Showing posts with label Apple trees. Show all posts

Sunday, 8 February 2015

Hello Garden, it's been a while

Jenny February 08, 2015

Last year wasn't the best time for our garden. We gave it very little attention, all told. Our free weekends were mostly spent walking the hills around our Welsh home, and then we promptly upped and left for the whole Autumn. December seemed to run away with us, and now it's 2015 and it's a mess!

We've managed to put in a couple of Sunday afternoons work recently and already things are feeling better. We've been digging over what was left of our veggie patch, removing the remains of last years sunflowers, beans and spuds. Tidying up the edges and having empty beds full of freshly dug earth has made the world of difference to this area. The hens still have free reign in here too and and are enjoying digging over the freshly turned earth for us. Unfortunately we've also caught them helping themselves to the freshest tenderest parts of the purple sprouting which might be why we're not seeing any signs of shoots on that yet.

The fourth in our set of beds is still awash with little weeds and the dead remains of last years annuals - but the bulbs don't seem to care and are happily pushing through anyway.

Joe spliced in some new hazel sticks to the archway currently supporting our apple trees. Once they're big enough the two trees should be self supporting, but for now we needed to repair the damage done by high winds over the last few months, causing all of the top cross pieces to snap.

Talking of high winds, last winter we had many friends lose fence panels and kindly donate them to our wood burner cause (us included). Unfortunately they've spent the last year sitting on our patio waiting to be sorted but that's finally done and is no longer the eyesore it once was. We now have a good pile of wood ready for burning, a small pile that needs splitting into smaller pieces, and a bonfire pile of bits that are too thin to be worth the effort. We can now see most of the patio again! (Trust me in saying that this is an improvement - I don't have a "before" photo to demonstrate this).

Joe also set to our established fruit trees with some freshly sharpened secateurs, giving them a winter prune. The bird feeders have had a wash and are now back in position with fresh seed.

That sounds like a lot all listed out like that, but its only been a few hours work! Things are looking much tidier and while there are still quite a few jobs on the list it feels like we're now in a place to plan what we want to do with the space this year...

Feeling blown about...

Photo Friday - Apple Blossom

Joe May 02, 2014

We stripped our young apple trees of their blossom in the hope that they'll put this summers effort into growth not fruit.

A Winter Trim

Joe January 26, 2014

Winter is a time of year for clearing up in the garden. With no fresh plants to tend to and the weeds mostly hiding there is space to focus on big things. Particularly trees. When the leaves have fallen and the trees are dormant it is generally a good time to give them a good prune. Fruit trees that are pruned when dormant will sprout more shoots whilst those pruned in the summer are less inclined to shoot upwards. Our apple and pear tree had suffered several years of neglect so I am pruning in the winter to try and encourage new growth that I can use to reshape the tree. This will take several years to achieve as I don't want to lose my entire harvest!

It is important to prune fruit trees to ensure there is space for all the branches (overlapping and crowded branches cause issues), that the branches don't get too long (getting in your way and potentially snapping under a heavy harvest) and to get a desirable shape. It is important to let light and air get to all the branches. It is also worth ensuring the shape of the tree doesn't get in your way. If it overhangs the lawn prune lower branches so you don't hit them when pushing the mower around. Trim the top if it is getting too tall. It might seem obvious but its surprising how long I will dodge and duck under a branch before I get round to pruning it!

Before

After

If you want to take the shaping further you enter the realms of cordons and espaliers. We are attempting to train a pair of trees to form an espalier arch but as I am still learning with those I won't teach you my bad habits! In this post I will run you through how I prune my bigger trees - do share your approach if it is different. I am by no means an expert.

Joe's Guide to Pruning

The first thing I do when pruning is to try and make sure the tree has space around it. We have several larger trees to the north of the fruit trees. Although they don't cast shadows our main apple tree was starting to look a bit overgrown and crowded.

Next I check for any overlapping branches and for overcrowded areas. Decide which of the branches are healthiest and in the nicest shape and prune the others. Try and catch them when its a year old shoot causing the problem rather than letting it get several years old. If you need to take out larger branches do so carefully. Try and get a clean cut (with a saw if the branch is large) and avoid damaging the surrounding tree as it comes out. Be careful not to create places where water can pool and rot the tree - this happens most at large forks and points where multiple branches sprout from one point.

My parents always pruned with a rule of thirds. If you take a third out you are unlikely to kill it. I tend to do the same with the trees - if it needs a significant reshape (as our pear tree does) take out no more than 1/3 each year. It will be done in a few years and the old wood should still fruit in the interim. It may seem dramatic chopping out significant branches but it is worth considering that a tree should happily fruit for many years. Chatsworth have a fine apple tree arch that is 30 years old and very productive!

Thirdly check for any diseased branches or rot. If the shoots look shrivelled or slightly rotten prune it. Check any forks for rot starting to form. I tend to go over zealous on removing iffy wood. Its not going to do the tree any long term harm if I take slightly more off than I need!

Finally prune for aesthetics and the future. Look at the shape and see if any growth is going in a direction you don't like. Decide which of the years growth you want to keep longer and which wants cutting back. I try and prune mine to one or two buds left if I just want to fruit in that area, or leave it at 6-10 buds for a longer shoot. I don't like excessively long branches so I tend to keep them at that.

Fruit of the Garden - September's Harvest

Jenny September 26, 2013

Another month has passed and we're starting to notice that we planted all our veg to see us through summer months rather than planning food for different seasons. We've still working through our salad potatoes, and the tomatoes are slowly ripening, but this month has mostly been about our fruit trees. We have two really productive fruit trees in our garden - one apple, one pear - along with four young trees that are yet to mature enough for fruit - three apple, one cherry.

We have no idea on the varieties of the two old trees, the apple is a cooker and neither apple or pear seems to keep well. We've been processing and stewing all the fruit as it comes off the trees to stop it going to waste.

A Garden Update

Joe August 14, 2013

Linking up with Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day for the first time, though I'm afraid this post is rather lacking in flowers!

A steady trickle of things have been going on in the garden. None of them seem big enough to write about in their own right but I thought it was high time to bring everyone up to speed on what has been happening. The biggest changes have been happening on opposite sides of the garden as one big project.

As we built our chicken run we discovered a large area of hardcore. This isn't great for the chickens - there isn't much to scratch around in it for! We decided it needed to come out. Excellent, thought I, free hardcore to use as a basis for paths. Over in the vegetable plot the grassy paths between the beds have been awaiting the moment of their demise. Being a bit shy on good topsoil I decided not to waste it by burying it so have saved it for later use - I left the chickens guarding it (nicely tilling it and fishing out any weeds)! I intend to dig it out later for use where it matters and refill the space with a lot of wood chippings.

Chicken run with hardcore in bottom half of the picture.

Vegetable plot (much earlier in the year) with grassy paths.

Soil comes out, hardcore goes in.

The chickens working over the spoil heap in their improved run.

Nice solid paths in the vegetable garden.

In order to try and give our vegetables the best start we've chicken proofed that area of the garden. Unfortunately our two bantams are too nifty for us. This time it was Frog who'd found a gap in the fence and we caught her several times strolling around our potatoes and onions. Time for reinforcements!