Planting a Mini Orchard
This past weekend Andy and I planted our mini orchard. It was a little ahead of our original timeline because 12 of our trees arrived early! We are still waiting on the Roxbury Russet (aka the Putnam Apple). To say planting an orchard is hard work would be an understatement. Planting an orchard in a hayfield may be the new definition of insanity! Add to that, the fact that the ground, which hasn’t been watered in well over a year, was rock hard and you might have a recipe for disaster… I swear it was like trying to till granite! This is what we encountered, as we set to work planting our fruit trees.
Using our newly assembled rototiller we began tilling our rows which we had mapped out using string and wooden stakes. Unfortunately, because the ground was rock hard, the tiller bounced off of the surface, rather than digging into it. This action made it hard to control the tiller and as it jumped about, it caught the string which then immediately wrapped around the blades. This happened first with Andy and then when I attempted to take on the tilling, it happened again to me. Lesson learned, we removed the string and used the stakes as our guide. For the most part this worked, and we only shredded a few stakes in the process of tilling. I should note here that being ‘vertically challenged’ (short) managing a rototiller is even harder as your elbows are in the air about even with your ears. This doesn’t give you much in the way of control and by the end your arms feel like they are ready to fall off. Sadly the handle of the tiller cannot be lowered so it was awkward tilling the whole way and very humbling. Andy, who is over six feet tall made it look so easy!
With each row, there are three in total, it took us three passes to till the width of one row. Given the hardness of the ground, we repeated this process nine times for each row. The weather on Saturday took a turn for the worst and we ended up doing this task during a freak little snowstorm which also kicked up the winds! Sadly, by the time we had finished tilling we had three nicely mowed rows and only tilled into the ground three inches! When I said the ground was rock hard, I was not kidding!
Although we were a bit disheartened when we made this discovery, we also realized that the holes we needed to dig for the trees would need to be deeper than the rototiller could have churned the earth so, it should still be okay. As Andy dug the holes, I brought in more manure compost to ensure each tree had additional soil amendments that would add to the nutrients of the earth and help with water absorption.
Prior to starting our planting, I had priced the cost of compost and asked local farmers what kinds of manure they used on their property. I also reviewed our soil test. Turns out although some folks used chicken manure which is rich in phosphorous, our soil did not need that kind of amendment. Instead, ours was a bit low in nitrogen which is found in sheep, goat and cow manure. I priced the cost of this type of compost at both Lowes and Home Depot. Then I was reminded that we already had a huge pile of this manure on our property, left by previous owner’s animals! So armed with our rototiller Andy and I proceeded to till the manure, which broke up a lot more easily than the hayfield!
With the sun setting on Saturday, the weather not cooperating, and both of us feeling rather sore from tilling, we decided to call it a day and finish our planting on Sunday. When our Trees arrived, they were bare root. We had unpacked them and wrapped the roots in moist paper, so waiting another day would not affect the trees negatively.
After a relaxing evening at La Belle Vie Maison for a tasty burger and lovely glass (or two) of wine and needed sleep, we set to work again on Sunday. While I went to church, Andy stayed home and started digging the holes. He started at 9:00 am and we finished a little after 7:00 pm that evening! While he dug holes, I brought more manure over via our trusty wheelbarrows.
The joy of bringing the trees out, and planting each, one by one made all the hard labor totally worth it! And doing it together made it even better. Using my original drawing, Andy had mapped the orchard out in a small field notebook. I numbered the tree locations and as we brought out each one, I labeled the number with each tree variety. Once we get the irrigation lines to each tree and I know they are getting water, I will spend some additional time noting their full names and then transcribe it to our larger rendering of the garden.
I’m also contemplating adding wood mulch to the rows so that it covers the black weed barrier. That would help keep the fabric in place and add to the visual aesthetic of our mini orchard. Once all the trees were planted and our tools and equipment were put away, the last thing we did was move our rod iron bench to the designated viewing area in the orchard. This will allow us and our future Airbnb guests enjoy a quiet moment in the orchard and take in the views of Mount Garfield.
Planting an orchard, even one this small is a lot of work but in three years when the trees start to produce fruit, the pain of tilling and the blood, sweat and tears (really there were no tears) will be a distant memory and the orchard will be a joyful place to be! So can’t wait….
