Planting

The potatoes did not get planted yesterday on Good Friday.  I had forgotten to cut them into planting pieces.  The directions say to cut into two inch sizes with 1-2 eyes per piece.  Then they need to dry until a firm callous has formed, keeping out the mold.  Today they don't seem fully dry, which lets me be lazy until Monday.

Our new apple trees had been neglected long enough, though.  These are heirloom organic apple trees.  We knew we wanted heirloom and organic, but the old heirloom varieties aren't very familiar to me.  It's hard to tell much about an apple from a description.  This one, Spitzenburg, is one that ripens late, stores well in a root cellar, and is said to improve while in storage, peeking about Christmas time.  It's also rumored to be Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple.  That all sounds good. 

We got four trees and got them in the ground yesterday after soaking in a bucket of water all morning.  Now we only need some free-stone peaches and I think our orchard will be complete.  In a few years we're hoping to be overrun with fruit.