Orchard Maintenance

September 21, 2018

Work on the new orchard continues at my Bedford, New York farm, and it looks great.

As many of you know, I now have an orchard surrounding my pool - one with a variety of apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, pear and quince trees. They already produced lots and lots of beautiful fruits this season. To keep it well-maintained and looking its best, my outdoor grounds crew manicured the pits under every tree - 204 of them! This was a tedious process, but I am sure you will agree, it was well-worth the effort.

Here are some photos - enjoy.

: This orchard surrounds three sides of my pool. We planted more than 200-fruit trees here, many of which started as bare-root cuttings. Fruit trees need a good amount of room to mature. When planting, be sure to space them at least 15-feet apart.

: We already had many, many fruits growing on these trees this season – in part because of how nutrient-rich the soil is. These trees are all staked for added support, but I wanted to improve the appearance of the ground below, so I decided to create a square tree pit under each tree.

: A tree pit is the actual space under the tree itself, where it was planted. The first step to creating manicured tree pits is to measure the space and decide how large the pits will be. Here is my crew foreman, Chhiring, measuring an area that is four-feet square.

: We use gardener’s twine to line up the squares so it is perfectly straight down each row of trees. The bright color makes it easier to see in the grass.

: Chhiring secures the twine at one end of each row. This takes time to do, but this is a very important step in the process – it will guide all the work that is done.

: Chhiring then runs the twine perpendicular to create the squares around each tree and down each column.

: Each tree pit is now well marked for the crew – four feet by four feet. In a few years, after the trees have matured, we will enlarge the pits, but this size is perfect for now.

: Small, left over sections of bamboo are used to secure the twine – we always use materials we already have on hand.

: Next, using a landscape edger, Pete creates straight edges around the square tree pits, one by one.

: Only the outer pieces of sod are removed to save time and to leave the tree itself undisturbed. Each tree was planted with nutrient-rich soil and compost, so it is important to keep that environment for each specimen.

: Meanwhile, Chhiring cuts weed cloth to fit the square pits – each piece, four feet by four feet. Weed barrier cloth is a geotextile with a meshed texture similar to burlap to let in water, but keep out the growth of weeds.

: Back out in the orchard, Chhiring cuts a single slit from the edge of the weed cloth to the center in order to custom fit the cloth onto the pit. Then he cuts a hole around the tree trunk.

: We use sod staples for a lot of our outdoor garden projects. These are available at all gardening shops and can be bought in bulk.

: Chhiring secures a sod staple at the end of the slit to secure the cloth to the ground. He also places one at every corner. This weed cloth will greatly decrease the amount of weeding done around the trees.

: The trees look so great already – I love the geometric appearance of all the square pits.

: The next step is to fill the pits with mulch. All our compost and mulch is made right here at the farm. Do you know the difference between the two? Mulch is mostly cut down wood chips. It serves as a good insulator to keep in moisture. Compost is the biologically active material that results from decomposition of organic matter – it feeds the soil, so all your precious plantings thrive. To learn more about compost and mulch, refer to a previous blog we posted. http://www.themarthablog.com/2017/01/mulching-composting-and-repurposing-at-the-farm.html

: For this phase of the project, the crew uses a shovel, a hard rake and a tamper.

: As Carlos puts down the mulch, Chhiring rakes it evenly across the pit.

: Keep in mind, these tree pits do not need a lot of mulch – just about two-inches deep. Too much mulch will suffocate and kill the tree. And always remember, “bare to the flare”, which means nothing should ever be above the tree’s flare – the point where the tree stops widening at the bottom.

: Chhiring makes sure each pit is evenly covered. The edge will help to keep the mulch inside the pit when it rains.

: Look how pretty it is all raked – he’s done many of the tree pits already.

: Finally, the area is very gently tamped down, so the mulch looks even more tidy.

: The finished pit will have a slight mound for good drainage away from the tree, but notice there is also a bare circle around the tree trunk to make sure the mulch does not keep the tree from aerating properly.