Few more weeds, quite a few more trees, they're all getting bigger.  I think I have 125 trees planted with 13 spots left but more trees than that in pots, so guess I will need to add another row (or two).

 

Very nice.

With 125 trees, how many different varieties have you planted?

Your orchard is looking fabulous, Harvey. I'm looking forward to seeing it later this summer!

Gary

Lovely!

Very nice Harvey.  Best success with your orchard.

Harvey, you need a German Shepard or a Doberman my friend to guard your assets.
What a vast piece of land. 
Looks awesome.

Very nice! Do you use the distance as Pons?

Harvey,

It is taking shape and looks fantastic. A true model farm.
Given the size and apparent topography ( you had explained before) it looks you are in a bottom of an ancient shallow lake (lagoa), with those good rich soils.
This remembers me many of our flat lands on the basins of several of our rivers flowing west typically used for cereal farming (rice and corn mostly), with the best fruit trees serving as boundaries.
Congratulations

Francisco

Thanks for your comments and encouragement, Francisco.

This area is former swamplands and prior to that, probably an inland bay with saltwater intrusion.  Over a long period of time, sediment filled in the area and than swampland plants such as tule, cattails, willows, etc.  Over time, these plants developed peat soils which increased the elevation further and the areas would dry out during summers when river flows were low.  Sediment from the rivers accumulated along the borders of the rivers (some natural but also some from a few years of hydraulic mining for gold perhaps 75 miles away until such practices were banned in the 1850s).  Upon these sedimentary accumulations there were built hundreds of miles of levees to keep these areas dry during all months of the year (except for when the levees failed).  Over 100 years of the land being drained (water seepage is pumped into the rivers) the organic matter decomposed and soil has subsided.  My house is located at sea level and the fig orchard is about 5 feet lower.  My farm's elevation ranges from about +5 to -10 feet.  Organic matter level remains relatively high.  Soils are fertile with the primary limitation being poor drainage in some areas though this is often controlled as much as necessary for the crops being grown.  I have better soils which are already planted to chestnut orchard but this area should be fine for figs.  After figs are a few years old there is a chance I will no be needing to irrigate them.  If I dig down a few feet I will hit water.  Actually, the water level can be much higher during the winter and that is why I planted the trees on ridges.

Looks fantastic Harvey, best of luck with your new project. I myself am most jealous !!

Thank you Harvey for the detailed description of your land.
This is something we all dream about

Growing figs or any other fruit in a piece of land with those freatic groundwater levels will be a fantastic experience and extremely convenient.

God bless your farm and yourself

Francisco

Hey Harvey, thanks for the picture it looks great. I can't wait to see pictures of all the fruit. I hope all your trees do well for you.

Can't wait to visit!!! When do things start getting ripe?

Looks great, Harvey!

It'll be quite a challenge in late summer to walk all the way down those rows without stuffing yourself :)

Harvey - your orchard looks awesome! You may have answered it earlier in the thread, but how tall will you let the trees grow?

Arne

What will be your eventual market for all the figs?

Edit: I looked back in this thread and in post 31 from last August, Harvey said:

Thanks, everyone.  Gloria, I don't recall seeing breba lately so main crop should start ripening in late July and get going in August pretty good.  Probably won't have a large quantity of figs yet this year, especially after the birds have their way.

Arne, I'm a bit undecided on when to start training trees the way I want.  Some haven't given me enough lower branches like I want and I've let them grow upright to get stronger.  I want to train two branches from each tree tied down to the same wire that supports the drip line and eventually remove every branch above that.  Probably will be doing a lot of airlayering later this year or I may just wait and prune next winter and harvest dormant cuttings.  Then I'll let branches grow from each of those two branches each year which will typically grow 4' to 7' in a season and then get pruned back to one or two buds of it's lateral branch at the end of the year.  I plan to put cross arms about 36" wide onto the T posts and wires across those cross arms and the branches will be tied to those wires each year.  I'm hoping to be picking fruit from 18" to 7' above the ground each year.

Today my son and I finished planting the trees that are reading to go in the ground and all 138 spots are now planted.  Will need to get another two rows ready.

pictures please:)

Awesome Harvey.  Just awesome.

And yes.  More pics please.

Finally got to envision a land of figs.What dreams are made of. Looks like Gods country.How lucky!

The weeds also grow well here!  I will hoe some weeds and mow again before updated photos! :)

I'm going to disc up some more alfalfa (to the left in the last photo) and get two more rows ready.  I'm pretty sure (I think) that I will stop after that.  Any new trees beyond what those two rows can fit will probably only be made if I decide to remove something else.

Okay....I'll relent....here's one more photo.  Yesterday I noticed one of my Panache had one branch with variegated leaves coming from one side of the branch where the stem is striped white (usually the stem is brown and yellow).  Hope it sustains this pattern!!! :)

 

How are you doing on water. We are having some farmers pulling out trees due to lack of water not given out by the State.  Some are pulling out low producing trees.