These startlingly red catkins were out along the lake shore in Wellington when we took my mother-in-law there for a stroll along the new boardwalk on Thursday. There were lots of tree swallows darting about, making the most of the insects that had been brought out by the sunshine.Yesterday I took Mike and Mum to Toronto to catch their flight back to the UK. I'd arranged to pick up my fruit trees on the way back, so did a detour of 70km or so up to Siloam Orchards, near Uxbridge, to collect them. The apple whips were fairly small, but the apricot, pear, plum and cherry trees were all over six feet long, so I was glad that there were only three of us in the car.
I won't be able to get the trees in the ground until Wednesday at the earliest, so I've lined them up against the north wall of the small barn and put shovel-loads of wet soon-to-be-orchard soil on the roots so that they won't dry out.There are 13 apple trees in all, mostly historical varieties and a mixture of cider and eating apples, some which will store well, some which will be good for turning into apple purée. I've never had fruit trees before, so it's really exciting to be able to plant my own orchard.
2 comments:
I envy you. I have always wanted an orchard. In a book by L.M. Montgomery calld The Story Girl, the family had an orchard but instead of having Macintosh or Spartan or Granny Smith, they called the tree after a family member who planted or had that fruit as a particular favourite. So you would be eating Aunt Susan's apples instead of Macintosh. Always thought that was a lovely way to remember people.
I have a question for future you. How are the whips doing? Did they grow quickly ( for a tree)? We have a farm and would like to grow some fruit trees along the fence line. Finally talked my husband into it. Not an orchard but the next best thing.
I am very much enjoying your blog .
Janet Levis
Hello Janet!
The trees grew fairly fast and well until the very dry summer of 2012, when we lost a lot of them to the drought. But the survivors are still going strong. They're still not huge - shorter than me, certainly - unlike the apricot and plum trees which are now twice my height!
Post a Comment