I think Spring is here!

Pruning and spraying the fruit trees

The snow is almost entirely gone and and I was able to get out and trim the fruit trees!  Whew!  I was getting worried that the snow would run right up against the spring, but we have a few weeks of cold yet I think.  I was able to attack the "big" orchard and trim the apple, pear, peach, and plum trees!  I took the big tree protectors off and discovered many hidden ailments.  Many had some kind of powdery fungus (I think) - either that or some bug webs of some kind.  I trimmed the trees as best I could according to the articles that I read.  Apples and Pears get central leader treatment (and headed off), while the peaches get their central leaders removed (and headed off).   After I got all the trimming done I hit them all with a good dose of dormant oil.  I am hopeful that that will finish off any fungus, mildew, bugs, or whatever was attacking my trees!  Oh, and i dormant oiled the grapevines too.  Looking over that orchard, I think I will need to get even more deer pops and deer bait!

Sorry, but no pictures of the trees - they just look like sticks in the ground right now anyway!

Lathe finally moved off of the pallet!

I had the crane legs positioned a couple weeks ago, but then the snow... anyway, I found some nice 10ft + oak 2x8's and hefted a couple of them on top of the crane legs!  Not an easy job, but i got it done.  Just needed 2 - those things are strong.  Then i chained up the hoist and lifted the lathe off its pallet.   I unbolted it and then slid the pallet out from under the lathe.   Whew.  Was a mighty endeavor!

Here are some pics

Those 2x8's didn't even creak or bend at all when they came under load!

I hope thats was an OK place to attach the chains!

Ta-da!

close up of how little room I had to work with 

Right up against the edge here too!  Amazing that it was this close and that I didn't measure any of this stuff for fitting it in!

Next step is to get some electrical work done!  I need some light circuits and a heavy circuit or two for the woodworking and metal working equipment.   Anyway, the shop is starting to look less junky and more like a shop!

Canning shelf work

Well, the ground was not covered with snow, so i decided to plane some more oak boards for the shelves to my oak caning shelf.  I did up a bunch of the leftover boards from the woodshed.  I also noticed that I have a few boards in the shop under the workbench.  I might need those for the chop-saw station though...  No picture of the shelves yet, but i got a few of the huge pile of saw dust left from planing!

Locust trees and the search for grape arbor posts

I dared to take the tractor up to the upper edge of the field and clear out some fallen trees.  While I was up there I decided to take a couple of the locust trees down that where kind of in the way of where I want to plant my walnut trees.  Since I need the locust posts anyway, it was a good thing.  My chainsaw is still dull as crap, but I managed to get 2 decent size posts - and one small one.  I think I can count on 3 posts total from that work.  Was a mess to clean up in that mud!  The tractor was really making a mess!  I hope it doesn't damage the field too badly.  The ruts should back fall in I think long before they make hay there this year (if they are planning too).

Last two plum trees in. First lawn mowing of the season on the farm.

I got a call from the Fulton County Conservation District, Thursday, saying that I need to pick up my last two trees - they were in!

So, on my way up to the farm this weekend, I stopped at the USDA offices in McConnellsburg and got my trees!  It rained heavily at the farm on Friday night but I was able to get the trees planted.  Before I put in the trees though, I needed to relocate the electric fence because the location I wanted to place the trees was outside of the fenced portion.  I dug the holes for the trees by hand since the tiller was on the tractor from last weekend (and switching out the auger is a pain!).  It turned out that hand digging was probably best anyway because the trees were small and they needed more "width" dug, then they needed depth!  I did mix up some rhizome slurry like i did for the other trees I planted this spring but I added too much coagulant so it was too thick to dunk the roots - so I just poured it over the roots after I placed the tree in the hole!  I also used a couple of the slow release fertilizer packets each tree, just like I did for the other trees.  Here are some pics of the new trees:

The two new ones are the closest to the camera.  You can just barely see the electric fence there just to the left of the frontmost tree

From a little further away.

Showing the electric fence a little better.

I really needed to mow the orchard lawn as the grass there was getting pretty tall. I fired up the Huskee riding mower and mowed most of the lawn (not in front of the house though - that sections grass wasn't very big yet).  Then I got into the mud and somehow snapped the mower deck belt.  The Huskee doesn't protect the mower deck like the Husqvarna does so when it hits something immovable the belt evidently takes the brunt of the impact.  Anyway, I didn't have a spare belt so I got the Husqvarna mower out and finished (well - I bent one of those blades too - but I straightened it out and finished the lawn).

