New drainage ditch, dug by Dave to shunt groundwater around to the north of the orchard:
Breaking ground in the new orchard with the Kubota:
As usual, there were plenty of rocks in the Maine coast soil. From David Mallet: Pulling weeds and pickin’ stones/ Man is made of dreams and bones/ Feel the need to grow my own/ ‘Cause the time is close at hand:
Happy Ben on tractor:
Joshua spreads the seed. We used an old seeder with a cloth bag, it worked well though there were some mouse holes that increased the application rate:
Peas/Vetch/Oats mix – 50 pounds for 1/4 acre. This is the recommended cover crop for building soil in Maine:
Raking in the seed. The soil is still quite rough with roots etc, so the raking was not as effective as it might have been, but fortunately there have been frequent showers in the last week, and as I understand things are germinating nicely.
Niece Nola Bean in the Rhubarb Patch:
December 1, 2011 at 3:24 am |
[…] We start today with a colour photograph of a drainage ditch, courtesy of Five Islands Orchard. […]