Fruit tree planting is one of the most important things a person can do in their lives. In fact, I’d say that I regret that I was never taught this as a child. I missed several opportunities to plant trees in my life because my parents never taught me and I learned it late in life. In this article, I’ll tell you why it is important and show you a method of fruit tree planting that is amazing.
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Importance of Fruit Tree Planting
Many years ago while I was attending a conference, there was a session on risk management. The presenter told a joke that went like this. Two men were riding their camels across the desert on a long journey. One night as they decided to make camp next to a shallow stream which they would cross over the next day. That night both men were told in a dream to get up and gather stones from the river.
Both men got up and gather stones. One man gathered a little bit in a small sack. The other man gathered a huge sack full. They went to sleep and the next day, the stones had turned to jewels. The speaker then proceeded to say this is what insurance is like. The moral is if you think you only need a little bit, it might be only a little treasure when you need it.
I would use that same story but for me I would apply it to fruit tree planting. You see, most times, you think you never need a fruit tree but if you had planted it, the tree would have give you back lots of fruits for your eating pleasure.
Perhaps it is a curse of modern city living or perhaps we have gone through too many generations since our grandparents or great-grandparents left the family farm or homestead. Through the passage of time, we have lost the ever important knowledge that fruit tree planting makes the burden of life lighter with time.
From my personal experience, when I was a suburban city-slicker, I planted some berry shrubs. I planted strawberries, gooseberries, and a few other things. The entire family enjoyed the delicious berries for a few years. It was delicious. I planted an elderberry tree by accident when the wife gave me some spoiled elderberries to throw into our compost because they had grown moldy in the fridge.
Our backyard compost was so rich and fertile that it caused a huge elderberry tree to grow. This berry plant fed the birds every year and also produced enough berries for us to enjoy also. Those berries were were a natural immune system booster. You could also make a syrup with them to help with sniffles during the fall or winter season.
Making Life’s Burden Light
How does fruit tree planting make the burden of life lighter? Glad you asked! Well, you plant them when you are young and they grow over time as you grow over time. As you get older, your strength will diminish and you’ll eventually find yourself unable to do things in your 50’s and 60’s that you could easily do in your 20’s and 30’s.
However because you were fruit tree planting over the years, you can reap benefits! You see, as your fruit trees are growing with you, they are getting stronger and stronger with time. The roots are getting deeper and more established. The branches are spreading and multiplying. The trees produce more and more fruit as you get older. Thus you can eat more and more with less effort. Eventually, you might have enough to sell to others and earn a side hustle income. Fruit tree planting came to the rescue as it has been doing for centuries for those who know about it!
All man’s efforts are for his belly. We live therefore we eat. People get a job in order to afford to buy food, clothing, and a shelter. Ponder this: you may have heard folks say get a good job so you’ll have a good life and get rich. Why? So you can buy what ever you want! What do you want? A nice car, a big home, and delicious food whenever you desire. Why? So you can be happy!
Today’s young generation have been betrayed by the baby boomer generation. Going to university to get a bachelor degree barely guarantees you an entry level spot at a minimum wage level for a company. Getting a masters degree is a little better but you need a doctorate degree to get any real weight in the workforce. It is many years of schooling, expenses, and missed opportunities, in order to get access to a not-so-certain reward. It is awful what this current generation have to go through.
Fruit tree planting is a sure investment that keep giving over time with a little care. If you planted a fruit tree ever year beginning at age 18, you’d have over 30 trees by age 50. Those trees would be producing so much fruit each year that you’d be able to earn a nice income without having to do much work. You’d also be able to be generous and give away fruit to the poor and needy in your community. Then from age 50 onward, you can retire to a simpler life on a journey of self improvement and spiritual enrichment.
You would be free from the rat-race and free from the wage slave system by age 50! Imagine this benefit comes about by the humble act of fruit tree planting!
Contentment Isn’t Good For Business
What I just described at age 50 is getting to a point of contentment. It is getting to a point of inner peace so that you begin to look toward the development of your divine traits. I suspect that the reason schools don’t teach children, youths, or young adults this is because contentment is not good for business, industry, and commerce. A contented person is not going to be spending money like the typical consumers scattered all across the globe.
Why do we buy? We buy because we are not happy or contented with the current thing in our life. For example, people buy the newest apple iphone because they become discontent with the speed and performance of the old iphone they own. Why does a person buy a new Mercedes car when their old Ford or Toyota car still works great? The person buys a new higher status car because the person is discontented with the lower social status of the old car. This is life.
Trees don’t play that status game. An apple tree is not of more status than a pear tree. Red apples are not of more status than yellow apples. If they are both sweet and tasty, you’ll eat them both. Thus contentment comes within your reach as your fruit tree garden begins to grow. Fruit tree planting is thus a rational exercise in frugality and practicality.
The Fruit Tree Planting Method
Let’s look at the a terrific fruit tree planting system now. I can’t take credit for this system. It was invented more than 100 years ago by a woman who was also an author of many book. I’ll give you her story after the system.
