Episode 2: We start growing our orchard

Planting fruit trees requires... well, fruit trees! So, for our next big project, our first stop was a tree nursery.

The nursery wasn't too far away, about half an hour's drive. When we arrived, we found that in early autumn, the place was full of an incredible variety of trees. It was almost overwhelming! The owner was super helpful, guiding us and helping us pick out the right trees for our property.

She also gave us a crucial piece of advice: we needed two cherry trees if we wanted them to produce sweet cherries. We were only planning on buying one, but her tip meant we ended up with two. After much deliberation, we picked out what we thought was a good selection. All in all, we chose seven trees - including a spontaneous decision of a red maple .

Getting all the trees into the car was a funny challenge because we had to leave one window open to fit them all in length. So drove according to the Latvian speed limits and we just hoped for the best. Luckily, they arrived intact and with enough leaves remaining on the branches.

Preparing the Ground

Back at the meadow, it was time to get to work. First, we chose the perfect spot for our new orchard—a place with a lot of sun but also a little bit of shade in the morning, which we think is just the right mix. We also got some materials ready: bags of mulch and humus to mix in later with the good soil we already have on the property.

We started by staking out the positions for the trees in a triangular formation. Then, the real work began: digging out a circle about a meter and a half wide around each stake.

We removed the top layer of grass and set it aside, then started digging down to the layer below the topsoil. According to a very old gardening book that Frieda's owns, the holes should be about 60 centimetres deep, or two spades deep. We tried to separate the topsoil from the more mineral-heavy soil underneath into two piles, so that we could but it back in in the right order. It was a lot of labor, digging out the eight holes in total, we have to say! Luckily, we picked a beautiful weekend for planting our trees.

For a well-deserved lunch break, we fired up our outdoor kitchen. Are we happy with our first build, you ask? We're so happy! It's our very first project on the property, and it held up perfectly so far (okay fine, it's only been a few months). On the menu was a German-style lunch: Spätzle! Since there’s Lidl in this country, we can get pre-made Spätzle, which is a very simple dish perfect for people who work hard outside with little time for cooking in between projects. For our non-German friends, Spätzle is basically German pasta, made from a simple flour and egg dough.

The Gardener's Bible

To make sure we were doing everything correctly, we consulted our "Praktisches Gartenbuch" (Practical Garden Book) again. This is a book that everyone in Frieda's family owns, and it has the most hilarious and on the nose writing in it. It showed us exactly how to plant our trees, with wonderful illustrations.

Finally, it was time for the main event. The book instructed us to mix the soil with the humus we bought. Then, one person (in this case, one woman) holds the tree straight while the other person loosely puts the soil back into the hole.

We also had to cut the roots. The book said that any long roots or roots that had suffered during transport should be trimmed. In the best-case scenario, the cut ends of the roots should be facing downwards in the soil when planting the tree.

We also decided to try some companion planting. We discovered an approach in gardening called fruit tree guilds where you put plants together that need different types of nutrients, creating a synergy. We drilled small holes around the base of the trees and planted narcissus bulbs in the close ring and some garlic in the outer ring.

As for watering, given that we have to get all our water out of the well by hand, we didn't use that much. To be honest, we didn't want to carry that much water! So we barely watered our trees. We know it sounds terrible, but we’re going with survival of the fittest!

Our book suggested planting in the autumn so the trees can build proper roots in the winter and therefore survive frosts in the springtime better. We finished by adding a generous layer of mulch around the base of each tree. It looked very professional, if we may say so ourselves!

Time to Protect the Young Trees

Following the book's advice, we decided to build our own tree trunk protectors. We used our tiny auger—which we absolutely love—to pre-drill holes for the wooden stakes. Then, with a bit of trust and a few good whacks of the hammer, we drove the stakes into the ground to create a sturdy, three-pointed support structure for each tree.

We sawed and attached some horizontal planks to the support stakes. These give the structure more stability and offer a way to use elastic bands to keep the tree centered later on if needed. We decided not to do that right now, as you don't want the bands digging into the tree bark as it grows.

Finally, we added a vibrant orange plastic netting around each supportive structure. We have a lot of deer on our property, and of course, we don't want them to eat our young trees. The netting will protect them, especially in their first few years of growth. As an added benefit, it makes the new trees very visible for our neighbor when he's mowing our field for us!

A Welcome Delivery and a Bonus Tree

There was also a little change to our water supply during that time. We had a concrete ring on our well installed. You might be wondering why we needed one. Well, we've had to fish quite a few frogs and geckos, some of them dead, out of our well in the past. So we thought it would be a good idea to get a proper well cover, especially since our old wooden one was falling apart. In a fun turn of events, we ordered it on-site and got it delivered within half an hour because the lorry was already almost on its way to deliver something in our area anyway!

With our seven trees planted, we still had one more to go. We had spotted a lovely little maple tree growing at the entry of our property and thought it would benefit from being moved to a brighter spot. So, we carefully unearthed it, loaded it into our wheelbarrow, and moved it to a new home next to a birch at the end of our tree alley, where it will be in view of our shed and outdoor kitchen.

Our New Orchard and a Sweet Treat

And there you have it! Our little orchard is complete. We have:

• Two beautiful cherry trees. Hopefully, pollinating each other.
• A tiny apple tree (we asked for a sour apple variety because we love sour!).
• A wonderful plum tree that should grow purple plums.
• A pear tree.
• And an apricot tree right at the very front.

While we were working, we also took a moment to harvest some of the quinces growing in the wild on the property. If you don't know what quinces are, they look a bit like a mix of apples and pears, but they are super fragrant and are actually from the rose family. The smell is just incredible. They're used a lot in Latvia for lemonades and jams.

As we were harvesting, our neighbor's horses came over to say hi. They were very curious about what we were doing, and it turns out they absolutely love quinces! It was so lovely to share a treat with them.

What a weekend! Short and intense, but we're so happy with our new little orchard. We can't wait to watch it grow.

Thanks for following us on our journey. Hope to see you soon again