Spring Planting

It looks like all the trees in the orchard have survived. So I ordered one more cherry tree and two more pecan trees as pollinators. I have been ordering seeds and plants from several companies for the past few years and have been pleased with their results. Guerneys, Stark Brothers and Harris Seeds are all good options for purchasing seeds and/or plants. We should receive our orders and begin planting in the next 2 weeks.

Plants and Trees

5/9/07 Over the past 2 weeks we have planted our garden and established our orchard. Here is a list of the plants, seed or plant and the variety. We'll also keep this up-to-date as to the progress of the plants.

Seeds:
corn - silver queen, golden queen. 5/14/07 good germination
green beans - slenderette. 5/14/07 no sign of plants
lima beans - ford hook. 5/14/07 no sign of plants

Plants:
tomatoes - big boy, whopper. 5/14/07 big boy plants are thriving, but whopper plants seem to be very fragile, and not surviving.

With the seeds and plants, we added fertilizer, peat moss and potting soil. Prior to tilling the garden, we amended the soil with compost from a paper plant. This did add some nitrogen to the soil. I have watered the seeds twice with soaker hoses in the last 2 weeks but am careful not to over-water with the rain that we have had. I'll add photos as the plants germinate.

Trees:
Apple - yellow delicious, red delicious, granny smith
Cherry - monmorency, bing, black tartanian
Peach - elberta
Pear - bartlett, orient
Pecan

Bushes:
Blackberry - apache, arapahoe 6/10/07 4 of 6 plants now have leaves
Blueberry - jersey 6/10/07 all plants now have leaves
Raspberry - reville. 5/14/07 putting out leaves and branches already. 6/10/07 2 of 3 plants with leaves are now flowering and could produce some fruit this season.

The trees and bushes also had peat moss and potting soil added to them. The tall trees have been staked up to prevent breaking during strong winds.

5/24/07 - the blueberry and raspberry plants seem to be doing well. I received them as bare root and soaked them for a few hours before planting. 3 of the 6 blackberry plants seem to be Ok, but are slower. Below are a few photos of growth to-date:

The Garden

The thing that I like the most about farming is gardening, watching things grow. There is certainly something romantic about living off the land. So last year, we tilled, planted, watered, put up deer fencing, etc., etc., etc. I think we harvested 2 tomatoes and a very small radish. And the year before that we all enjoyed one very small watermelon. Basically the best thing to gain from clay soil is, well, bricks (which is next on my list if I can't get anything to grow this year).

Each year, I have new optimism. So this year I have gotten off to a good start. We purchased compost from a paper company (very green and clean) and put a thick coat on the garden spot. In the last few days, I tilled the soil 3 times, in 3 different directions. I'm hopeful. In the days and weeks to come, I'll add photos as changes in the garden occur.

4/25/07 The next step is plant selection. I'll purchase some seeds and fertilizer locally and then some fruit trees and bushes by catalog. My plan is to begin planting this weekend. Once the planting begins, I'll install the deer fencing. Ok, don't laugh, but I'm doing my best to live with these woodland creatures. They really are pretty and also destructive.

4/28/07 Today we planted our garden. First we started by measuring between the rows and then tied string along the rows so that they will be straight when planting. This is the best way to optimize your garden space and at the same time spacing plants for optimum growth. Then we hoed each row and planted.

Since we are working with clay soil, we added fertilizer (10-10-10) as well as Miracle Grow potting soil to each row. When we cleared the land, the soil was full of pine trees. While this situation was great for the trees, it has not been good for new plants.

Once the plants and seeds were added, we placed soaker hoses on each row for irrigation. This has proven to be the most efficient form of irrigation for the hobby farmer. I try to only water 1-2 times per week, since we are watering from our home well. And the soaker hose places the water exactly where you need it, without waisting the water.

5/14/07 - update. We now have 3 rows of corn that have germinated well. However the lima beans and string beans are not doing well at all. Any thoughts? I plan to plant more corn this week, staggering my planting to lengthen the season.

5/23/07 I'm really disappointed with the plants that have just not germinated. Corn seems to be doing Ok and the tomato plants that I purchased are robust. I'm going to plant corn again in a different area on the farm, primarily to test the soil in different areas. Below is a photo of the corn growth to-date.


6/2/07 Today I planted the last of the silver queen corn and then planted 3 rows of golden queen corn. These have both been planted in another garden that we tilled near the creek. The soil is darker and has grown grass well in the past, compared to the soil in the first garden which is red clay. The new garden spot is also bottom land and hopefully will be rich in nutrients.


8/7/07 Well, the garden is done for now. We did harvest tomatoes, corn, string beans and watermelons. Although the crop was not large, I did find that corn did the best and the key was the soaker hoses, at least for this year. Below is a photo of my crop and my farm help.