After tamping around the pond, I attempted to fill it. It took a long time. I think it was a full day and a half. At that point I knew something was wrong. I turned off the water and it took a half a day to drain. I was bummed. While tamping I got tennis elbow from the repettitive movement. My friends told me I should have brought in heavy equipment to do this but i wanted to do it myself. I now know I can dig a pond by myself but tamping the clay is not something I should do by hand.
I also ordered a backyard orchard from Raintree Nursery. I got 2 apple, 2 pear, one nectarine and 2 cherry trees. I think I may have planted then too close together but they have only been in the ground a year. Ill call the nursery and ask how close can i plant them. I wanted to create a living edible fence. I figure the bottom of the canopy will be around 5 feet and I planted some blueberries rasberries blackberries to fill in from the ground to the bottom of the canopy. Along my fence I planted grape vines. Three types, red seedless white seedless and concord.My annual crops didn't do to well. We had a lot of rain this spring and I was told that my corn tassled to early as seen in the first photo on this post. I planted tomatoes and cucumbers to late and we got 1 tomato and 1 cucumber. The only thing I am concerned about is teaching my son that food does not grow in grocery stores. He loved helping me with digging the pond, tamping, planting and harvesting.
I got a good start. I think a part of homesteading and self sufficiency is also knowing your limits. I'm still learning mine. Hopefully I can learn quickly. Because my elbow is killing me.
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