Fruit Tree Planting System – Dig The Hole
The first step in the tree planting process is to plan out where you will place your trees. Once you know where you will be planting then you have to prepare the hole for your tree. Your hole should be 3 feet long by 3 feet high by 3 feet deep. If you can visualize it, it’s basically a cube. This cube is your world for your young tree.
Make sure that you make it a proper cube. Some folks may say to use a circle design for the hole. Others have observed that the circular hole was less than ideal for the root growth as it might encourage curving of the roots to follow the artificial pathway along the hole wall. The corners enable the root to reach a stop point then push through the wall to expand.
Fruit Tree Planting System – Mix The Soil Mixture
The second step in this process is the soil mixture for your hole. You will need enough of this mix for the bottom row and the very top row. So mix up enough of this super growing mixture to fill in roughly 2/3 of the cube.
You will need to gather the following items from your local garden supply store, your local wooded area, your backyard, and your kitchen too! You’ll need compost and/or manure. The compost could be made from food scraps or garden waste that you have been composting. The manure could be animal such as cow, chicken, sheep, or goat. Make sure that it is organic because you want to avoid chemicals in your supergrown mix. Next you will need peat moss which you can get from your local garden store.
You will need top soil which you can use from your backyard. If you have very little topsoil then buy some topsoil from your garden store. You will need a phosphate source and a calcium source. Bonemeal or eggshells can be used here. Also get your sea minerals from sea water or vegetables. Get some wood ash or charcoal, and lastly get some crusher dust. Mix the ingredients together well in preparation for use in the hole.
Fruit Tree Planting System – Gather Other Ingredients
You will also need to gather other ingredients for this system of growing fruit trees. You’ll need about a bucket of small rocks, some medium sized rocks, and one large rock. You’ll need wood chips, medium sized rotting wood, a 4 inch tube pipe or you’ll need to stamp with your feet or use a tamper.
Fruit Tree Planting System – Fill First Third of Hole
Now comes the exciting part, we’re going to fill in the hole! The first thing you’ll need to do is put in roughly half of the super rich growth mix you created in the hole. Put in enough of the mix till you have filled about 1/3 of the hole.
When you have done that you can tamp down the layer by mashing it down with your feet or if you have a tamper, you can tamp down the material.
After you have finished compacting the layer you can add small stones and medium stones. Do not compact these. To create the air space you can add a clay pot or length of pipe with holes. In my attempt to mimic the forest in nature which does not have pipe in it to create air pockets, I’m adding rotting wood in various stages of decomposition. Some will decompose faster than others making air gaps at different times. At this point you can water the hole to add moisture to the 1/3 of the hole. Don’t over water.
Fill Second Third of the Hole
After adding the air component, you can now add your basic topsoil to the hole filling it up to roughly one-third from the top of the hole. You can get it and mash down the layer or tamp it down with your tamper. At this point your hole will be 2/3 full. Congratulations. You’re almost there.
Fruit Tree Planting Time
Place your big rock in the center of the hole. That is your anchor for the roots of the tree to grow around and absorb into its structure over the lifetime of the tree. Put the tree on top of the rock. You can unravel some of the roots gently and let it drape over the rock. You might need a helper to help hold the tree in place as you fill in the final third with your super growth mix. Alternatively, if your tree needs some initial support while it grows you can insert a rod next to it deep into the ground. You can tie off the trunk of the tree to the rod for extra support.
Fill Last Third
You can bow fill in the soil with the super growth mix. Use all of it to fill the hole up to the edge of the ground level. You can mash down the area around the tree and add some extra topsoil to level it if it sinks below the ground line. Finally cover the entire hole with wood chips. Be generous and extend the wood chips an extra 4 inches past the border of the hole.
About the Inventor of This System
A long time ago back in the 1800’s a lady by the name of Ellen White went to Australia to do Christian missionary work. When she got there she got some land and was dismayed by the state of the land. The soil was in very poor condition and was tough to grow in. She was worried about how she would be able to feed herself and survive.
So this lady did what every Christian missionary lady would do. She prayed and sought an answer from God about it. She had a dream which the people of that time called a night vision. In this night vision, she was told by God the fruit tree planting method she should use to remedy the soil and grow. Even though she was a writer, she didn’t write down the fruit tree planting system.
Her fruit trees had a reputation for being the sweetest, juiciest, and most vibrant in the area.
In the mid 1900’s a man who was 13 years old learned the system from Ellen’s adult grandson. The 13 year old wrote down the fruit tree planting system and he planted many successful fruit trees that way and he taught others how to grow trees too! And with the power of YouTube I found out about this fruit tree planting method. And now I’m sharing it with you.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed looking at this method for fruit tree planting system. The results will be amazing and in time you’ll have fruit trees that yield a lot and bountiful fruit. Until next time, continue to learn and grow.