I had a little nut tree....

I have planted a walnut tree out the back near the chicken coop. If it only bears 'a little nutmeg and a golden pear', I will be thrilled. However I would be just as happy with walnuts.

I have been busy finding places for the other fruit trees I sourced from Diggers. If you look carefully between those star pickets in the foreground, of the photo below, you will see three early fruiting apple trees. There are two pear trees on the wires across the path from them. These are in the veggie garden. That makes nine apple trees and (when I plant the remaining three) five pears. Maybe this is overkill but I am looking forward to sharing he bounty with friends and family when they begin fruiting. I may even be able to do a little bartering, who knows.

The picture below shows a selection of early fruiting soft fruits between the fence and the carport. There is an Morepark apricot, a satsuma plum, an Anzac peach, a flat peach, and a miniature cherry.

As I planted them, I once again marveled at the wonderful deep soil here. I was able to add about a bucket of 'almost compost' to the holes. By 'almost' I mean that it has been in the pile and the individual components have blended and are hard to tell apart, but it is still a bit rough and chunky. I figure that it will be proper compost by the time the trees wake up in Spring.

As a footnote, I will tell you about my 'helpers' in this task. Brewster and the hens always take a strong interest in what I am doing. They helped to turn the soil and mix in the compost as I dug the holes. I had a cuppa while I was planning where to put each tree and when I put this on the ground they clustered around it and clucked about the funny habits of humans. Lucy had a bit of a peck but it wasn't to her liking. After I carefully mulched around each tree with pea straw, they followed a long behind and scratched it all off. You can see their handiwork in the photo.

But I am NOT complaining about their activities. We have had a dozen eggs now, with two yesterday. They are getting bigger each time and the last three weighed 60 grams each.