The Flowering spring

Eden’s Rise has gone from a low-maintenance uncultivated bit of land to an orchard screaming for attention. A week and a half without rain, grass growing through the mulch, vegetable gardens need to be prepared, the last raised bed box needs to be built and the flowers…

When transplanting bare-rooted trees, many roots are lost in the process. These little trees have a compromised root system and very little wood in their trunk. To compensate for the loss of root, I trimmed back the branches at planting time, being sure to leave only 50% or less of the wood (technically it should be closer to 30% but it was my first time and it’s scary hacking away at $50 trees!). Now the roots are able to adsorb enough water to support their remaining limbs.

This first year is a dance for life, if the roots don’t develop well enough this year, it will mean regular watering next year and the year after… it is better to encourage root development now and then have peace of mind next year that if it doesn’t rain for a week and a half, I don’t have to run over to the field with buckets of water every three days to help them out. I also want them to be developing a healthy thick trunk that will help them survive harsh winter temperatures.

How to do this?

You can imagine I gave my young trees a severe talking to this week when I walked into the field to find a dozen of them flowering! I quickly picked off all flower buds and open flowers but I know when I return today I will have more flowers to remove. Deflowering at three weeks! They are far too young!

The wood from these trees was originally a branch on a mature tree. They were cut off and grafted to a rootstock (most of mine I chose a semi-dwarfing rootstock) and shipped to me after the graft was properly healed. We can talk more about grafting in another post, but for now it’s just important as the trunk still thinks it’s a branch in a much larger tree system (plants don’t think in the sense humans do, but bear with me here guys, it’s artistic license).

When the tree flowers and a bee visits to introduces male pollen to the female flower’s stigma (the open end of a tunnel that will draw pollen into the ovary) it takes a lot of energy from the plant. By the time a fruitlet is visible, half of the energy required to make a fully ripened fruit has already been expended. This year I cannot allow/afford for the trees to bear a single fruit as it could come at the cost of losing the tree in the winter.

Simple as that.

Next year some of the smaller bushes will be allowed to fruit, like the blueberries, saskatoons, and currants. The apples, plums, and cherries will have to wait until year 3 at the earliest.

You don’t plant an orchard if you’re in a hurry!

Have a lovely week.

Saskatoon Berry

It has been a week since planting day, and I have returned almost daily to see the progress of my plants. While most of the trees are still dormant, the cherries are tentatively opening some buds. The winners in the race are my smaller fruiting plants- the bushes. There are signs of life from most of them, and several varieties have already been brave enough to unfurl a few leaves!

The real stars of the show are the Saskatoon berries. They have grown so rapidly I can almost see them grow. From a bare stick a week ago, they have shown a tremendous desire to thrive and survive. (The three pictures along the left are of the same plant a few days apart.)

Never heard of a Saskatoon berry?

 I have never heard of it being grown as a commercial crop, and had you asked me a year ago what they looked like I would not have had a clue what to tell you. It is the description from the nursery catalogue that pressed me into ordering 8 of these plants—but really after waiting so many years to have a chance at growing my own orchard, I had trouble not trying one of everything in the book!

Saskatoons make a good hedgerow, which is why my 8 plants are lined up with the neighbour’s fence, though far enough away that his horses can’t reach over and eat them! The plant is native to the prairies which makes it extremely hardy (up to Zone 2!) and the catalogue promises that Saskatoons are the easiest berries to grow, they will accept any type of soil! Perfect! Of course, now if the Saskatoons fail I will know that the problem is not my soil—it’s me!

As for flavour, I am not sure that Saskatoons are very palatable if eaten raw, but I am told that birds love them and this can be a useful crop for luring birds away from fruit that has higher market value.

How long before we can taste the berries? Hopefully these plants should be well established enough by next year to allow pollination of some flowers. A nice relief to have some plants that will bear fruit early. It is a shocking investment planting an orchard and then having to wait 5 years with your fingers crossed for good weather and low pest pressure before harvesting a decent crop!

 The star of the week, the lovely Saskatoon berry!

Planting Eden

The day arrived and with it came two large cardboard boxes.  Planting day, that is!

As soon as I saw the two boxes I realised that in all my planning I’d never really considered what to do once the trees got here. I walked in circles for a few minutes then opened one box. It is truly an achievement how many trees they can cram together in such a small space!

Once I laid my eyes on those trees, they had won me over. Twigs with freaky spidery roots, dancing the line between fragility and perseverance. I felt what can only be described as my nurturing instinct. I cannot stand the sight of a baby with stuff on its face, but these bare rooted trees needed me as much as I need them. I kicked into action and got to work.

Planting my trees was the most pleasant work I have ever done. It was a sunny day, not too warm, I was being active and surrounded by birdsong and the knowledge that I was finally doing what I’ve been dreaming of for… well, I remember drawing maps of my ideal farm with my friend Danielle when we were little more than 8 years old. Digging and planting these trees was where I belonged.

Eden’s Rise is such a beautiful and peaceful place, where even as I worked a ground hog lumbered past me. I only want to add to the beauty of this space. For now it is critical that rodents and deer do not get over keen and kill the trees before they have a chance to grow. I’ve left the self-seeded trees alone for now in order to leave current food sources unchanged. Creatures will not be worse off for the work I am doing, be sure of that!

Days are getting warmer, yet the leaves are still tucked away inside of their buds, and I am waiting on a delivery of strawberries and asparagus. 

I cannot wait to see what surprises will come from this adventure.

Next week I’d like to begin showing you around some of the varieties I’ve planted. There are so many!