Fruit Tree Pruning

One of our biggest tasks this season came from one of our biggest blessings on the farm - it already has about 10 mature and producing fruit trees:  apple, pear and cherry.   We know these trees produce; last fall we had a good number of very tasty apples, even though we had not moved to the property full time to care for the trees.  Last June we saw lots of nascent cherries but unfortunately missed them at full ripeness.  So, needless to say, we know they are relatively healthy trees.  

We looked at our trees and knew that they needed some help, but didn't know quite what to do - or when to do it. Since there are a lot of orchards around the area, we supplemented our tree book learnin' with observing how the old timers managed their fruit trees. It may not look like much from the pictures, heck, it doesn't look like much in person, but it took a lot of time. Sawing and shearing away, squinting into the sun, and sore backs were all a part of preparing these trees for their optimal health this season. 

Our trees after being pruned, with half to a third water sprouts remaining

 

Because the prior owners were older, the trees had not been tended for the past couple years.  So we had some catching up to do.  Pruning fruit trees is different from pruning other trees.  It’s not for shade, shapeliness or even to maximize tree growth.  It is to coax the tree into maximum fruit production.  The general idea is that you don’t want the tree expending its energy on growing fast, non-fruiting branches and shoots (called water sprouts), but rather to put its water and energy into developed fruiting branches or new branches that will soon yield fruit.   It is best to prune in late winter or very early spring, before the tree starts to bud.

After some reading and experimentation we went at it with a few goals in mind:

1)Priority one is getting rid of the water spouts that grow straight up off the top of the tree or off the main trunks.  These sap a lot of energy and don’t fruit.

2)Get rid of any deadwood

3)Get rid of any shoots coming from the bottom or roots of the tree

4)Open up the center of the tree for light

5)Get rid of any branches that cross or rub that might be an entrance for infections

Examples of water sprouts

 

Since we were making up for years of little or no pruning there was a lot to do.  We hacked and sawed with our pruner for hours over many days.  Often it seemed like we weren’t making a dent.  One consequence of the trees not being tended for a while is that we didn’t want to take off all the water sprouts because that might shock the tree.  So we only removed about half to two-thirds of them.  It was good for the tree and a good excuse for us.  Now, though, we’ll have a leg up on pruning next year.

Here’s hoping we’ll get some awesome fruit this summer!

Double Digging

One of our primary methodologies for growing vegetables is bio-intensive gardening via double digging. Double digging is a process that lets you deeply prepare a bed so that plants can send their roots far down into the soil with ease to get the optimum nutrients and growing room. It also lets you plant very close together, with crops in a 4’ x 25’ bed instead of spaced out in rows. This means growing higher yields in less space with fewer resources used (water, compost), and fewer weeds.

To double dig, you need a high-quality spade and fork. It’s hard to over emphasize the need for good metal tools. A flimsy spade and fork will bend and will make double digging even tougher than it already is. Get something that is hand-forged if possible, it is worth the investment.

First, decide the size you want your beds to be. We decided upon 4x25 feet because that equals an easy to calculate 100 sq. ft. per bed and since most adult humans can reach two feet with ease, addressing weeds from each side will not involve straining. Also decide which way your beds should be aligned. Think about the prevailing winds, shade, etc. For our beds, even though we would rather have them lay horizontally across our field (like this =) because of the specifics of our field, that would mean exposing their longest sides (25 feet) to the strong Northern winds. So instead we have aligned them vertically so that only the 4 foot side of the beds will be facing the northern side (like this II).

Next, layout your bed parameter with string and clean the surface of the earth of any weeds, rock and any other unwanted obstacles present. Then, cut in with the spade and make an approximately 1 ft. wide trench short-ways across the bed (width-wise in other words). Save the dirt you dig up from this first trench in a bucket or wheelbarrow. Then, take your fork, drive it deeply into the trench bottom and pull it back and forth, almost parallel with the ground, in order to loosen the soil way down. Next, move down the bed another foot, cut a new trench with the spade and dump that soil into the first trench. That way the loosened sub-soil is now topped by the next trench’s topsoil. Repeat until you reach the last trench. After forking this trench you use the dirt you saved from the first trench to put on top of the forked last trench. You may need to rake the bed to break up some larger dirt clods that come up.

One hint is to use a 4’ x 2’ piece of plywood to stand on as you work each trench. You move it back a foot every time you finish a trench. This helps with footing and also keeps your weight from packing the soil down before you dig it up.

