Planting twigs

The clover in the front-yard orchard is now well-established and threatening to smother anything shorter than two inches. I purchased two sand cherries and two sea berries and they are not much taller than the clover. I knew it was time to plant them because I could see mosquito larvae swimming in the bucket of water the bushes were sitting in!

 
I found some spots for the bushes and dug out the clover, but after planting the small bushes, I realized they were going to get overwhelmed by the clover within a week.

That's when I thought back to sheet mulching the front yard. 

So I found a piece of cardboard (I've always got a stash of it under our back porch) and made little collars for my berry bushes.

I cut a small hole in the cardboard, and a slit to help get it over the bush's trunk. The bushes are so small, I decided to put an orange flag by each one so I don't forget to water them a bit more often.

 Here is a sea berry in it's collar, holding the clover back.

I added some wood chips and the orange flag, and hopefully this will keep the clover away until the bush gets established.