Emergency transplanting!

Digging the holes

This 70-degree record-breaking weather has been nice for many reasons... but it is disrupting the dormancy of our little fruit trees (not to mention big fruit trees, flowers, perennials, insects and everything else). We had been nursery-ing 9 fruit trees to be transplanted out this year to spots we prepped last fall. Following this warm weather, we noticed that our Madison peach and Niitaki Asian pear trees were budding, kicking Jason into emergency transplant mode. You can't safely transplant a tree once it breaks dormancy, and, as we heard from some tree experts in Maine, especially not after the buds open. So we put everything else on hold and are now digging 3-foot wide holes that are 2-feet deep, removing rocks, filling with compost, and transplanting in our now 2-year-old trees. When it rains, it pours (actually, I wish it would rain...).

Starting to bud in the nursery

Transplanted to its new home