Today in the orchard
My setup as I thin the plums; a ladder, a five-gallon bucket, a tree, and my fingers, July 11, 2025.
(Report by Skylar.) This morning I added the second bolt to my apple ladder. It is now as sturdy as it will ever be. John and I built the bulk of the ladder at MOFGA’s Farm and Homestead Day, but we didn’t bring along the necessary tool —a brace and bit— to do this final step. Now, it is ready to be climbed. And climb I did. I went to Finley Lane with my ladder to thin the plums on branches I couldn’t reach from the ground.
I also continued to work on DIRK, the digital key through which anyone can receive a preliminary identification of their mystery apple. I am currently learning to use Airtable, the platform that currently stores the apple data and will likely be the way that users interact with it.
While at Finley Lane, I watered the “Strike Anywhere” peppers and the cucurbit patch. We have sixteen hills planted with winter squash, pumpkins, muskmelons, and watermelons. While all are growing well, the squash are outpacing the melons. The watermelons and muskmelons are still small enough to keep them covered with mesh netting which protects the plants from the Striped Cucumber Beetle (Acalymma vittatum) and the Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). They will gladly feed on any plant in the Cucurbiticae family, so row cover is our friend while the plants are still young.
