The Orchard.

The fruit trees are producing this year. The Morris plum, planted last summer, has a few tiny fruit developing.



The Thundercloud plum. This tree was originally installed in the perennial bed. As it grew too large, I moved it last fall to the backyard. There are tiny plums forming on it as well.



There are peaches on the Belle of Georgia.



Figs on the rooted cutting from last spring. Probably a Celeste.



Strawberries are forming. Let's hope the critters let me taste a few.



Tent caterpillars. I saw their nests, high in the trees out back a couple weeks ago. They're all over the yard.



The blueberries are just starting to bloom. The blackberry should be next. Fruit will begin ripening in mid summer. My seedless grape vines are growing again, but have never produced fruit. Last year I did find a few tiny grapes, but they disappeared long before they were ready to harvest. Maybe this year.

It's 52 degrees. The high today will only be in the mid 60s. I might need long pants.

More propagation.

I'm using a method I tried before to propagate figs again this year. I lost my cuttings to mold and rot in late winter last year. This time, I've cleaned the cuttings really well using anti-bacterial dish soap. I scrubbed them with a toothbrush, then dipped them in a 10% bleach solution. Once they had air dried, I wrapped the tops of the cuttings in damp newspaper, bagged them, and set them on one of the fluorescent lights downstairs. The hardest part is maintaining a constant temperature inside the bag. I still don't have that figured out. But I do have root initials.



Last night, I cleaned, washed, wrapped, and bagged 4 cuttings of a Marseilles fig. I'm still not sure if it's a white or black fig. I'm hoping it's the white one I tried last year. The cuttings are similar in texture and color. I guess I'll know next year when they fruit.

I've also been checking out methods of propagation that I've never tried before. I spent some time last night searching for methods of budding and grafting. I'd like to add a second variety of peaches to my Belle of Georgia tree. It's not quite time to do that, so I'm studying the methods. If anyone has any experience with budding or grafting, I'm all ears. If I'm successful with the peach tree, I plan to add another type of plums to my Morris. My sister has a tree that I can get the materials from. The cross pollination would result in more fruit. I might even try it with figs, since I know it's possible.

I can't do much about that today. Instead, I'm waiting for the mail. I should receive a new throttle part for my dad's old chainsaw. The push rod fell out of the assembly the last time I used it. Once it arrives, I'll head out to the gully and spend the day cutting firewood. If it doesn't come today, I'll work on the kitchen some more. It's 34 degrees and foggy. The weatherman promises sunshine by 9am. I think I am to be disappointed.

The Orchard.

If I'm going to have a meadow, I should really have an orchard too. And all this on half an acre where 1/3 of the space is driveway, house, or mature trees. I wonder if I can purchase sunlight?

In any case, I was told to mark the fruit trees half price. I didn't really need a 20' wide Morris plum tree, but I have one now. I planted it this morning beyond the lower potager. I filled the very large hole (which, for some reason, was very easy to dig this morning) with cow manure compost and created a small berm to retain water. This area is very dry in summer, but I'm hoping the leaf cover from this fall will start adding new organic material to the soil. In February, I'm intending to sow seeds of creeping thyme back here.



Also part of the orchard, which runs from the upper potager, along the wild, all the way to the gully, there's a sad little Montmorency cherry that I planted this spring. It's a dwarf variety and spent most of the summer struggling as I wasn't able to get back there and water while on crutches. The twigs are still green when snapped, so I hope it comes back in the spring. If not, I probably don't have room for it anyway.



There's also the spring planted Belle of Georgia peach. It has white fruit.



Then the Apache blackberry.



Two blueberry bushes.





The first of three figs. I think the others may get planted in the area under the dead oak tree.



And the Thundercloud Plum. This variety may or may not produce plums, but I'm hoping that it will give me some color and variety in the backyard. It will be transplanted this fall as soon as it starts to lose its leaves in earnest.



I found enough stone in the woods to finish edging the crape myrtle bed.



I have two beds left that need stone. The largest is the shrub border in the very middle of the back yard. Above that, the rose garden needs some attending to as well. Along the front side, I planted strawberries.



I'm not sure where to put my three seedless grapevines that are currently struggling for sunlight along the back edge of the upper potager. The soil back there is hard packed clay full of roots. Maybe I'll stick a couple 4x4s into the middle of the meadow and let them have at it. I'll really need to amend the soil a lot better than I did when I first planted them. Poor things have been moved three times since I got them last year off the clearance rack. They were the first fruits I bought. Oh, what a mistake that might have been.

It's 57 and overcast. Heading to Morrow Mountain today to take a look at some leaves. Apparently, they have them there too. No rain in the forecast today, but the clouds and my right leg say otherwise. Going to shred a few more leaves before Laura arrives. They'll get dumped into the crape myrtle bed, hopefully finishing that area for the week. I'll move on to the potager beds next week forking in the leaves I collect from Larry's yard.