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.

Musical Plants

Nope. This isn't about the way the wind rustles through grasses or the sound two trees make rubbing against each other in the gully. This is about moving plants. This morning, the pampas grass found a new home.



I moved the stone edging too and sprayed the grass.



In a couple more weeks, this crape myrtle will be moved into that corner.



Russian sage, not doing well where I planted them near the house, have been moved to the crape myrtle bed currently occupied by coneflowers (new seedlings are up) and Icicle speedwell.



I also planted a rooted cutting of winter jasmine that a Gardenwebber was nice enough to send me this spring. She got peonies from me (and Trevor).



The pile at the end of the driveway gets smaller, then larger. I've got a month to get all this in the ground. I'm going to plant a lot of it tomorrow.



Three white crape myrtles were planted out. They were wintersown and potted up months ago.



I planted out the two blueberry bushes too. The closest one is Blueray. The furthest is Elliot. They should both reach about 6' tall and wide.



I've got tiny hairy balls.



Just because I want to remind myself this winter why I've got so many pineapple salvia cuttings in the basement under lights...



It's 72 degrees and cloudy.



No, it's 72 degrees and sunny.



In either case, it's muggy. More rain is expected the next few days. We got another 1/2" over night. Off to shower, then work. I noticed this morning that the slight limp from yesterday is gone. Let's hope it stays that way at the store.

A Lesson in Futility

This morning at 5:30am, it was 23 degrees. The high today should be around 50.

I know this because I was up at 5:30am. I arrived at the nursery at 7:15. There were at least 1000 people already in line and more coming in every minute. The foreman ordered everyone into two groups, Americans and non-Americans. There were probably 200 or so in my group. They took our name, our phone number, asked whether we had worked there before (no), who referred us (no one for me), and whether we could start immediately. That was it. No applications, no resumes, no cover letters accepted. I don't know what I expected, but that wasn't it.

I stopped by Lowes where I worked last summer. I'll go back this afternoon to speak to my old manager about another summer job. It won't pay the bills entirely, but I hope to supplement my income by selling plants, veggies, and doing some model making on the side when I have the opportunity.

I've got 4 cuttings that I plan to stick this morning. Two Elliot Blueberry, one Bluecrop blueberry, and a White Princess Peach.

I may go outside and collect some more brush for firestarting. The forecast calls for snow again next Tuesday.

12:48pm - sunny, breezy, and 45 degrees.

The flowering quince is coming on strong. It's the first thing to bloom each year. This one is way back in the woods beyond the edge of the yard. I took several cuttings from it a few days ago and stuck them in the hoophouse. I hope they take root. I love the graceful, weeping form of this shrub.