The Orchard

What a difference a season makes! Remember the orchard we planted in February? Those beautiful 23 sticks of trees? Well look at them now., a slight seven and a half months later!!!!

Looking East

The beautiful NectaPlum

Cherry

That's a Quince tree.... the one with the antennae

Nectaplum leaves.

Your Peach on Drugs.......

This is your peach leaf:

This is your peach leaf on drugs (Not really.... but it looks really gross):

This is Peach Leaf Curl. Ugly. It's caused by a fungus and if it's really bad, can cause defoliation and a decrease in fruit production. I've picked off all the affected leaves and have put them in the city green waste can. They compost at a really high level of heat, so I am sure that will take care of the fungus. I'll spray my little tree in the winter with a copper spray (yes, it's organic) and see what next year brings!

I gave my love a cherry

... that had no stone,
I gave my love a chicken, that had no bone
I gave my love a story, that had no end....

Did your mom ever sing that to you when you when you were a kid? A cherry that has no stone is a cherry blossom. That's what I gave my love for Valentine's Day - an orchard. And that's what he gave me.

It was a LONG process.

Two weeks ago we brought the trees home.

Then The Gentleman Rancher let us borrow a post hole digger attachment for the tractor so we could dig 23 holes. What a HUGE time saver. THANK YOU to the G.R.!!!!!

Then I needed to make gopher baskets (we have an incredible gopher problem here on Seven Cats Farm), so baskets made from chicken wire are put into the ground to keep the roots safe. Most were purchased, some were hand made. We gathered composted horse poop from the neighbors as well.

On February 13, 2011, friends and family gathered to plant an orchard:

Baskets are bent into proper shape

Holes dug out, baskets put in, trees in the holes and then we backfill the holes with soil and compost mix.

Here is a photo of me with My farmer, her husband and one year old son.

Then we make a moat and water in the trees.

After lunch, we put guards around the trunks so critters can't chew on the young trees and kill them. Also the moats are mulched with wood chips! This is my Auntie tenderly wrapping an apricot tree. I think it's my favorite photo of the bunch!

And now, deer fencing! Eight foot t-posts, pounded into the ground to support 7 1/2 feet high fencing. Can you see the little trees in there????? We have fig, apricot, peach, almond, apple, pear, quince, plumcot and nectaplum.

Six and a half hours later and we were all tired, but done. 23 trees and five boysenberries are planted. Thank you to EVERYONE that had a part in making this orchard happen. That includes you - Woman Who Speaks with her Hands!

I gave my love a cherry, that had no stone for Valentine's Day. Excited, exhausted. The beginning of a dream. Maybe next year we'll give each other chickens, so we can have eggs (otherwise known as a chicken without a bone).

Thanks to Mimi for photos of the day.

And on a warm and sunny day in January............

... 23 trees and five boysenberry bushes found their way to Prunedale...

...and if you look very very closely, you can see The Lovey's reflection in my glasses.  :-)

Preparing for an orchard

Bamboo markers with tips painted red - used as place markers

First marker placed

Can you see them?

I am just tickled.

My life is incredible.