After some research yesterday on different apple tree varieties, I believe I have narrowed it down. I narrowed it down to Enterprise, Jonafree, and Granny Smith apples because of their hardiness in my area and their strong disease resistance. The less chemicals I have to put on the trees the better for everyone!
I am also looking at some cherry trees, persimmon and*possibly* some peach trees. I LOVE peaches, and it would be great to have them straight from the farm! We didn't have great luck with them at our last place though, so I am a bit hesitant to spend the money on them.
After measuring the area we have set aside for the orchard, I found I have room for about 10 trees. At our house, apple trees would be the most used so they will make up the majority of the trees planted. They are great for homemade applesauce (the best!), home canned apple pie filling, and fresh pressed apple cider! I may decide to put the cherry trees in other places, just so I have more room for apple trees.
Leave me a comment with your favorite apple use and why! Recipes are always welcome :)
Showing posts with label homesteading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homesteading. Show all posts
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
First Blog Post!
First Post
This is the first post, in what I honestly hope will be a long lived blog. I really enjoy writing, especially to straighten out my thoughts. It helps for some reason. It may be because I am a visual learner and things just make more since once I see them on paper (or the computer screen). I also hope this blog will be a help to others looking for information and encouragement in their homestead endeavors. So here it is...
Apple Trees
So, after being on this farm for six years now, I believe I have finally convinced my father into planting some apple trees. You see, at our last place we had a HUGE orchard. OK, so maybe it wasn't that big, but for a total of three acres it was large. We had around 15 apple trees there and it sort of overwhelmed us there. They were also standard sized trees, so pruning took a lot of time.
This time we have to plant our own. That means research! I do know that we want to plant semi-dwarf trees this time. They are shorter than standard-size trees, therefore easier to prune and take care of. They are more suited to a small homestead.
I have found a reputable dealer online (recommended from several people), and now I am researching apple tree cultivars that are suitable for my state. An indispensable site for things such as this has been Purdue Extension publications. Here you can find information galore! So, for a project such as this I found a list of apple cultivars for Indiana.
This is the first post, in what I honestly hope will be a long lived blog. I really enjoy writing, especially to straighten out my thoughts. It helps for some reason. It may be because I am a visual learner and things just make more since once I see them on paper (or the computer screen). I also hope this blog will be a help to others looking for information and encouragement in their homestead endeavors. So here it is...
Apple Trees
So, after being on this farm for six years now, I believe I have finally convinced my father into planting some apple trees. You see, at our last place we had a HUGE orchard. OK, so maybe it wasn't that big, but for a total of three acres it was large. We had around 15 apple trees there and it sort of overwhelmed us there. They were also standard sized trees, so pruning took a lot of time.
This time we have to plant our own. That means research! I do know that we want to plant semi-dwarf trees this time. They are shorter than standard-size trees, therefore easier to prune and take care of. They are more suited to a small homestead.
I have found a reputable dealer online (recommended from several people), and now I am researching apple tree cultivars that are suitable for my state. An indispensable site for things such as this has been Purdue Extension publications. Here you can find information galore! So, for a project such as this I found a list of apple cultivars for Indiana.
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