left in the backyard…erm, not so hot. Dieback, lots of pealing bark. Oy.

What’s wrong with our backyard? Diseased trees, areas where nothing will grow, other areas that just barely sustain life. We don’t have these issues out front; what is going on back there? We’ve scheduled a tree inspection and they said they can also order an expert soil test if it’s warranted. I hope that gives us some answers.

So I don’t know if we’ll still be planting those fruit trees this season or if we’ll be putting it off. Depending on the problem we find back there, will we even be able to finish our conversion before spring planting or maybe just get the new fruit trees in the ground? Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, telling us to divert our attentions to the front yard – you know, the half-finished fence I’m sure our neighbors are tired of looking at (and everyone is tired of reading about), the sheet mulching, the 645 sq ft of garden space to design and plant. I mean, it’s not as if we don’t have plenty else to do, right?