Fruit Tree Planting & General Update

It's been exciting watching the trees and weeds "wake up" enough for me to begin to identify them.  The bare tree in the backyard has turned out to be a lovely deciduous magnolia.  There are many blooms on the north side, and I think that is because that is where the sun strikes it most.  Many crossed branches and a perennial vine growing through.  It looks healthy, but definitely can use some TLC.

Deciduous Magnolias in their full glory.

Center of a Deciduous Magnolia.

The Driveway Trees, as I call them, are currently nearing peak bloom; however, as I snapped these pictures last week, they were just barely starting to bloom.  Some tiny red leaves are also emerging.  This is definitely not a "Smoke Tree" - but I don't know what it is, yet.  My $1 used book store Trees of North America field guide is going to get a work-out!

Blooms are barely as big as my thumbnail.

Driveway Trees.

Adding to the delightful surprises of Spring - woodland daffodils!  Somewhere along the line, someone loved this place enough to plant a clump of daffodils at the edge of the woods.

Never truly Spring until the Daffodils have sprung!

Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and willow & hybrid poplar cuttings have been outside during the day both yesterday and today.  Some didn't make it inside tonight because of - spiders!  One jumped out at me while I was situating a tray back onto my shelf.  Sorry, panicked and killed it.  Another on raised it's pedipalps at me when I went to pick up a tray.  I was paying more attention to that tray, after having panicked at the one in the house.  I left that tray alone. It's supposed to stay in the high 50's tonight, so probably everyone should have stayed outside, anyway.  Gave all the plant babies a good drink of water.  Some are in, some not.  Going to dip into freezing territory at night later this week, however, so I will need to do something to de-spider them before bringing all of the plant babies inside.  Currently 56*F at 11:30 at night.

Warm tomatoes are happy tomatoes.

Planted out trees!  Yay!

Row 1 -  Hardired Nectarine  -  Grand Gala Apple  -  Carolina Bell Peach

Row 2 -  September Wonder Fuji Apple  -  a slab of rock  -  Granny Smith Apple

This list of trees does vary somewhat from the original plan; however, one needs to be flexible and take advantage of pricing and specials.  Ordered 5 trees to start.  Both for budgetary reasons, and because the ground is not really ready for tree planting.  These are planted in the least optimal conditions: separated, in the middle of an open field, no wood mulch, pretty much water logged pure clay.  We did choose the highest points in the field to plant them, and I did plant clover and peas around them.  Hopefully I will be able to get a load of free mulch/compost from the city this week, and mulch around them.  I will be planting daffodil and maybe garlic in a circle around each tree this fall, as well as providing them with beans for nitrogen fixing during the summer.  Beginning of the food forest...

Doesn't look like much now, but just you wait a few years!

 That does look suspiciously like Red Georgia Clay under that mulch of weeds...