May 25, 2013 editor1 Gardening, Orchard, Uncategorized

Irrigation System in place

Well, since we finished scrubbing all the paint off the floors, we had to wait for delivery of the new products from thestampstore.com. We ordered:

Walnut Acid Stain
2500 Floor Sealer
3000 Floor Sealer
Cherry Wax
Cherry Wax Applicator – Wooster 12″ Lambswool.

They all finally arrived on Wednesday or so… We were already in the midst of the next project, though, so we continued on with the irrigation system.

Since last May we’ve had a temporary watering system set up for the four pecan, one peach and one nectarine tree that are all planted northeast of the workshop. The new system completely replaces it with a permanent system, complete with automatic valves, underground pipes, etc. The old system was not ideal, since the pvc piping was sitting in the sun (getting more brittle by the day) and occasionally leaked. We have a very large crop of wildflowers all throughout the trees… some of them noxious weeds that I’ve spent a lot of time pulling. We think the new system will reduce the amount of weeds, since the water will only go in the tree wells now. However, for your pleasure, I’m posting a few of the interesting wildflowers we’ve gotten.

More white flowers... scorpion flower in background?

Lovely delicate pink flowers on tall stalks

This one gets stickery, so I yank them out.

Mesquite -- they get awful thorns... this one is now gone.

Pecan trees with irrigation system in place

Here are some more photos of the garden, back yard area with irrigation system.

Afghan pines planted for future windbreak

Pipes for backyard (fig tree in foreground)

We were afraid none of the grapevines we got from a friend were alive, but continued watering them… and now we see that they are starting to grow:

May 3, 2013 editor1 Orchard

Gravenstein apple blossoms

Early on this spring (before all the night freezes), we had the most beautiful blooms on our Gravenstein apple tree:

Apple blossoms — Gravenstein apple blossoms

The trees from Peaceful Valley (with the exception of the fig) are all doing nicely…

February 14, 2013 editor1 Orchard

Fruit Trees Planted

We had a cold front move through the area, with the coldest night being last night… since we’ve been watching the weather forecasts since the bare root trees arrived, we decided to wait until that really cold night was past before planting.

I had the trees soaking in water before planting today. I had to clean out the holes again in preparation for planting. It has been so windy, that the holes keep filling up with blowing dirt. Yesterday, I had prepared wells around the tree locations, so things were ready to go.

Peaceful Valley was running a special when I ordered the 10 trees. They sent along 10- 3 lb. bags of their Primestart Booster Blend to help the trees get off to a great start. So… after cleaning out the pre-dug hole, I mixed a bag of the primestart with the remaining dirt and compost to backfill the hole as I placed each tree. We still have a pretty good supply of the pecan compost we bought last May, so it went in with each tree as well.

We have a very intense afternoon sun here, so I placed the rounded side of the graft toward the south. After planting, we watered each tree well…

I still need to prune a few of the broken branches, but I think they look pretty good out there.

February 13, 2013 editor1 Gardening, Orchard

Irrigation System in Place

We spent a good half day putting in the irrigation system for the garden and orchard. Since we are not in the house, so cannot really use the automatic feature of the system until all the finish plumbing is completed, we will have to manually turn water on to each zone in the meantime. However, it will be nice to have the biggest part of it done early and it does give us a more efficient way of watering trees and garden raised beds until then.

We planned the lines so that each zone covers a particular part of either the orchard or garden and ran a line and capped it for future expansion in the back patio area.

While Oz put the lines together, I was the ditch-digger, cleaning out all the trenches with a trenching shovel. Our first test of the lines showed that we had no leaks in the system, but that dirt and small pebbles were caught in the valves, keeping them from operating properly. After taking them apart and running water to clear the lines, everything works well now.

This project cost about $300, including the controller box. Easily it would have cost $1500 if we paid a subcontractor to do it… another example of the value of sweat equity.

February 8, 2013 editor1 Gardening, Orchard

Fruit Trees are on the Way

I got email notice earlier this week that our fruit trees will be here on Saturday! So… preparation of the orchard, including irrigation system, hole-drilling, etc. had to be done. We mapped out where we want the garden beds to be and planned the irrigation system for them and the grape arbor all at the same time. Together, Oz and I measured out where everything would be and tried to design an efficient system of valves and lines. First, we had planned the tree location (photos earlier); now we planned the layout of the raised beds, marking them with stakes. Using a 4′ x 8′ wood frame for a template, we marked the corners of the bed locations.

To begin with, we’ll have 6 raised beds, with planned space for 3 more when time and energy allow… we have 6 grape starts promised from a local retired Veterinarian who has an amazing garden, so we planned for those plants along the back garden fenceline, too.

To make the trench-digging easy, we rented a trencher from Davis Hardware (great folks to work with) in Roswell. In only a couple of hours, we had all the trenches for this project dug and returned the machine.

After trenching was complete… we rented an auger to make hole-digging easier. With 11 fruit trees (yes, the number has increased due to the generosity of a friend, who purchased a fig tree to add to the orchard) and 6 grape plants, we’d never have gotten the holes prepared in time (and would have needed the pickaxe with the ground as hard as it is). In less than an hour, everything was done…

Six grapevines aligned with irrigation lines

January 22, 2013 editor1 Orchard

Fruit Orchard

So… even though the house progress isn’t to the point that we can concentrate on the outside, based on the urgings of a very good friend, we decided to go ahead and start the orchard. Peaceful Valley has a special going on right now on their bare root fruit trees — 10 of them delivered for only $199. Here’s what we ordered:

