Orchard, a New Beginning!

     Here you can see how large my father-in-law had the vegetable garden.  I believe my husband said he planted 30 plus tomato plants last year among many other things.  Since my husband and I won't need such a vast area, we are going to change the east corner into an orchard. 

     We plan on using the area east of the chicken house for our cherry, apple, and peach trees.  Then extending a little north for the black raspberries and strawberries.  In the future we might add some blueberries, rhubarb, and possibly another variety of apples or cherries. 

      I know it is hard to see the starter plants in the freshly tilled dirt, but the 25 wet spots each hold a strawberry plant. 

     Along the twine I stretched to mark a straight line, there are three black raspberry plants.  Maybe next year we can buy another pack to make the raspberry bed a little thicker.

     Here you see three larger dark spots which each house a fruit tree.  To the right is a sour cherry tree, in the middle is a peach tree, and on the left is a Jonathan apple tree.  One more tree would complete the square, but that's another project for next year. 
     Now we just have to nurture them for a few years before they start producing fruit.  I can't wait until we have fresh fruit all through the summer.  Strawberries will ripen in early June followed by black raspberries and sour cherries.  Then there will be a little break before the peach tree in August and apple tree in September. 
     Next big project?? Mulch the new plantings to help hold in moisture and keep away weeds before sowing some grass seed around them.