Building the Hogan

The plateau has a remarkably diverse set of landscapes from the heavily forested ridge-lines to quasi-desert mesa.  The mesa is considered desert by some because of its lack of vegetation (read trees)but its anything but deserted.  The land holds many types of shrubs and grasses, and even in this fairly dry place (less than 15″ rain per year) there are still the occasional oak and pine trees in low lying areas.

Our neighborhood is nearly tree-free, with the exception of saplings that have been planted in recent years by several of the full-time residents.  Trees will do fine in this climate as long as they get plenty of water in the early years.  With water a precious commodity out here, one has to make choices.  As we mentioned in earlier posts we have two sources of water: the shared well and water catchment.  The trees, we believe, are worth the water.

Since we don’t yet have a house, and therefore no water catchment, we bring water from the outside to water the trees for now.  About 10 miles or so from us, alongside the Rio Grande, is a public water source.  Whenever we can we fill up 5 gallon plastic containers for watering the trees.  This system seems to work pretty well.  Between the spring rains and a weekly hand watering the trees are doing nicely.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

The trees came to us via UPS from an online nursery in northeastern Missouri called Stark Brothers.  The company has a history dating back nearly two centuries and its founder even claimed a close association with famed horticulturalist Luther Burbank.  They offer a quality product at very reasonable prices and will ship anywhere in the country.  You can order your trees, as we did, well before planting season and they will arrive exactly at the right time for planting in your climate zone.

For our cool Zone 5b climate that shipping date was April 1, and we received the trees several days later.  When you order trees online they come shipped to you “bare root”, or without soil.  Stark Brothers wraps the fragile roots in wet newspaper inside a platic bag to keep them moist in transit.  Our 8 trees all came packed in a single box.  They recommend that you plant the trees immediately after receiving them, but if you can’t plant them right away you should keep them moist and in a dark place until you can.

For our little orchard we ordered the following: 2 Beach Plum Dwarf, 1 Delicious Pear Dwarf, 1 Moonglow Pear Dwarf, 1 Montmorency Pie Cherry Semi-Dwarf, 1 Sweet Cherry Dwarf, 1 Honeycrisp Apple Semi-Dwarf and 1 Golden Delicious Apple Semi Dwarf.  We selected the trees based on our personal taste, but also based on what will do well in our climate zone.  We also chose dwarf and semi-dwarf to respect the landscape and make it easier for trimming and harvesting.  If you’re looking to start your own orchard this is a good mix.  All of these trees are hearty enough to withstand the Taos winters.

I won’t go into all of the details that led us to choose our particular trees or Stark Brothers, but suffice to say that we shopped around a bit before making a decision.  We scouted local nurseries and found equivalent potted fruit trees were roughly ten times the price we paid.  Granted the home improvement stores are far cheaper, but the quality of the trees is lacking.  Some thought it foolhardy to choose bare root trees for our soil/climate, but early results have proven the doubters wrong.  The trees are not only budding, as the picture shows, they are thriving.

There’s plenty of information in books and around the web about planting trees.  We’re by no means experts and you should read up on the subject before you dive in.  Our methods are pretty basic.

We cleared a patch in the yard approximately 25′ x 50′ and tilled it to a depth of about 9 inches.  The topsoil is a rich clay mixed with a significant layer of humus.  Once the perimeter of the orchard was cleared we dug holes from 12 to 18 inches, depending on the tree, to accommodate the roots.  With bare root trees you should make the hole roughly 1.5 times the size of the roots - both in depth and width.

We decided not to add anything to the soil except a few handfuls of used coffee grounds and water.  We used no commercial fertilizers or foreign soil.  As we back-filled the holes we left a circular depression of 1 to 2 inches below grade so that our watering would collect around the roots.  In time this depression will widen to encompass the entire orchard as we deploy our greywater system.  For now each tree has its own little basin.

Because the land is so open here and the trees have little protection from the gusty winds, we surround each tree with a wire-mesh hoop and then loosely tied a padded rope around the trunk to hold it against the wind.  Our budding orchard is now in place and by the time winter rolls around next December they should be firmly established.

Now it’s on to the driveway.