Sunday, February 27, 2011

Final orders are in...

... and my palms were sweating a bit as I hit the "submit order" button.  Trees are expensive!  But I consider this an investment in our future and our food security... and for the cost of about 1.5 months of groceries, we are purchasing bushels and bushels of food for years to come. 

From Miller's Nursery, I ordered:

50 Ozark and 50 Tribute strawberry plants
3 Heritage, 3 Latham, 3 Bristol and 3 Allen raspberry plants
2 Ivanhoe, 2 Atlantic, and 2 Herbert blueberry plants
25 SuperMale and 10 Purple Passion asparagus plants
1 BlackGold standard cherry tree
1 Summer Rambo semi-dwarf apple tree
1 Sops of Wine semi-dwarf apple tree

From Jung's, I ordered:

2 Composters http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=53150&c=212&p=Garden+Gourmet+Composter I intend to set these side by side, with one for "fresher" compost material and one for "finishing" material. 
1 Sunlight calculator to determine how much light different areas of the property receive.
1 bag of soil acidifier, for those blueberry bushes!

Add to this my Gurney's order of:

1 standard Gala apple
1 standard Liberty apple

and we have the beginnings of our orchard.  I would have loved to have added some anjou pears, some asian pears, peaches, a plum tree or two, lots of ferns and an entire vineyard's worth of grape vines... but it was just not practical to do so.  The vineyard will be next year's project, after we've done some more research on pruning and trellis construction.  Stone fruits are fickle and prone to disease, and I'd like a year or two of successful fruit tree pruning and maintainance under our belts before we attempt to grow peaches without spraying the heck out of them. 

One step at a time, we're going to build ourselves a working homestead that provides us with sustainable, affordable, and healthy food year round.  What a concept.

1 comment:

Catherine said...

You're going to be busy this spring!

My partner planted asparagus 6 years ago, and I wasn't that excited. But now it's my favorite thing to cook in the spring, and I'm sad when it's gone.

Good luck with your wealthy garden/orchard!