Farm OH OUCH!!!!!

[ioujc]

WOW!! We live on a BIG ROCK!! It is surrounded by a lot of little rocks......well actually they are not all that little! We just dug a hole for the trees that are due to come later this week......OUCH!!! It took a full hour! Pick axe and old screwdiver and a hammer to break up the rocks after about 2 inches of dirt. Got it down about 1 & 1/2 feet though!!

BUT OH THE PAIN!!!!! Man, my job is great for money, but not so wonderful for staying in shape. I have really gone to pot in the year I have been back in the field of Mental Health! And now I know JUST HOW BAD!!!

I'm not gonna be able to walk tomorrow!!!

 

[Kathy in WV]

Its rocky here too. Grandpa always said rocks added minerals to the soil. Personally I'd rather never see a rock in my gardens!!! Sorry for your ouchies but at least you got your hole dug!

 

[AlaskaSue]

I feel for you. My folks live on Kodiak Island (aka The Rock). They have to blast when they expand the garden. Seriously.

 

[moldy]

Have helped DH lay block most of this week. I"m grateful for Summerthymes tincture and ben gay!

 

[vessie]

What actually's happening is this...

Under the soil, the rocks are actual living beings who are moving around and if you decide on where to dig the hole for your tree or anything large, they will actually Move into the spot your wanting to plant!

This is common in western Wa. V

 

[ioujc]

LOL!! OH VESSIE!! I actually laughed out loud really LOUD! THAT is FUNNY!!

But yes, I always say that the rocks here actually breed if you are not watching them constantly!!

 

[Illini Warrior]

any decent size rocks actually sell well around this area - they truck them in by the pallet box load ... the bigger ones that get moved around by the tractor bucket bring about $100+ retail .... what rock we have is layered limestone

 

[West]

A inch at a time. A large heavy braker bar, sharp shooter and post hole digger. Get three people and rotate using said tools. Perferbably three neighbors or three kids.

 

[vessie]

LOL!! OH VESSIE!! I actually laughed out loud really LOUD! THAT is FUNNY!!

But yes, I always say that the rocks here actually breed if you are not watching them constantly!!

You laughed because you know it's True!!!

You can *see* them in your mind's eye, moving towards the shovel! Lol! V

 

[ioujc]

Yeah, it really seems that they DO!!

Well, got a note yesterday from the nursery company that they are going to hold the trees until spring>>>>>I really did NOT want this, as I prefer to plant in the fall, but since it's almost WINTER now, I guess that's good>>>>>plus it puts off all the digging!!

What we have decided to do is have the local backhoe come in and dig the holes just before the trees arrive!! YEAH! I have altogether about25 trees coming.....some from the Department of Conservation too!! Those are the really GOOD ones.....persimmons, paw paws and elderberry.

 

[summerthyme]

At least around here, the trees and plants we get from the DEC are TINY. As in, the "hole" they need is barely 6" all ways, tiny... (they do grow, surprisingly well, but they don't require the care and huge hole commercial nursery stock needs.

And I do agree with getting commercial equipment in, if your soil is that rocky. I worry about whether or not you're going to be able to get those expensive trees to grow, if there is THAT much rock vs soil in the area. But it's not worth wrecking your back... heck, the copay and chiropractic costs will add up to a lot more than an afternoon's renting of a backhoe and operator!

Summerthyme

 

[ioujc]

I HOPE and PRAY we can get the trees to grow!! I plan to back fill the holes with really rich soil which will hopefully get them off to a good start.

What happened was the acreage we bought had (it's just 6 acres) had been over grown by saplings, so the idiots took a bulldozer and scraped all the small trees out >>>>>>along with all the top soil!!

You can tell there used to be about 4 inches of top soil, because around the BIG trees, which there are lots of big oaks and hickories, the roots have been exposed down to about 2 to 3 inches and there's only that much gone because the tree held some of the soil. Yes, we had a stupid person we bought the land from!!

I gradually am replacing the soil by buying bales of hay and placing them in areas around the yard near the trees and other areas that have been "scraped raw" to try and bring back some soil as it rots. And taking a lot of the "forest litter" from the area not bulldozed, and allowing it to stay on the ground also. The front of the property REALLY needs a lot of help. Lucky I have been a fan of Ruth Stout for over 30 years!! She was the lady who wrote the first books about using just mulch to destroy weeds in the garden......it works somewhat in the garden, but really well to rebuild soil.

The top soil was scraped off into the valley which is pretty steep, so we have all kinds of wonderful vegetation down there!! Lots of BIG trees and nice undergrowth that would be able to almost support us if there ever is a SHTF situation. I plan also to improve on that with the trees from Conservation. Plus that is where my "medicinal" garden will be...all the herbs that can stand some shade and maybe?????some ginseng if I can get it going and keep the deer out>>>>>all dreams for the future!! Right now I have to get things built up in the front!!

 

[summerthyme]

*DON'T* use really rich soil or compost in the hole! It leads to the development of an "introverted" plant, where the roots all sort of hug themselves, snuggling into that lovely, rich soil...and when the nutrients are depleted, too often they lack the ability to *then* reach outwards for needed nutrients,. You can end up with sort of a "flower pot" problem, complete with root binding, except in the ground.

BTDT on the morons "clearing" ground with a bulldozer! This farm was cleared late, and the last fields they cleared they simply took a dozer and pushed the trunks, stumps, roots and a couple feet of good topsoil off into the woods. It has take a lot of years to build those fields up.

For the fruit trees, dig nice big holes, break up the outer rim of the hole (you want it jagged, not "flower pot" smooth) which will help guide the roots to reach outward. Add a SMALL bit of compost to the soil you removed from the hole, and refill it, but make sure it's at least 80% old soil, not rich stuff, no matter how counterintuitive that may be.

Then you can sheet mulch with compost from 6" away from the trunk out to the drip line (roots generally spread just as far as the outer tips of the branches), and slowly improve the soil that way as the trees grow.

Good luck!

Summerthyme

 

[Raggedyman]

What actually's happening is this...

Under the soil, the rocks are actual living beings who are moving around and if you decide on where to dig the hole for your tree or anything large, they will actually Move into the spot your wanting to plant!

This is common in western Wa. V

I SWEAR this is true in W NC too - every year the turning plow and rota-vator find rocks that weren't there "the last time we went through here" . . .

 

[ioujc]

OK Summerthyme>>>>I will trust you on this, cause I've never planted in rocky soil before, well one other time, but didn't get to stick around long enough to see what happened.
Other than that one time, which was right on a hillside, my soil has always been super rich stuff. I did have this one place where I planted right by a big rocky hill, but it was in the valley where the cow barn was and the valley was full of about 6 inches of decomposed cow poop. Before that it was always flat land gardening>>>>around here that's only about 30 miles away in one direction and about 20 in another.

THANK you for telling me that and I will bore some holes in the bottom of the rocky holes too and fill that with just plain ole dirt.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL AND GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS SUMMERTHYME!!