I have a Raritan Rose(23y since planting), Encore and Hale Haven(20y each), and an unknown white peach (18y) as my old timers. The Raritan Rose's bark is cracked and unhealthy looking and has lost some braches yearly the past couple years and has lost it's vigor, but still carrying a small crop of fruit this year (can't wait for the first week of Aug!!). The others are still looking pretty good and bearing well. But they are not going to last forever.

You must be talking about dave wilsons ripening chart. I used that too when I decided what fruits to plant. I'm sure they'll be a little of since it's based on their location, but the general idea knowing what is early/mid/late is really helpful. If anyone wants to see their chart I linked below... Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit Harvest Chart

[Sorry, I took so long to reply. This is the original poster. For some reason, my attempt to posts have been continually rejected for the last 24 hours. Crossing fingers. Another try with a new account, new browser, new IP address...] I think castoff and ctpuritan have a good point. I DO want to actually farm this land. To be honest, I hadn't thought about the problem of pulling a cultivator over row crops because I've been mostly concerned with the fruits that I'll be planting -- where these devices aren't applicable. So, point well taken. On the other hand, I'm talking about only an acre of row crops where a cultivator might be appropriate (mostly annual flowers - no veggies). A wheel hoe and/or sprays may be all I need. And most flowers will quickly grow too tall for any tractor-over-crop work, I think. Still, lacking experience, I should probably plan for more equipment flexibility than I think I need. From the suggestions here, it seems like I should save my money in the near term and purchase a relatively cheap riding mower. I'll use my International until row spacing becomes an issue and, importantly, I better understand what I really need. While I could probably grow what I wanted with a good GT, I would have troubles with weeding and harrowing in particular, I might lack flexibility and power for future work, and the good GTs are pretty expensive anyway. So, to clarify since my last post. No veggies, but up to an acre of flowers. (Saukville looks unattractive to me because it's odd, no local dealers, expensive, and less flexible than a normal tractor. Looks good if I were a veggie farmer.) Orchard/vineyard/small fruit on 3+ acres in the future. Starting with 1+. When I said till, I meant pull a rototiller between rows of perenials (fruit bushes, grape vines, trees) for growing cover crops between rows and preparing beds for annuals (again, flowers). A FEL may be good to have for greenhouse and other chores. Lawn is irregular 1 acre w/ obstacles. Regarding spacings: it depends on my machinery, but I would like to consider six foot spacings between fruit crop rows. Typical recommendations are for 8 or 10 foot spacings to accommodate machinery and growth of plants into row spaces.

Don't be so hard on yourself. We all learn in different ways, but at least you learn. None of us are perfect, I'll bet it's turning out to be quite lovely. You're creating some future memories for your family, and you don't have idle hands, so keep plugging away. Ask any gardener, the beauty of it lies within the fact that you CAN move things around. It's not permanent persay, so you move something someplace else, it happens alot. I'd love to see pictures of your gardens, I'll bet they're very nice. Good luck to you.