I also,assembled the push mower that I bought at walmart last weekend and used it to clean around the left of the house driveway and trim in general (I really got it for the elderberries).  I am thinking that I might clean some trees out of the section of the yard and plant berries there.  Mom has some berries that I could get cuttings of and I could use more berries!  It's at least worth a try!  Anyway, I also removed some of the old barbed wire fence between the big patch and the road.  I cleaned the posts out and removed old posts and rocks and mowed that area.  Eventually, I am thinking I will remove that entire section of barbed wire along the road and put up a wood "slat-type" fence.  Anyway, while mowing around the elderberries I ran the push mower into a bunch of mud and it bent the mower blade so bad that I couldn't finish mowing!  I went and got the battery powered trimmer and trimmed around the elderberries; just around the berries - not the grass in between.   Anyway, I went to TSC and got a new belt for the riding mower and blades for the Huskee and push mower.  Here are some pics of the orchard after mowing:

I had to get this picture of Smokey.  He was attacked by a sticker bush over there.  I got vengeance for him though; I tore that fence out and mowed that whole area!  No more stickers!

It as too wet to plow/till this patch - I really wish I could have.  It's supposed to rain all week and I really need to get the tomatoes and other transplants in ASAP!

Oh, and the peach trees are starting to bloom:

The cherry trees will be coming soon.  I hope that there is no frost!  Would be interesting to see a peach or some cherries this year!

Vacation summary

Yep, I had last week off and spent it up at the farm!  LOL - it was no vacation!

The main reason for taking "vacation" at this time of year was to plant the order of trees and plants that had just arrived for me from the county conservation district group.  The county gets these plants at a discount from local nurseries and then sell them at a discount to people to raise some money for conservationist projects throughout the county.  Anyway, this year I got a "small" order consisting of 6 honeycrisp apple trees, 4 plum trees, 25 elderberry seedlings, 10 blueberry seedlings,  and 12 grape vines.

Blueberries:

I used woodchips to amend the soil and to mulch around the berry plants to keep the weeds down.  I have two of each variety that was available from the county.  To document where I planted each type of blueberry, I took this video:

Elderberries:

Next I planted the elderberries.  I got 25 more this year, more than I really needed to fill the space I have, but they only sell them in packs of 25.   Before I planted the new berry plants I examined last years plants to see if they were alive or dead and needing to be replaced.  While I was checking the plants, I removed the plastic weed protection since it was obvious that the plastic was blocking the berries from spreading.  Elderberries, evidently, send out runners like bamboo and thats how they propagate.  When I was looking under the plastic I noticed many dead branches where the berry plant was unable to get light and died.  So I removed all of the plastic protectors from the old berry plants, noting only one of the old plants showed no sign of life.  I planted most of the new plants near the old plants, filling in where I could.  Then I used wood chips to surround the all of the plants (new and old) to help keep the weeds down (and help me locate them later if the weds grow up too fast for me to keep under control - that happened last year!) .  I had 8 plants left over so I took those and planted them out in the field near a puddly-problem area.  While trying to plant those berry plants, I found out why water puddled there: CLAY!  The puddly area was actually a problem 

because there was only about 2 inches of topsoil on top of almost pure white clay.  I might find a use for that clay later!

Apples & Plums:

Anyway, on to the apples!  I put the honey crisp apples right next to the crabapples that I planted last year. Planting the apples went fairly smoothly.  Just ran the holes with the post-hole-auger on the tractor.  The holes, of course, needed to be widened to accommodate the roots of the trees, but that wasn't too bad.  I dipped the roots in a root-gel mixed with endo/ecto rhizome that I bought just for this purpose.  I highly recommend this for planting new trees and shrubs.  All the trees that I planted last year were dipped in the root gel, and they all survived and flourished.  I plant only bare root transplants, so that gel really helps provide the new trees moisture at a critical time of their development.  I had a couple plum trees that I put in below the peach trees that I planted last year.  I should note that only 2 of the 4 plum trees that I ordered were delivered; the other 2 will be delivered later - or I will get  a refund.   Here are some pics:

Here are the two plum trees.  If the other 2 come in, I will put them to the left of these.

Row of honeycrisp apple trees going down the hill.

View of the apple/pear/peach/plum orchard, as it stands today.

Grape Vines:

The grape vines needed an arbor to support the vines as they mature.  I could have chosen to put the arbors in later, but I wanted to plant the vines in 3 rows of 4, with one row in between the other two rows.  Therefore, putting the arbors in later for that center row would be a problem because digging the post holes with auger would be difficult without risking crushing the grape vine plants.  That would mean  I would have to dig the holes by hand in an area full of mud shale!  Not something I wanted to do.  Therefore, I spent a day and a bit more preparing 5 posts (cutting them to length and stripping the bark off of them), that was a lot of labor!   I also had to re-layout the electric fence around the orchard.  I was able to get a total of 6 of the 15 posts for the arbor up.  At least I got the critical middle row complete, and one more that i needed to hold the solar charger for the fence (its an solar powered electric fence - surprisingly effective!)  Here are some pics:

Here is a video documenting what is planted where (sorry about the sound - it was a breezy day!): 

I took a break of farm planting to head back to the city and plant another raised bed:

Videos describing the raised beds so far: