Planting my cordon apple trees has turned out to be a bit of an undertaking. The dry weather this weekend has let me make a start, although really its still too wet.
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| The muddy strip where my cordons are going to grow |
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| A bit of extra treatment for the bottom of the posts |
To start with I dug in my three large (4"x4") posts. These I concreted in about two foot deep, then I added another smaller post around three feet in front of it and braced diagonally off this one.
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| I just mixed my concrete dry as there was enough water in the holes! |
Once these posts were in I dug a trench from one side to the other (it was not easy digging I can tell you). The reason I decided to dig a trench rather than individual holes was due to the ground being so wet. I figured that if I did it like this and added some grit to the bottom it might act as a mini french drain and save the roots sitting in water, only time will tell on this one! At the end of the day there was a lot of water sat in the bottom section of the trench (it's all on a gentle slope) and not so much a the top so I guess it's working.
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| Adding the wire between the posts |
I added four wires between my posts to tie my bamboo canes to, although I haven't tightened them yet, I just hope the posts aren't too far apart!
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| Hooking eyes brought from eBay |
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| The bottom section of trench is holding a bit of water |
The next set of jobs should be more fun. I've got to add grit and compost to the trench, tie in my bamboo canes and then plant my trees - watch this space!
Your land looks a bit like ours....soggy!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing how you train the cordons in
We will be planting our fruit trees at the end of the week and I may steal your grit idea for drainage we are after all on a river flood plain (although the river hasn't flooded here in living memory )
Soggy and clay-y! The grit idea has worked great and all the water ended up at the bottom of the slope. Prevents "soggy bottom" of the roots!
DeleteLooks like that is quite a project. I am crossing my fingers on our orchard. Trees look good so far.
ReplyDeleteCurious, have you ever heard of spraying your fruit trees with tobacco water in early spring? Suppose to prevent disease and keep the bugs off? Supposedly you soak 1/2 cup tobacco in water and then use the concentrate, so many tablespoons to gallon of water and spray on trees? Recipe not in front of me so don't have the exact tablespoons in front of me.
I have heard about tabacco as a spray. Years ago on holiday in gambia I went to an eco friendly resort where they were saving all their fag ends in bottles of water (looked bloody disgustin). They then used this as a spray to keep the bugs off as they were having real trouble with tthem over there. Not sure how good it was but they seemed to think it worked. I think you'd have to use it sparingly as I kniow if tabacco is grown then it does stuff to the soil (not sure what stuff though. I'd need to do mroe research but as a none smoker and how expensive tabacco is in this country I'm sure there'd be a cheaper alternative)
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