Signs of Spring

One of the first signs of spring are baby chicks. I found an early arrival at Wilco Farm. Couldn't decide what to get even after reading an article titled "Pickin' Chickens" from the magazine Hobby Farms - so decided on 2 barred rock, 2 golden sex link, 2 black sex link, 2 Rhode Island red, and 6 Araucana (the ones that lay green eggs) - got extra of those for some friends who wanted only a couple each. Since chicks do better when there are several raised together (helps them keep warm) they are staying together for now. Lost one of the Araucana's the first night, but the rest are thriving, starting to grow feathers - which helps to insulate them - so I can't put them outside until they get them all. For now they are in an old horse trough in the greenhouse under a red heat lamp. Still a bit skittish - to tame them I pick them up every day and pet them and tell them what pretty feathers they have. Today they were introduced to some cracked corn for the first time. It's like candy to a child once they get used to it! Plus regularly give them a pinch of green grass - an introduction to their eventual life as free range chickens.

Fruit trees don't like wet feet!

Here is a photo of the mounding method we used for planting trees - most do not like wet feet. Pictured is Ken getting ready to add some wire to keep the chickens from scratching all the mulch off the mounds and it helps to keep deer from eating the tips of the young trees!

Dewdrops

Bless the delicate dew drops on branches after a rain.

Yesterday was muggy when I got home from One Green World so I shed my coat to plant 3 more new bare root fruit trees before the next rain storm hits.

Ken and I have recently added 7 disease resistant varieties to the existing 30 tree home orchard with the thought that once these new ones are producing we will remove some of the not-so disease resistant older ones! And besides - I fell off the ladder last summer from swatting a hornet while picking peaches. Who needs to climb ladders anymore! The life expectancy of a peach in a wet climate is typically 15 years (those that have survived in my yard are at least 25 years old.)

It seems funny that we have put so much work into reducing the work it takes to keep fruit trees healthy in the Willamette Valley. ~La Sigh

Tips for planting:
Our orchard is flat - so often what happens when we plant trees is that once the ground settles it leaves a hollow for water to pool around the young tree trunks. I don't want to even count the number of trees we have inadvertently weakened or lost due to wet feet! So this year we are trying something new (for us) - planting our fruit trees on a mound. Who knows - you might even benefit from our past mistakes.

Our process - this time:
1) Ken spaded the grass under in the areas intended for planting - while I haul 3 wheel barrow loads of topsoil and aged compost to put on top of that (aged is the key word here - not to hot to burn young roots). As a MG I was taught to use existing soil to plant trees in but I can't bear planting anything directly into this clay!
2) Plant trees directly on top of this soil mixture - being sure to mound the center of the hole too so the roots are supported - adding just enough soil on top of the roots to keep the tree upright.
3) Gently tamp the soil directly over the root system to press out air pockets and water the soil well which also helps settle the soil around the roots.
4) Continue adding dirt - up to just below the graft if bare root or at the height it was grown in a pot.
5) Now for my topper tip - to keep the grass you just spaded under from coming up around the tree roots try putting 6 layers of newspaper down and cover this with mulch - being sure not to cover the graft union of the rootstock.

And last but certainly not least remember - do not fertilize fruit trees the first year.