Ok - I also sent an email to the nursery, and they advised me I can keep them in the box up to a week, if necessary. (I posted here, because I didn't know how quickly I'd hear back.)

irenedsc, it might be better to unpack them and inspect. The damp newspaper around the roots may have shifted on the way over. Then what I do is stand them up in a bucket and fill it with light damp garden soil or finished compost. Your trees will grow vigorously this summer in mounds with compost and soil. What kind of Apricot and Peach did you get? Have you decided on how to structure the branches.

I never put compost or anything in a new plant site as the organic material can cause the plant to put on too much growth the first year it should be building a root system not upward growth. just plain soil till and water in good. when it leafs out this spring add 1 cup of 10 10 10 around the drip line and that's it for the summer.

Irene,

It almost sounds like you want to make your mounds out of compost. I agree with the Redneck Christian that you probably don't want to do that. I've never done it that way before and I'm not sure what the result will be. The roots may be reluctant to go down below the mound. I have lots of mounds, but always built them out of native soil. If you're just planning to use the compost as a top dress, fine, I'm just not sure about straight compost as a plant medium.

Irene:

Do not unpack your new trees until you are ready to plant. Put them in a cold place, like a garage or shed, in their original packaging. They will keep for a week or more. Packing is nearly always tied on and secure. In many parts of the country cold and rain are the normal planting conditions we face in spring. Nothing unusual about that. In the state of Illinois, where you have real soil, there should be no reason to build mounds to plant your fruit trees, so don't build them. Loosen up a nice wide area, about a foot deep or so, and plant the trees at grade, with the graft 3-4 inches above the soil. Do not add compost or any other amendments to the planting hole, but mulch after planting can be helpful. Part of your shipment of compost could be utilized as mulch. M-111 is a tough rootstock, and and an excellent choice for your apples. You will like Goldrush once it begins to produce.

Peaches are tougher to grow, partly because of late frosts, but also because of their attractiveness to insects such as the oriental fruit moth. You will probably have to spray the tree to grow pest-free peaches. Apricots are a roll of the dice in many areas because of their very early bloom, but you may get some fruit about once every three years.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks for all the input! There were a few questions - varieties are Hargrand and Redhaven for apricot and peach.

I was mainly wanting to build up a little mound because they will be in an area where it sometimes gets a bit soggy and I didn't want them to get waterlogged. The compost was mainly meant for other garden purposes, but I figured I could mix in a little to help build up the mounds, and then use it as mulch on top. Now you are making me second guess myself! I could probably dig up another area to get more dirt if that would be better.

(I'd been hoping to prep in fall, but didn't. Dh talked me into doing it this year, because he didn't want to miss another year!)

As for training/pruning, I have a copy of Rodale's Garden Answers that includes info on the different kinds of fruit trees. That part seemed similar to the books I had read from the library, so I was planning to use that as my main guide.

Fruit trees are a big step for me, so I may have a lot more questions!

Irene,

This is one Don and I disagree on. To be fair, Don has lots more experience than me, but I doubt he's lost as many trees to drowning as I. I've heard in some parts of IL, the water table is so high, they can't build basements. Regardless, it's hard to tell how much of a water problem you have (or not). The phrase, "a bit soggy" is kinda general. I will mention apricots are one of the most sensitive trees to excessive water. About one day of standing water, will cause the leaves to wilt. I lost two apricots last summer to drowning. Peaches are a little more tolerant, but you don't want standing water for them either, during the growing season. If this describes your situation. I would recommend planting in a mound. Don had a good point, you probably have very good soil in IL, so maybe your compost won't be all that different from your native soil. I'd say go ahead and build your mounds out of soil/compost mix.

Well, we've only been in this house for a couple of years, but they have been very wet years, especially this past winter. That area is normally dry, but when we had a foot of snow melt in one day, it took a day for our little lake to drain. The area I am planning for the trees was not the low point, but somewhere in the middle (of a very gentle slope). In spring when we get a lot of rain it can have a little bit of visible standing water. I guess it depends on how long we get rains. So, I was figuring only a couple of inches above the adjacent grade, with a small moat around it. I have a small trench around my flower beds and I noticed the trench filled with water and the beds themselves drained well, fwiw.

Irene,

"a couple of inches above adjacent grade" isn't a mound, it's a speed bump. If you need to build mounds, they'd have to be much bigger. For a 2" top dress, you would be fine using pure compost. However, if you have too much water, I wouldn't build a moat around your trees.