Today we were out pruning the fruit trees, February being the ideal month for it in this part of the world. The dirt in the fruit orchard garden area was damp and the clay stuck to our feet in great huge clumps that made our feet feel like we wore snowshoes.
It wasn't much of a chore as Tanya's niece Sveta and I had wreaked havoc on them last year, until Tanya saw us and put a stop to it. Sveta trained in her youth as a silvaculturist under the experienced eye of a retired orchardist (is that a word?) and we were pruning 20 year old trees to increase production. Tanya and I just cut out a few extra branches that were in the interior of the tree and thus get no sunlight. Nothing radical at all.
Sveta pruned like our neighbour of years ago who took such a whack at her apple tree, her husband and I were shocked at the damage.
She said "You are supposed to prune a tree so a large bird can fly through it".
"Well, yes, but they didn't mean a 747".
Two years later her apple yield doubled. I expect great things from the trees we pruned last year.
I'm glad you know what you're doing. I learned the hard way by destroying a Douglas fir. I let the experts take care of such things now.
ReplyDeleteI lost my dearly beloved plum tree last year. I'll never know why. Lucky kept it good an watered. In the very same place, we planted a willow tree and it ended up dead. I'm beginning to wonder if it's a bad spot.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me; I need to get serious with our apple tree this spring. I have a Celtic recipe for apple wine. Hmmmm . . .
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