Spring Tree Order

[pa_friendly_guy]

I sent in my tree order today. I bought 4 Chinese Chestnuts , 2 mulberry and 2 Halls Almond trees from Gurneys with their 1 day 50% off sale today. I also bought 2 Hybrid Pawpaw trees, 3 different Filbert nut/ Hazel nut trees, and 2 northern Hardy Pecan trees from Millers Nursery out of NY State. I paid full price at Millers but they have named varieties that I specifically wanted, gurneys have just sort of a generic brand of tree, and often only one type. I am looking forward to spring planting. I plan on planting 2 of the chestnuts at my hunting camp and 2 in the upper field. The Pecans and the Mulberries will also go into the upper field which is past the orchard and there is plenty of room out there. The filberts/hazelnuts and the almonds will all go in a line along the road where the power company had clear cut my privacy barrier. I have already planed a row of fairly high decorative grass along there and I plan on planting a row of Butterfly bushes behind the grass, then the nuts behind that toward the house. That should fill in and give me back the privacy that I want, and the nut trees should not get high enough to mess with the power lines. The trees should get good light there along the road and the nuts should be easy to gather up along there too. The upper field is a bit out of the way when it comes to picking, it was more a matter of space for the larger trees. The Pawpaws will go in the orchard and replace some peach trees that died a few years back. I wish I had made a better permaculture plan 30 years ago, unfortunately I had never heard of the idea until 2 or 3 years ago. So now I have to just sort of fill things in where ever I have the space keeping in mind the size of the trees and what will shade out what as they grow. Larger trees to the northern side toward the steep hillside. The upper field already has a couple of oak trees and a black walnut growing up there, as well as a bunch of native trees like sassafras and wild cherry , maple, pine and toby trees.

[matt walker]

My tree order from Burnt Ridge just shipped! Forty-some trees on their way. I've been fencing like crazy these last few days. I'm ready!

[pa_friendly_guy]

40 additional trees is a lot Matt, you are very energetic. Have you already dug the holes for the trees? I am guessing that if you have already started to put up fence the holes are already dug, I started to sort of look at spacing the other day and actually did start to dig a few holes to see how things will fit together. My holes need to be a lot larger, I will get the tiller out when I plant. I have not even bought the fence yet, I did go last month and price it though. I plan on cutting the stakes for the plastic fence off the place. I don't know when they will ship me the trees, but I am guessing maybe a month from now because of how cold it is around here still.
What types of trees and what varieties did you buy Matt. Are you thinking like George to put them in what will be pasture for your live stock? We all want to hear about your project.

PS Pictures are always nice,

[matt walker]

I haven't started digging yet Guy, don't remind me how much work I just bit off! In truth, I am not that worried since almost all of the trees I ordered are the cheapo little tiny ones. Most of them were in the $3 range, so according to you I will only need a $6 hole. I can handle that. Lol.

Here's the list:

2 Timber Black Walnut
2 Black Walnut
1 Bush Butternut
1 Connecticut Early Chestnut
2 Angelo Boitano European Chestnut
1 Dorris Hazelnut
1 Gamma Hazelnut
1 Heartnut
2 Shagbark Hickory
2 Yellowhorn
1 Desert King Fig
1 Black Beauty Mulberry
1 Kreibich Nectarine
1 Nijeseiki Asian Pear
1 Chojuro Asian Pear
1 Orcas European Pear
1 Black Tartarian Cherry
1 Ranier Cherry
1 Shiro Plum
6 Oregon White Oak
4 Oregon Ash
1 Flavor Supreme Pluot
6 Black Locust

I've also got 2 of the Warren Pear George recommended coming from the nursery he recommended.

I do intend to copy George as much as possible, and will certainly plant quite a few in the livestock area. Most of the fruits though will be close to the house, and I've been working on fencing out the chickens so I can get back to mulching and growing edibles underneath the fruit trees. Additionally, my rotational grazing improvements over the last few weeks are going to allow me to start to spread the trees out in areas that occasionally are grazed. I don't quite have the focus and foresight that George does, so a lot of it I'll do by the seat of my pants and then reflect on how I could have done it better with regret. I love that.

[pa_friendly_guy]

That sounds like a great mix of different varieties Matt. I agree that the fruit is nice to have in Zone 1 right around the house. The only suggestion I would give about the rest would be to think of when the trees drop their feed for the live stock, plant trees that produce at the same time together in the same pasture so that the stock can use it all when it drops. Then rotate the stock to the next pasture when it is ready to drop its free food for your live stock. Sounds like you may have a lot of fall producing trees, you might want to use that for fattening up the Hogs. , so where do you want the hogs when you are finishing them off for market?

[George Collins]

Youngblood's brother, my uncle once told me a story about a bunch of blueberries he planted once. He did a mountain of research and planted by the book. His goal was to extend his blueberry harvest over as long a period of time as possible. Towards that end, he planted early, mid and late season varieties.

Result: they all bore fruit at the same time.

Lesson: either he was lied to by the nurseryman or the reported ripening times are made out to be far larger in the book than how things pan out in the real world.

There will always be confounding variables that will have to be accounted for or accepted. For instance, a late season variety planted on top of a hill versus an early season variety planted at the bottom of a hill that also receives partial shade during the spring months and full sun as the sun rises towards its path at the summer solstice.

I said all that to say that whatever plans I have made are akin to battle plans - they are destined to go awry at the first sound of battle. That is why I have a general plan only. The specifics will have to be worked out at a later date when I have actual eyeballs on how the trees are actually dropping. Chances are that my pseudo-neatly laid out groupings will be all for naught. If such is the case, my guess is that the hogs will tend to gravitate towards those trees that are actively dropping and as such, will naturally tend to rotate themselves.

This first planting will likely show me where my mistakes are. The next pasture I hope to tackle is a 20 acre pine thicket.

Then there is that 120 pasture that is on the long range radar screen. I want to be a true expert by the time I address that monster though.

[matt walker]

Well, they're in, and it's pouring rain! Mission accomplished.

I have to confess, some of the $2 trees only got $1 holes. Maybe even $0.75 holes.

[pa_friendly_guy]

You planted 41 trees in a DAY ? Oh My Goodness. That is a lot of work Matt, even if you cheated on the size of the hole, lol. Small seedlings really do not need that big of a hole, when planting pine fingerings they normally just put the spade in the ground, pry open the hole and put in the pine seeding in and remove the shovel. Case closed, tree planted, maybe step on it to make sure the hole closes, that's it. Of course pine fingerlings used to be $35 per 1000, so if some of the trees died, Oh Well.

[George Collins]

One day's work will potentially alter your land for the better for the rest of your life. The benefits will likely extend also to your neighbors, your livestock and the local wild life.

I might be able to guess how you are feeling about now:
Legs are quivering.
Hands are scratched up.
Face is wind burned.
Food tastes exceptionally good.
Your bed feels better than it has in a while.

Life is good.

[andrew_k]

41?! I put in 30 eucalypt, acacia, and sheoak yesterday. Boy am I feeling it today!