Been super busy lately adding more terraces for peach trees. I rented this Caterpillar 120awd from a local Cat dealer.
We built another 7000 linear feet of terraces, which will give us capacity for another 350 peach trees, plus room for more tomatoes and possibly asparagus.
Very cool.
So, what Iâm getting is that no matter how many trees we have, we all want more! 
Good luck.
What advantage is there to having terraces for your trees?
Your land doesnât look that sloped, for terraces to be needed so you can drive along the rowsâŚis it to maximise sun exposure?
Thatâs an excellent question. The problem is that here, we get some really heavy rains in the spring and even summer. Our soil is so heavy that even a 3" rain completely saturates the soil and starves peach roots of oxygen. Plus that hill has lots of seeps which continue to pump water to the top of the soil. A 4x4 pickup got stuck on that hill during the wet season.
Thank you, this makes a lot of sense!
You are just too cool! Fabulous!
Varieties ?
Hi Mrs. G!
Iâll probably go with more varieties which are proven here. Harrow Diamond, Rising star, PF9a, Redhaven, Ernieâs Choice, All-star, Contender, Baby Crawford, Madison, PF24c, Victoria.
Iâm sure Iâm leaving some out, but thatâs a good list for this area, off the top of my head.
Here is a completed pic of the terraces. They arenât all in the pic, but there is 18 of them. Probably average about 400â in length
"Plus that hill has lots of seeps which continue to pump water to the top of the soil"
Just curious and not embarrassed to show my ignorance.
What are âseepsâ that pump water up to the soil surface.
Mike
âSeepsâ are wet areas which leak rain water from the sides of hills, from from rain on the top of hills, underground, and show up in unappreciated areas. They stay wet for long periods and are a total pita.
Sorry Mark, hijacked your question.
That maintainer looks like a hoot to drive!!
Hi Phil,
It was different than the old H type. It was the new M type which didnât have the steering wheel. All the controls were on a couple joy sticks. That made the steering pretty touchy for me. Plus it had a lot of extra features, which I wasnât used to. In the end, it felt easier to operate than the old H type.
Hereâs a vid by some random person, explaining the controls of a similar machine. The machine I had was a little different, but the controls were very similar.
Btw, I have some questions on growing asparagus, so if you donât mind answering a few questions on that, I may call you out on one of the asparagus threads?
Sounds good. Order the super male variety Jersey Giant, sooner the better!
Had to laugh at the âNew and IMPROVEDâ controls. Is it just me or do others think todayâs crop of engineers must have grown up playing too many video games? I am so tired of controls that are difficult to use. Take my pickup truck. Not so long ago the trip odometer was controlled easily by pushing in a lever to reset. Now it is so complicated (like setting a watch) that I never use it. Instead I write down my START mileage and STOP mileage and subtract on a piece of paper.
Why are new controls more complicated than they have to be? And I hate digitalized controls! Bring back manual controls and keep it simple when possible. New and improved now seems to be just NEW not IMPROVED.
Go drive a Tesla Model 3. Almost everything is done thru the big display screen. That looks to be the trend too. Tesla wants to make the steering completely free of any mechanical linkages (turn by the wire?)âŚI hope that has some fail safe backup. Check out the new Hummer EV1. Even the battery cells communicate wirelessly in that thing. I think modern airplanes are very fly by the wire (well some tend to crash into the ground). Iâve always thought that the elite would love an airplane that they could just put in their destination and the plane would take off/fly and land without any input. No need for a pilot! Arenât mining trucks also going drive free? i know they have electric mining vehicles operating now. Trains too.
Looks awesome. Youâll be swimming in peaches someday. How many trees do you think youâll be able to add?
I application I thought was neat was watching a worker âdriveâ a vibrating packer around an area that was to have cement poured. Instead of riding the thing or guiding it like a lawnmower he had a remote in his hand. Had to be easier on the old bod! And if youâre ever operated a floor buffer youâll appreciate not having to guide it by hand - same with drum sanders. Those things can mess with you!
I WANT MY 1969 FIREBIRD BACK. Eight sparkplugs, a steering wheel, gas and brake pedals all connected and all listening to me
Mike
