This week I got a text from Southern States letting me know that my fruit trees had arrived. We ordered 2 cherry trees for Uncle Chris and Aunt Pammy to celebrate the birth of Kaleb. I had no idea what to expect. I have never dealt with fruit trees before other than picking fruit off my grandparents peach tree in Kansas and climbing a cherry tree in the yard of a house we rented when I was a kid.
They were 29.00 each and we were told that they were 1 year old. I imagined that a 1 year old tree would be around waist height. No, in fact some of them were over my head! Mom got us some trees as a gift. She let Kiernan, our great apple lover, pick his favorite: Honey Crisp. I had already ordered a Bramley from one of the very few American sellers of that tree. We then needed a 3rd pollinator and together chose a Fuji. We all like Fuji and there is the Japan connection that helped bump us into that final choice. Additionally Mom loves plums and peaches so she ordered a Damson Plum tree from Southern States and then we picked up a cheap (12.99) peach sapling from Tractor Supply when we were picking up mulch. I am quite interested to see how the Southern States tree does because it had no root ball. It looked like a cutting stored in sawdust to keep the sapling moist.
On Friday we had warmer weather. We went out to Noodles and Company and did a little yard work.
The daffodils that my dad planted for Christmas are coming up and when Megan had her nap I fought with rocky soil to prep for fruit tree planting.
Did I mention rocky?
I have been watching lots of YouTube videos about planting and pruning fruit trees and because of that I got some soil additives (manure and bone meal) to put in the holes right before putting the trees in. I got both apple trees and the plum tree in the ground while Kiernan played video games in my car to keep out of the rain. Planting in the rain made the watering and digging easier but it was in the lower to mid 40's and super muddy.
On Saturday morning we were gearing up for Kiernan's first Tball session. I had a whole anxiety morning. I think I was nervous about the Tball but mostly I think the issue was that I blacked out in the morning, nearly passing out. I think that I just got dehydrated planting the tress on Friday and then stood up too quickly the next morning. I tend to get dizzy and light headed when I am dehydrated anyway. Unfortunately the anxiety and the cold made for a bad combination. Kiernan was a little anxious too. Much less than me of course but he has never been on a team before and he didn't know any of the kids or coaches and none of us were sure what to expect.
He made this face for a while and then he really got into it. He ran and threw and did the alligator catch and listened to his coach. It was handy to see how he stacked up with the other kids. He has never done any tball except for playing around whacking nerf balls in the front yard so I though he might be the worst one there. The kids range from 4 to 6 so he was right in the middle for age and as usual on the tall side. There were 10 kids on the team lined up in terms of skill, and he was 4th from the end. I feel this is a reflection of his natural athleticism as there was just no significant learned skill. Unfortunately about 10 minutes before the end of the practice session he got hit in the ear by a tennis ball.They were doing hit and catch drills. It was his turn to catch (this really means chasing grounders with the alligator technique) and his partners turn at the T. His partner was either Connor or possibly Carson...there is also a Cody and a Mason. Kiernan's name makes him a good fit for this team. Mason is the only non hard C or K name of all 10 boys.
His overall review of the experience was positive but with some ups and some downs. He is ready to try again on Thursday.
I really liked his coach.
After Megan's nap we went to see Kaleb and to plant the Cherry trees. Then it was off to Scearce's in the genuine warmth of 70 degrees! Kiernan unwound in a mud bath while Megan played on the swings.
click to embiggen
When we got home the sun was setting and we pretended it was summer by having a cookout.
We went to bed early. All of us were exhausted from the outdoors and the playing and planting and the big meal of veggie burgers and grilled potatoes and onion that Nana had ready for us.
Sunday morning dawned cold. I poked around at all our starter plants and made a big pancake breakfast. David on the other hand started what turned out to be an all day project.On Friday we switched cars and I used his extra storage capacity to bring home some pallets from work.
Thank you Eric for the pallets!
David broke them down and used the wood to make me some beautiful sturdy and highly functional strawberry pyramids.
I leveled out some spaces near the blueberry bed and by the blackberry patch then added some left over from last years soil conditioner. Once the pyramids were finished we placed them in their new locations and filled them up with some good bag soil.
We took a far too cold but much promised trip to Jimmie Cone for a break. We ate Ice Cream in the cold and headed home for some more spring cleaning and planting.
I will spare you the pictures of mop and broom. No one actually needs to see my sparkling bathrooms to know that I spent the day productively.
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In the end this is the thing I will brag about this week anyway.
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