We Plant Trees!

We have spent these last couple months waiting for the snow to melt, trying to clear the pasture for the cherry orchard. I plan to have my garden interspersed with the cherries, so we need to get those trees in the ground. Besides, the apple orchard, with its 80 enormous holes that we no longer plan to use, depresses me.

But yesterday, Phil and I decided that we should go ahead with the apples. The land is cleared; we have all the accoutrements we need; we could get in a bunch in a day.

So today, rejoice!, we put our first trees in the ground.

Tools needed: pick ax, two shovels, garden fork, pole driver (to get the fiberglass stakes two feet into our clay soil); hose, watering can, knife (general cutting), pruning sheers, measuring tape.

After I determine which tree comes next—all planned out multiple times and divers ways over the last several months&mdashI dig out the trees from their sawdust hibernation and put them into a bucket of rain water with some kelp added.

Phil digs the holes.

We decided to run our own experiments on our planting. On some holes, once Phil digs out a hole large enough for the rootball (a varied size, as each rootball is different), we add a couple cups of hydrogen peroxide. This is supposed to help flocculate the soil. Hydrogen peroxide supposedly also helps produce more abundant crops, but I know nothing about that. Sometimes we skip this step.

Next I dip the roots into a mycorrhizal fungi mix, which is supposed to help the root gain nutrients from the surrounding soil much better.

I hold the tree in place, measuring it against the tape so that we don't get more than a few inches out of our eight foot spacing. Phil backfills, while I try to keep the roots spread. The largest root points to the magnetic north. On the one tree that didn't have a strongest root, we put the absence of roots to the magnetic south and called it good.

At some point during the backfill (either immediately, midway, or near the top), I add a cupful of either our minerals (mostly soft rock phosphate, with some other things thrown in), or a cupful of kelp. I'm interested to see if there is any difference.

Really, though, every tree is so unique, I'll be surprised if there are conclusive results. I made notes not only of what our planting method was, but also notes about the roots of the trees, or how vigorous they appeared initially. I like having that record of what we did. I play at being Scientist Farmer.

Then we water each tree, tamp down the dirt, prune each tree, put a protective wrapper around each tree, put gravel directly at the base (to keep voles away), and tamp again.

The whole process takes a half hour per tree. Or, since Phil and I are both working on this all the time, a full hour per tree. So we have 200 hours of working together to get these trees in the ground. It's going to be a busy few months.

The fifteen we planted today make us so proud!



Also, our pigs have grown. Below, you can see Phil "riding" one, as the girls eat their food with complete absorption.