Spring has Sprung

    As mild of a winter that we had, we are excited that "spring" has finally come to our little farm. With the warmer weather it's a struggle to work inside. For now we will stay outside as long as the sun allows, and then pick away at projects inside. I am making it my goal to clean up the yard this year, add lots of mulch and wood chips, and edge all the trees and gardens. I want to reduce the time we spend managing our yard and this will be a good start. Right now it's the perfect time for tree pruning and we started on our apple trees. We left the rear trees alone last year and it was time to tame them.

    The first summer we owned the house they produced a huge crop of green, milder flavored apples that turned out to be nice for sauce.  Last summer we didn't get any. The large crop from the previous year drained the tree of a lot of its energy, hence the loss of a crop the following. To mitigate these variations we trim back the trees, thinning them out so they produce but do not produce too much. We are left with apples that ripen better and are more flavorful. The trees may not look very different (I failed to take before photos as usual), but a lot of thinning has already happened. I decided to top the left side of the tree and may do the same to the right next summer. I do not want to stress the tree this year, but the less cuts you can make, the fewer new shoots you will create. You can not be afraid of cutting back, apple trees are very resilient and in this case we are looking for production not 
necessarily beauty.

    This summer I am planning on expanding the raised bed section and adding 3 to 5 new ones. I may not get them planted this year, but would like them ready by the fall. Currently this area was chest high weeds, tree stumps, piles of stone, and tree cuttings. First step is clearing the area. Once the beds are in place, I am looking to put new fencing around all of them, the recycled fencing is showing its age. After that, It will be wood chips for the pathways. 

    The garlic is coming along nicely, I planted 150 heads in the fall. Adjacent to that is the clover slowly coming up for the chickens and ducks. In the background is the chicken run and water tank. This weekends project may be installing gutters for the water tank before the coming rain. We are looking to use the collected water for the garden and duck pond. If this summer is to be as dry as last, then we will certainly need it to save our well.