Couple reasons for the big holes. First is to loosen the soil to allow the tree roots to penetrate easier, and yes, this makes a big difference. Notice they are separating the topsoil from the red clay, which is due to the abundance of iron. They back fill the hole the same order; clay first, then topsoil. The soil is fertile, but on the acid side.
The other reason is to chop back the intruding roots from other trees so they don’t rot in the planting hole or continue to grow and compete with the young apple trees.
Clearing the land, digging the holes, and mowing of the weeds are all done by hand, a huge job for a 1,000-tree orchard where the trees are spaced 20’ apart.
Oh! How are you not spending every single minute snuggling and kissing that soft and adorable bundle? That’s the most valuable and precious “harvest” of your entire year. Don’t even bother checking the brix. I can tell just by looking that the sweetness is off the charts!
OK, since my wife is kind of leery about putting personal pics on the interwebs, I don’t think she’ll mind a few shots of our “child”, even though he is about 11 years old now. He is a funny dog, not much of a watchdog, seems to welcome all kinds of 2-legged strangers to the property. At night, usually when I’m just getting to sleep, he goes on a “barkfest”, and woofs at just about anything. I have never seen what he is barking at, sometimes I think he just does it to let other critters out there know that he’s here. Or, maybe he does it to make us think he’s “on patrol”.
I would’ve liked him to get after the deer that ravage our gardens, but he’s usually napping when that happens. If I open the door to yell at the deer, he’ll startlingly jump up and then go chasing after them, as if to say, “see, I’m doing my job”. Right.
He hates thunderstorms, and gunshots, so when we’re out practicing, he heads down the hill and cowers under the old house. For some reason, if you shine a light in his direction, that spooks him too, and under the house he goes.
But, he’s had a good life here all these years. Free to roam everywhere, and chase rabbits and squirrels that he never catches. He’s a good old farm dog.
Great pic Moley. Love the sign. You need to gain some weight though. You’re entirely too trim and athletic looking. Everyone feels better when their chefs are overweight
