Thursday, February 11, 2010

It's that time of year...

So it's that time of year again! The seed catalogs have been arriving for a couple of months now and it's now time to start submitting orders for veggie seeds! The Conservation Districts are also all starting to release their lists of trees available for their Spring sale, so it's time to start putting in the orders for trees and bushes, too! I love this time of year! :)

I've been really struggling with some decisions about competing priorities this year... veggie garden vs. berry patches vs. orchard. And I think I've finally made up my mind on what to do. While I'll still be planting what most would probably consider a huge veggie garden, it will really be scaled back compared to the one we had last year. This way, I can focus on the orchard and berry patches. I'm afraid that if I don't do this now, we'll never get the orchard under control and producing good, quality fruits. So fruits will be the priority for 2010. For now, we'll keep working on getting all of the existing fruit trees pruned in the orchard. And I'm talking major pruning... like they'll all be about 1/3 of the size they were to start with once we're done. I'll also be adding some new trees this year (post to come on that). And I'll be working on growing our berry patches. I put in some blackberry bushes last year and I am planning to add a couple more to the patch. I'll also be re-working our raspberry patch again - moving it to a new location and adding some new varieties. I'd also like to get some blueberry bushes this year, but I still need to figure out where I'm going to put them. And hopefully I'll be able to make a decision on where I want the strawberry patch to go so we can get started on building up a raised bed for them this summer.

I'm hoping that by focusing on the fruits this year, we'll have a pretty self-sustaining tree fruit and berry production going on in a couple of years, which would be awesome!! I'll be posting again soon with my specific plans for the orchard and berries, as well as my specific plans for the veggie garden. Whomever would have thought that I'd be so excited about this kind of stuff five years ago? Haha! :)

3 comments:

Mary Voogt said...

Sounds awesome!!! I'm so jealous. I wish we had room for that kind of stuff. I love having fresh fruit...but it's so expensive. I'll be over to shop at my "local" farmer's market this summer ;) 2 hours away is local, right? Can't wait to see how it turns out.

We just planned our garden and ordered our seeds. It'll be interesting to see how things grow with our new, extended garden.

Michelle said...

Oh man, you make me feel lazy! I'm tired just thinking about you doing all of that :)

Sara said...

Mary, it surely is local! :) I can't wait to see your post about the seeds you guys selected this year!!!

Michelle, it's really not THAT much work... and the pay-off far out weighs the work, so it's all good!