Yesterday was a really good day. Between Jeremy and I, we managed to get the plants at the farm watered, a section of fence line cleared, trees pruned, and the yard north of the driveway seeded! It was a really good feeling to have made that much progress in one day.
The plants at the farm are clearly missing the rain and suffering a bit from being transplanted. I think most will make it – some look fine already – others we’ll have to wait and see. The strawberries look good and most of the onions look like they’ll make it. Most of the herbs look like they’re springing back, although a couple look a bit rough. The gooseberries, in particular, look to have taken the move well. The fruit trees were almost uniformly sad. I pruned them back significantly in the hopes that they will re-grow as the roots get reestablished. The Arkansas Black apple was the exception – it looks just as good as it did when we moved it. The transplant doesn’t seem to have phased it at all.
There were some other pleasant surprises during the farm trip. Several of the little mulberry trees we planted are now leafing out. Some have swelling buds showing that they’re trying to make a go of it too. Then there are a few that have clearly not made it. The peaches in that line are in varying shape. Some look really good, others we’ll have to see. I figure that all the trees in that line were free, so whatever lives is a bonus anyway! We’re working with the neighbor to turn the area from our tree-line to the fence in the upper pasture (where these trees are) into a living fence/hedge. He has offered to plant some thicket forming plums and blackberries on his side and we have the trees on our side. We can fill it out with additional trees until we have a functional fence that livestock and people are inclined not to go through.
I made a fair bit of progress clearing the fenceline to the south of our raised bed in the South West corner too. This is where the established grapes from our house are due to be planted, so it has to be cleared before we can put down paper or cardboard, soil and mulch to make the planting bed. The plan is to clear out all around our current raised bed as the expansion on the current garden. It will still be perennials and hopefully will eventually form a nice screen from the road as it fills in. Bit by bit. Of course, I forgot to take pictures while I was out there, so you’ll have to wait a bit for the photo update. Feel free to yell at me in the comments...
While I was working on all this, Jeremy was working at home. The tiller worked great today – I guess it finally decided we weren’t just going to leave it alone. He tilled the top layer of soil between our house and the neighbors, in the area where the fruit trees used to be north of the driveway and the frontage from the mailbox to the neighbor’s driveway. When I got back from the farm, we seeded all three areas and got 2 of the 3 covered with straw. Now we just have to keep them moist enough to get the grass to sprout. I suspect our water bill this year is going to be unpleasant. Enjoy the before and after pics!
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