applenut, why they dig such big planting holes? Do they fill them up with different soil? I remember from high school geography that many soils in Africa are reddish due to abundance of iron, but I have no idea how this impacts growth of apple trees.
Members photos on Growingfruit
applenut
#282
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 donāt 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 20ā apart.
Johnthecook
#285
Biggest one Iāve caught on a boat. I live near the Cape Cod Canal and they were killing it this year, nice big ones.
Olpea
#286
Wanted to Bump this thread. There are always new members. Please feel free to post your family pics here, and view otherās pics. 
MuddyMess_8a
#291
Oh! How are you not spending every single minute snuggling and kissing that soft and adorable bundle? Thatās the most valuable and precious āharvestā of your entire year. Donāt even bother checking the brix. I can tell just by looking that the sweetness is off the charts!
hoosierquilt
#295
Oh Vin, she is so beautiful! Looks like sheās going to have her daddyās big eyes! Congratulations, you must be over the moon.
Patty S.
subdood_ky_z6b
#296
OK, since my wife is kind of leery about putting personal pics on the interwebs, I donāt think sheāll mind a few shots of our āchildā, 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 Iām just getting to sleep, he goes on a ābarkfestā, 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 heās here. Or, maybe he does it to make us think heās āon patrolā.
I wouldāve liked him to get after the deer that ravage our gardens, but heās usually napping when that happens. If I open the door to yell at the deer, heāll startlingly jump up and then go chasing after them, as if to say, āsee, Iām doing my jobā. Right.
He hates thunderstorms, and gunshots, so when weāre 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, heās had a good life here all these years. Free to roam everywhere, and chase rabbits and squirrels that he never catches. Heās a good old farm dog.
In his usual daytime āhigh-alertā mode:
