Around this house we seem to be obsessed with ways to create work for
ourselves. My husband is uber-project boy and is always engaged is
some sort of hobby/craft/construction/etc. Several such projects are
under way at this moment and I will be sharing one of them in a few
weeks (Hint: large talons).
The most recently
completed project is one that actually really excites me. We have often
talked about developing an orchard and we finally made it happen.
Okay, I should say that my husband made it happen, I just sort of took
pictures of the process. The one major input I had was what sort of
fruit to purchase.
Next to our driveway was an empty,
weed filled space that led downhill to the barn. It is bordered by the
drive, horse corral, and road to the barn. Using the trusty tractor my
husband filled in some holes and made a nice sloping orchard space.
We laid out the spacing and started planting. We bought bare root trees and plants so they all had to soak.
We think it is very important to provide moral support to the one person in our family who volunteers to do the digging.
Most
of the trees are dwarf fruit trees so they are a good size for the
kids. They were able to do a lot of the hole-filling and straightening
while we planted. Actually, my daughter did a lot of the planting, my
son decided it was more fun to play in the tractor scoop.
In total, we planted eight trees. Here is what we are growing:
2 Apples (we put one apple in last year so we added a second for variety)
2 Pears
2 Cherries
2 Nectarines
We
also planted a few grape vines. Over the last five years, we have
tried three times to grow grapes and have failed each time. I find it
ironic that we live in the heart of wine country and the one thing we
can't grow is grapes. Maybe we will get lucky this time.
It
exciting to already see buds on the trees, can't wait to eat some home
grown fruit. I should mention that even though the hubby really wanted
an orchard, he hates fruit. Odd, huh?
No comments:
Post a Comment