The Woodlot

This morning I went for a walk through the woodlot with local forester, Doug Newton, to identify some of the different trees, shrubs, ferns, and mosses that characterize our forest. We began at the beginning of the woodlot and made our way up to the boundary line. Our forest is primarily dominated by white pine and eastern hemlock with red oak, american beech (abundant), red maple and sugar maple intermingled. Our forest also contains quite a few white oak and birch trees, with an occasional ash, scarlet oak, aspen, and striped maple. Lower to the ground we found witch hazel and hobble bush, among others, and even lower to the ground, sarsaparilla, mayflower, and a lot of blueberry in open areas.


Doug commented on the fact that this forest is almost entirely native. As farming ended in New Hampshire in the early 1900's, mother nature has since been allowed to take over. Doug will be doing minimal logging in the woodlot, concentrating on firewood and timber stand improvement (freeing desirable trees from competition, improving stand for future generations, improve wildlife food and habitat) with the protection of the wetlands in mind.


After our meeting, I spent the rest of the day until sundown in the garden. I fertilized beds with granulated chicken manure and started a second compost pile. In a newly turned and fertilized bed, I planted onions on the edges, leaving room for lettuce planting in between, and planted some beautiful cauliflower and broccoli seedlings that had been waiting in the cold frame. I replanted the rest of the onion, cauliflower, and broccoli seedlings in new containers with some more space so they can continue to grow until the next planting. In the past we have had trouble with cutworms who like to wrap around stems and cut them off. One trick for these guys is to put a nail in the ground next to the stem to stop the cutworms from going to town. I also made a low-hoop tunnel with agricultural cloth which should also keep pests at bay early on.


In the next few days, I will begin making an inventory of the different plants on the woodlot, especially near the wetlands, and collect samples to press and possibly illustrate.