Fall planting

I planted 3 apple trees this past weekend. A Macintosh, Honey Crisp, and Granny Smith. We have a great local farm stand and nursery, and lucky me, trees and shrubs were half off! We went apple picking this weekend also (Macintosh), and a) boy were the delicious right off the tree and b) boy were there a ton of apples on each tree! Probably hundreds on each tree. My husband is trying to temper my expectations of our mini orchard (he's right!) but a girl can dream, can't she?!

I also planted a blueberry bush, mint, daisies, and a Hydrangea bush that my 8 year old wanted. How do I say know to a boy asking for plants? I don't! We need to get some mulch, but otherwise they look pretty good, as they hunker down in anticipation of winter. But first, we must all get through a summer surge: temps in the 90's are expected tomorrow.

We have beds!!

This past weekend was a busy one, as we planned to put in the raised beds. My husband's friends and brother were supportive, but I was downright giddy, filled with anticipation. The weather forecast was not spectacular, and for once, unfortunately, that was an accurate prediction. On Saturday, my husband and his brother took a reconnaissance trip to Lowe's to learn what materials they had in stock, so we could plan appropriately. I knew I wanted 4 foot wide beds, though length didn't matter (8, 10, or 12 would all have been fine). We also decided on fir for the material. I looked into cedar and Trex as well, but in the end, price and flexibility won out. If I didn't like the bed location, or decided to make any other changes, I decided it would be easier to do so with a bed material that wasn't so permanent. In a couple of years when it's time for new beds, I can then choose a heartier material.

Anyway, Lowe's had 12 foot lengths, so we ended up planning for 12 foot beds. More veggies for all of us! The first trip secured materials for 3 beds. In the rain, i mapped and marked (with landscape paint) where i wanted the beds to go. My husband and I then started digging and leveling the soil while his brother and friend assembled in the garage. So far so good. We were set to dry set the first bed, so down the slope and into place it went. As we adjusted and dug to get the bed level, we encountered a rock. Not just any rock it turns out, but a boulder. Sigh. I knew the soil was tough (clay and rock), so this was not a surprise, but was certainly still a surprise - an unlucky one. We debated what to,do: move the bed, just plant around it, try and excavate? Excavate won out in the end, so another trip to the hardware store was a must to get tools to help remove (the thing was about 5 feet wide, way too much - and too dangerous- for even my very strong husband and 3 friends to move on their own.

We finally got bed #1 in place, and as we started digging for #2, discovered another boulder. This time we just adjusted the bed distance from 3 feet to 4 1/2 feet to just avoid it. Wider bed paths never hurt anyone anyways. In the end, we had 2 beds installed, a third set in place, a fourth fully constructed but sitting in the garage, and materials for a fifth a sixth ready and waiting. It was a great start, and so satisfying to look out and admire!