Not going to lie, this is hard work; especially if your field hasn’t been cultivated in a while. You will be tired, sweaty and dirty, but you will have some of the best beds for plants you can make. Once you plant you can add compost, mulch and even a small hoop house over it to make the plants extra happy. Probably the best news is that once you establish the beds, provided they are minimally yearly maintained, you don’t have to do the full double digging process again for 5 to 7 years.

Getting ready to do the first trench.

About half way done with the first bed.

Our new workers. Ginger and Pepper; mousers extraordinaire.

Compost!

 



     If healthy soil makes healthy people - what makes healthy soil? Compost! That's right kiddos; stuff rotting is awesome for our food and eventually works to make us super strong! Cool, huh? And isn't every little boy somehow born with this instinctive knowledge?

     There are two main kinds of compost: hot and cold. Cold is the kind with worms in it. This is very awesome stuff, but there are certain materials you can't put in it or it will get too hot and kill your worms (chicken scraps, organic poo, etc.), it can also take several months to have your cold compost ready to use in the garden. Hot compost is ready a lot quicker (sometimes in only 21 days!) and can absorb about any carbon-based material.

     Some important things to consider about where you place your compost pile: In the Northern climates of the 48 states, you want your compost pile to get plenty of heat and sun, so you need a direct Southern-exposure placement (preferably one that doesn't get shade at any point in the day). In the Southern climates, your compost should be in mostly shade, but with some sun. We built using the back of our barn as our wind-break from the Northern wind and have full Southern exposure.
     Here are the directions to build a very basic and more than adequate compost pile container. Total process took us about 2 hours.
     Although I know many people may not have pallets lying around, it really can be just about anything that is strong - in fact you could easily build it out of wire made rigid with posts, just try to make sure there aren't any toxic chemicals in what you use that might wind-up in your compost, and thus your soil and finally your body!
     You may be thinking to yourself "but I only have a small garden, I don't need anything this big." Maybe that's true, but remember that the compost will break down a lot and in the end you will only be taking out a fraction of what went in, so it will look like a lot at first. Also, there are a lot of uses for compost besides just putting it directly in the soil. A great use of compost is compost tea, which serves not only as a fertilizer - but an organic pesticide!

 

Step One: Gather solid-ish big flat pieces that can act as the sides of your compost pile. You will need 3 for one pile, 5 for two piles, 7 for three piles, etc. Also needed are some nails and a hammer (or screws and a drill), we had some galvanized 16d, ring-shank nails lying around from a previous project and they are great for this.





Step Two: Nail the top and bottom of the sides together. Voila!





Step Three: Grab some left over wire and cut it to length. Our 'hinge' side is secured with bent-over 6d galvanized nails to hold it securely in place and the 'open' side has 8d trim nails half-way bent-over so that the wire can be secured close by tension.

 

Step Four: Put in stuff you want to see rot! We added our brown material (twigs at the bottom help it to have some air flow), green material and (organic) kitchen waste. Finally we watered it and shut the gate! We will stir and water it everyday until it is ready for our garden.

One small seed, one giant leap

 

What a month it has been! A trip to Texas, more farming classess, buying our first large installments of farm supplies and starting our seeds.

In one drop of a seed into the dirt, years of dreaming became a reality. When these plants grow a little more they will be transplanted into a deeper planter and then finally into the earth in mid-April. By starting our seeds now, we gained almost 1 1/2 months of growing season, which should mean we will have some vegetables and fruits of our own to bring to the table when we have family guests in May. Some vegetables like to be transplanted (tomatoes) some don't (carrots), but we went ahead and started early at least a few seeds of every variety this year.

The planting season of the area is determined by many things, but the most important one is the last freeze. For us this means we can begin to plant our crops outdoors mid-April and the growing season will end in October. Since this is a relatively short growing season when you consider that we want to eat everyday of the year, different ways for our plants to get warmth, sunlight and nutrients need to be pursued. For this year that means seed-starting inside, and probably a cold-frame this fall and winter. In the next few years we hope to build a greenhouse and take advantage of the sun all year-round. Preserving food is a great way to hold on to many fruits and vegetables even during months nothing can typically be grown (and we will be doing a lot of this), but some things do not store well or at all (like lettuce and broccoli) so if we want to eat them year round, we need to extend the season.

This month has also been marked by the renovation of our kitchen. Since it was basically the very same kitchen that has been here since the house was built over 100 years ago, it was not practical for our uses. This was a debate for us; preserve the charm of the original kitchen, or make it as useful for our food preperation/storage as possible. Practicality won out, but we saved the antique stove and will try to think of some way to incorporate it in the future.



 

 

Seed starting.

 

Happy pups in their own yard - they'll have to give it up to the cow in a few years.