Our First Fruit Trees

Although, we have owned property with fruit trees already present, we've never planted our own. This is something we've looked forward to for years and it has finally comed to "fruition", pun intended. After our recent update as to what was happening on our farm, The "Covered Y" Farm, we promised some detailed discussion on the various projects; well here's the first installment, fruit trees.

This fall several more trees will be added, but we were so anxious to get started we decided to do some spring planting. It is very motivational and uplifting to simply get started and know that your dream is underway. As I mentioned before, we are very thankful to Tim at The Urban Homestead for his help and knowledge and his beautiful and healthy plants.

Cherries

We chose one each of two varieties; Montmorency, a sour cherry for baking and Stella, a dark cherry for eating out of hand. We certainly intend to plant more trees and additional varieties, but we are off to a wonderful start.

Peaches

We also selected two peach trees for now. First was Raritan Rose, a white fleshed peach, supposed to be very aromatic and tasty, it is a semi-clingstone which grows well in East Tennessee. Second we chose a standard variety, Redhaven, it is a more reddish peach that is a freestone type peach.

Apples

We only planted 3 apple trees for now. Our plans are to plant several more in the fall; Tim at The Urban Homestead says despite popular opinion, fall is the best planting time in our neck of the woods. We planted one Macintosh and Tim had a couple of York trees with burnt roots that he made us a deal on. We removed the root ball and planted the tree deep hoping for new root growth above the graft, meaning these trees wil come in as standard trees rather than semi-dwarf.

Pears

We planted two pear trees as well. The first choice was a Seckel, we've read and heard so many good things about it that we had to have one. Second, we went with a D'Anjou which will be a good pollinator for the Seckel and is a good pear in its own right.

Grapes

The last fruit that went into the ground was 10 Concord grape vines. We have not established any trellis or lines for them yet, but will soon.

All of the plants and trees went in the ground on the 27th of March. The trees were all approximately 3-5 ft tall and will probably producee fruit with 3 years. We are excited and anxious, but unlike the times we live in are willing to wait for the proper timing and enjoy the fruit in its season. That's it for now. Check back soon for details on bees, raised beds, chickens, hogs, barn improvements and more. I may also post some baseball pictures from recent tournaments we've played for the sports fans out there.

God bless,
Mike