April 7th, 2008 - First plantings
It took me nearly TWO hours yesterday to plant greens, carrots, rutabagas, peas, and watermelon. I do not know why it took so long. It didn’t feel like that much time so I was surprised when I went inside. No more planting till I come home. But there’s plenty of other yard work.
I need to prune the apple trees. I thought I was being good last year by not touching them. At the end of the season I re-read the pruning materials, wondering if I was to do something in the fall. I should have pruned them right after planting! Ack. So now I’ve lost a year. And I’m scared to chop them off because I might ruin them. I had to remind myself that the worst that could happen is that I kill a tree–and they only cost about $20 so that’s okay.
When Maggie and I got back from our walk, I went straight for my pruning guide and hand held cutter. I started on the shortest one–the one I was least afraid of ruining. My cutter is in bad shape and I may have injured the tree. So I stopped and am sending Eric to replace it this morning. I have to finish this before we leave.
I’m probably not going to do raspberries. I just don’t have the time and in 4 weeks it might just cause me to have bad berries. (You should plant them in really early spring.) And the area still needs to be prepared. So instead, I’ll prepare the area at the end of the summer. ::Sigh:: I was really looking forward to berries this year. Well, at least I’ll get the strawberries in. (Assuming they aren’t mailed while we’re gone and die.)