Saturday, December 17, 2011

Trimming Trees

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It’s pruning time in the garden.  The shears are sharp and washed with hydrogen peroxide.  The green waste can is read to receive the nubs of pruning waste.  The worn out garden gloves are ready to be worn further and the good ol’ pruning guide book is there as a reference.

The Blenheim apricot tree is 1st in line for a good grooming.  Once I’ve worked my way through all of the fruit trees, Farmer MacGregor will follow with dormant spray – more on that later.

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The apricot was probably the heartiest of the fruit trees in 2011.  Fruit production is progressing nicely with this 3 year old espalier.  I pruned at the end of summer to allow for a little bit more growth since fruit production is supposed to develop on year old growth.  This winter pruning will be to thin out branches, remove any dead growth (none here), and shape.  I remove branches that grow downward from the laterals.  It’s too hard for me to get down under there for constant pruning and harvesting.  All the laterals have growth on the top only.  This practice also helps shade the lateral branches from the harsh summer sun.

I’ll post images of the tree after it’s grooming after all the trees are finished.  I hope to be able to finish everything tomorrow morning so Farmer MacGregor can work his magic.  We don’t have a Christmas tree to trim; but we have 6 espalier fruit trees to trim.  And not one partridge in sight.  Good enough.

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All the fruit trees were groomed by the end of December 18.  All were clipped, raked, and soaked.  It was a very warm day.  Hope they aren’t tricked into an early bloom.  Farmer MacGregor will dormant spray whenever he’s ready.

2 comments:

dorothy said...

You were smart to train your fruit trees as espaliers. Our few fruit trees have grown so tall that the fruit is almost out of reach for us, but not for the squirrels!

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