Planting trees

One of the last things that Aaron did at the farm was dig the beginnings of our tree swales.  What are tree swales, you ask?  A swale is a low mound of earth used to catch or direct water.  In the case of our trees, the swales are arcs about 10 feet across that funnel rain water to the base of our trees.  Each tree is planted in the center of one of the arcs.  When we got back from vacation, we widened and deepened the swales that Aaron dug and started planting our trees.  We have 2 trees left to plant.

We are hopeful that the swales will enable the trees to survive the drier, hotter summers we are predicted to have over the next 50 years by concentrating the rainfall in their root zones.  Time will tell if this strategy is successful.

Of the 12 trees, 4 were planted to replace the failed transplants from our house to the farm.  Another 7 will be used as a border to our North field and will be incorporated into the larger site plan for that part of the farm.  The remaining tree will be added to the line of trees close to the front of the property.  We can't wait until we can start picking fruit from these guys!