Plant It they said

Plant It they said was Originally Posted on February 10, 2011 by lavarock

I still have about 50 holes on the farm that need fruit or spice planted in them. I have to decide what needs to be added and that is a problem.

I laid out the property so that I can have many varieties and they are all together, thus some trees that are not as popular (or bear lots of fruit) are planted in areas where only a few trees would fit. There may be just 4 of them. The alternative would be like navel orange where I have up to 10 of a tree.

I need to rethink the planting a bit. For example, I only planted 4 acerolas, yet after tasting one, think I need to plant 6 more. I have room in that row if I switch what were potential new trees to another row. I don’t HAVE to have all the same trees in one area, but am trying to not intermix them if I can help it.

I actually did not get many of the varieties I wanted on the first pass, no navel oranges, no Valencias, etc, so I have to make sure I get those before adding other citrus or spices.

I also amd investigating signage for the rows so that visitors and pickers can easily find things. Oh, there will be a map, but still…

I am thinking or stret signs and I already have 1 for the farm that was inexpensive. I envision “Myer Lemon Lane”, “Valencia Vista”, “Black Pepper Place”, “Acerola Ave”, “White Kadoda Fig Forest”, “Cacau Circle”, Coconut Corner” and so on.

Then again, I could just accurately label the rows with what is there and use the genus and species, but that sounds so boring

As you know I planted these trees in October and have already cultivated a few acerolas and have some very small miracle bush berries. have had blooms on many of the varieties of citrus and see some small fruit starting. I don’t know if they will grow large enough to pick this first year, but time will tell.

So far I see the turmeric has lost its leaves and I have no idea whats up with that. The lone jobatacaba lost all its leaves, yet the tree does not look dead, so perhaps it was transplant shock. Time will tell with that one. I have a few figs growing.

I planted a coconut tree that was 12 feet tall. That grew from a coconut my neighbor gave me and should produce coconuts at some point years from now. I also planted an eggplant bush and a plumeria I grew from a twig.

I need to get a cover crop and mulch laid down to close out my NRCS contract and hope t odo that within the month.

I am still redoing a part of the irrigation system and need to bury part of the 2″ water pipes that go along the driveway. That will allow me to use te tractor to cut a row and drive over where the pipes are to turn and come down the next row, rather than have to keep turning around before the driveway.

I also have about 12 plaves where I want to trench (slightly) the old middle driveway so I can bury a piece of conduit with an irrigation tube inside. That will allow me to use the old driveway also. I’ll trench and bury the conduit and cover with a small amount of cement (with coloring added to make it blend in with the lava rock).

I still have another year ebfore I have to start pruning my coffee trees and I assume 1 to 2 years before the fruit really starts to come in. Some trees may take 4 or 5 years, so it looks like I’m in a holding pattern for a while.