Monday, June 30, 2008

Day 70 of our Green Year: Planting Great Trees

Who likes fruit? Who likes fruit trees? Who likes to pick the fruit right off the tree and eat it without having to worry about pesticides? I think the answer to this is that we all do. Sadly, most of us do not have fruit trees in our yard. However, you can easily get seeds for them, and all it takes is a trip to your grocery store.

So, for the 70th day of Our Green Year, we have decided to start planting seeds from the fruit we buy instead of simply tossing it out. This will help us create great fruit trees and add a bit more oxygen creators to our environment.

Now granted, we eat a lot of fruit and we can't use all the seeds, but many of the seeds may not grow, and using the following method, Layla and I can begin to make fruit tree saplings and sell them at Farmer's Markets for people. We will also be giving it to people as a green gift.

  1. The first thing you need to do is wrap the seeds in moist peat moss and put this all in a plastic bag. Then, stick it in the fridge for about three months.
  2. Transfer the seeds to flats and add some more peat moss, then cover and leave them in a warm and dimly lit area. Make sure you poke holes in the cover so the air can circulate.
  3. Allow the seeds to germinate. This can take quite a while, but you just need to be patient and watch for any signs of growth.
  4. Take the seeds to a well-lit area once they germinate. You should always keep these small fruit trees indoors and away from harsh conditions outside. They will die if your are not careful.
  5. Once the trees are ready, transplant them and keep repeating this step depending on how large the tree grows
In total, this can take over half a year to a year, but trust us, it will be great when you are eating fresh fruit in a few years and helping out the environment by reducing your dependency on fruit grown elsewhere, while giving the Earth some more trees to take care of our air for us.

NOTE: Tomorrow, Layla and I are going to be hiking up Mount Roberts for our town's tradition of raising the Canadian flag on top of the mountain for Canada Day, so the blog tomorrow will be later in the day.

Also, here is a great video you should all check out. Thank you to No Impact Man and his great website for showing it to me. 350 Challenge
Got any suggestions for what we can do to go green? Want to share your own green stories with us or send us photos of you going green? Then send us an e-mail at crwbaird@gmail.com