A small milestone ...
In my post of 24 January 2021 entitled "An embarrassment of riches …", I discussed our ambitious plans to a bare paddock into our domestic orchard. Because our property is located on a stony ridge and the proposed orchard site is full of rocks lurking just below the surface of the soil, we decided to build little raised beds for our trees. We constructed the boxes, filled them with horse manure and other good stuff and hoped they would be ready in time for a planting about six months later. The two photos below illustrate the state of the site in late January 2021.
Ever hopeful we ordered bared rooted fruit trees from a local nursery that specialises in a wide variety of apples. We went for 14 apple trees, 2 cider apple trees, 2 plum trees and 2 pear trees and even went so far as to work on a plan for the planting. We collected the trees from the nursery in July and were quite taken aback by the minimalism of their appearance! We tried to reassure ourselves that hardy folk had been growing fruit from bare rooted trees in the Huon for decades so there was no reason to suppose that we could not do the same. Still the little stick-like trees looked completely lost in their green protective cages.
I have also documented our subsequent struggles with trying to erect a fence around the orchard (see the post of 29 November 2021, "The orchard project ..."). Finally, last week we got stuck in and finished both the fencing and also an irrigation system designed to water the trees at the turn of a tap. Luckily the replanted corner posts held firm and we were able to tension the fence wires satisfactorily using the trusty gripple tool. A few neat little twists with the fencing spanner and we had the wires attached to the star pickets. The only real problem we encountered was getting the star pickets into the ground. Not only were the rocks problematic but the difficulty of using the required force to drive in the picket while keeping it completely vertical proved challenging. Luckily we have a nifty tool to extract star pickets, so a few of them required multiple attempts to get a satisfactory outcome. Once this was all set up it was time to attach chicken mesh to the tensioned wires. The end result is that the orchard is now completed enclosed by a sturdy fence made of high-quality chicken mesh with a skirt at ground level to discourage burrowing.
Seemingly grateful for our efforts to provide adequate protection against marsupial marauders, our little trees appear to be thriving and their metamorphasis has been nothing short of miraculous. Indeed so good is the growth that we have started to notice the appearance of small bugs on the new leaves whose presence has, in turn, brought forth ants. While we have succeeded in excluding the larger pests, it seems as though our battle with the smaller ones is just beginning!
There is immense satisfaction in learning new skills and applying them to achieve a small milestone along the way to generating a productive orchard. Tired out after a full-on week of work, but also pretty happy, we decided to take Sunday off. We found a new beach, Ninepin Beach at Verona Sands right right at the mouth of the Huon River, and went for a stroll. There is nothing like a long walk on a pristine beach to regenerate the mind and body for next week's struggle. Well at least this may be true for Pepper, I feel like I need another full week to recover ...
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