💾 Archived View for theorchard.flounder.online › gemlog › saplings.gmi captured on 2023-09-08 at 15:37:08. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Saplings

After the death of my father, the first few months went by in last rites, insurance claims, standard procedures and what not. It took me more than three months to actually go and take a look at my land. It was about 17k sq ft. of barren, infertile rocky earth. It would have been hard to grow anything there. After consulting with some people I came to know that the land was best suited for mango trees, and nothing else. Mango trees require water, in limited quantities. If the land holds the water, it is not good for the trees. This rocky plain was the exact kind of land, and hence the orchard started.

The place I live in is famous for its mangoes. I won't say which breed of mango it is, because that would give away my location. But in conclusion, the mango business is booming where I come from. Every tom, dick and harry is in the mango business, be it growing, selling or packaging and sending it abroad. Mangoes 'just work' here. I went and bought around three hundred saplings from a nearby nursery. I bought em small, because big ones cost more and I wanted to do this as cheaply as possible ( A decision I might regret in the future ).

The saplings were to planted in a 10' x 15' grid. We began digging holes and putting small sticks as support for the saplings in the early morning. By two o' clock afternoon finally we had planted them, (I hired some manual labour) and hoped that this would come to fruition. I did not have to worry about irrigation for now, since monsoon had just begun but sooner or later that question would have to be answered since the land did not have any water source. Until then, let the rain fall.

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