1 Honey Crisp Apple Tree (Semi-dwarf)
1 Gala Apple Tree (Semi-dwarf) (the gala is a good pollinator for some of the other apple trees that are not self-fertile)
1 Cox`s Orange Pippin Apple Tree (Semi-dwarf)
1 Gravenstein Red Apple Tree (Semi-dwarf)
1 Montmorency Cherry Tree (Standard) (wonderful pie cherries)
1 Craig’s Crimson® Cherry Tree (Dwarf)
1 Bartlett Pear Tree, European Type (Semi-dwarf) (pears do very well in our climate — the bartlett is a good pollinator for the D’Anjou)
1 Red D’Anjou Pear Tree, European Type (Semi-dwarf)
1 Harcot Apricot Tree (Semi-dwarf)
1 Late Santa Rosa Plum Tree, Japanese Type (Semi-dwarf)

We took some time yesterday to mark out the planned planting locations for the 10 trees when they arrive. We are placing them approximately 12′ apart in a zigzag pattern to maximize efficiency. Most of the trees are semi-dwarf, so this should be adequate. The full-size Montmorency needs a bit more, so we’ll place it on the outside north-most spot. We’ll put in the watering system pipes and rig it so we can water on a timer until the entire irrigation system is finished after the house interior is done. We are in zone 6-7, so we made sure all of the trees do well in zone 6 to ensure we don’t lose them in a year with an especially cold winter.

Photos of the staked out orchard:

August 2, 2012 editor1 Gardening, Homemaking Skills, Orchard

Water Bath Canning – Pickles and Pears

Saturday was canning day for dill pickles and pears. Altogether my Mom, our friend Priscilla and I canned up 14 quarts of pickles and 4 quarts of pears in light syrup. The pears were from the tree in my parents’ back yard. It has taken awhile for them to begin to get really ripe and delicious. You’ll notice the lovely pink color… we added 3 drops of red food coloring to each quart. My Grandma Pickett used to do that, so we carried on the tradition.

As for the pickles, they are from a recipe of my Grandma’s also… she got the recipe from a neighbor in Portland, OR, so they are called:

Mrs. Volz’ Dill Pickles

Pack the cucumbers into clean, hot jars (we used quarts), leaving at least 1/2 inch headspace. Add 1 clove of garlic, a generous sprig of dill, and a grape leaf on top. The recipe says to use a horseradish leaf, so if you have those available, use that instead of the grape leaf (I learned from Priscilla that the grape or horseradish leaf makes the pickles more crisp… all those years I never knew the reason for the grape leaf). If you like, a small red dried hot pepper can be added to each quart jar for a little zip.

Meanwhile, bring to a boil a mixture of 1 quarts water, 1 pint vinegar and 1/2 cup pickling salt (don’t use regular salt with iodine — get pickling salt or use kosher salt). Pour the pickle juice over the cucumbers. Use a plastic utensil to remove air bubbles and make sure to leave 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims clean and add a canning lid (from simmering water); add the ring and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. (This was my addition… Grandma never did the water bath part. Back then, they just let the jars pop from the boiling water and didn’t water bath process them. Nobody ever died from her pickles, but I cannot recommend that you use that method.)

The work on the house continues… but we did have to make use of the wonderful cucumbers from Priscilla’s garden and the pears from Mom and Dad’s tree…

July 18, 2012 editor1 Orchard

Tree Update

For any readers who remember how our pecan trees looked when they were first transplanted, here are a few photos of the progress of their growth after two months. The photos were taken July 12:

I’m also including a couple of photos of the nectarine and peach trees that are thriving… and a shot of a bird’s nest in one of the trees. We also planted some calendula under each pecan tree… we expect beautiful flowers soon.

We have modified the watering schedule to three times/day for each tree. As the trees become more established, we’ll go to less frequent, but very deep waterings.

July 15, 2012 editor1 Orchard

Bartlett Pears

OK… to be fair, this isn’t exactly on the Homestead, but yesterday I helped pick 4 bushels of Bartlett Pears from my parents’ tree.

For the past few days, we have been trying the pears to see if they easily detach from the tree when moved sideways from the stem. Yesterday morning, after a quick trip to the (somewhat disappointing) local farmer’s market, the pears snapped right off the tree, showing us that it was time to harvest.

From an article sent to me by a very good friend, we learned that the pears should be ripened in a specific way to optimize texture and taste. So… after picking all the pears we could reach, we will be chilling them for two days in the coldest part of the refrigerator, then letting them ripen for 5-7 days in Mom’s basement. After that, we’ll be canning, making jams and fruit leathers and eating them fresh.

Here’s a photo of almost the entire harvest (1/2 bushel was already in a neighbor’s basement):

May 5, 2012 editor1 Orchard, Uncategorized

Pecan Tree Placement

Yesterday was a red letter day! We got two of our four pecan trees placed on the Homestead. While the process was going on, I was able to video them. See the progress here:

Preparing the Hole:

Planting the Tree (1st Tree):

Planting the Second Tree:

For more information about transplanting mature pecan trees, check out our previous posts on Mature Pecan Trees and Pecan Trees for the Homestead.

Now that the trees are planted, we know we need to be very diligent about watering them heavily until they are very well established. Initially, we plan to fill up the water wells around the trees about four times/day. After they are well established, deep watering about every 6 days is sufficient for good production. New Mexico pecan farmers are known for harvesting very heavy crops. Brandon told about local farmers producing about 3000 lbs (in the shell) per acre (which means our four trees — about 1/10 acre — have the potential to yield 300 lbs/yr for us). This is very high relative to Texas farmers, who generally yield closer to 1500 lbs/acre.

Brandon Kuykendall, owner of Tree Digger LLC in Roswell, NM took care of the whole process for us. You can contact them at bktreedigger@yahoo.com or by phone at (575) 317-8536. Great people… we highly recommend working with them. They can transplant other types of trees, too…