It’s that time of year here on the farm where all of the heavy lifting is done for the year and I’m able to shift into ‘maintenance mode’.
We borrowed the neighbors seeder and planted wheat in the front two pastures. It went in at roughly 75 pounds per acre across 50 acres of pasture.
We now have eight calves birthed and if all goes well 4 more will appear between now and the end of the year. We’ve put out 4 tubs of a molasses and grain mix and have put the hay back into the rings. The cows are consuming 4 bales a week.
I started work on the fruit trees that I planted last December. First order of business is putting down some fertilizer and getting the planting area further established.
I put out a cup of 8-8-8 fertilizer beneath each tree. and then put week-block and hay on top of the entire planing area. The above photo was taken before I began, the one below about half way through completion.
I’ll finish the rock perimeter in the coming days and then begin working on trimming back the branches. The Plum and Peach Trees should be trimmed to the ‘Open Vase’ method. The ‘rules’ for getting there are shown in the graphic below.
Now, here is a close up of what my Plum and Peach Trees look like. I’m a fair way away of having them trimmed out right.
The apple and pear trees need to be trimmed as well, but they are clipped differently. The photo below is of the 4 Apple Trees.
They will need a lot of work to get them to look like the ideal central leader trees shown below.
Anyway, there is a lot to be done to get the trees into shape but well worth the work if they produce to their potential.