Espalier apple follow up post

A few months ago I explained that I have a Jonagold apple tree that I am making into an espalier apple tree. Today I noticed that there are a few tiny apples starting so I decided it was time to put on the footies to keep the coddling moths and apple maggots away. One side of the branch has been covered and the other shows the size of the fruit. Check back later in the season for the progress on this project!

Garden glory

This is the best time of the year.

Hood strawberries are starting.

Calla lilies are at their best.

And roses are starting to bloom!
This the Austin rose ‘Evelyn’

#WordlessWednesday

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Fruit tree pruning

I just returned from a very good two-hour program about pruning fruit trees. First we learned about two kinds of pruners.

Bypass pruners which make a clean-cut.

Anvil pruners tend to crush stems and damage trees (and roses too!)

This hand saw cuts in one direction. Look closely at the blades to determine the direction. It would damage the plant to use this saw with a cutting motion and pressure in two directions.

There are lots of reasons to prune a fruit tree. Height and shape, light in the center of the tree for more fruit, but my favorite reason is for the espalier shape

This traditional European art of pruning is becoming more popular in the USA.
I am working on two, one year old apple trees to get the espalier shapes. They were grafted last spring. Both are in pots and need to get into larger pots with support this spring. Eventually this tree will get planted in the ground with a permanent horizontal support.

I am doing the espalier because we do not need a huge tree full of apples. In a few years I expect a few apples due to this pruning.

Rejuvenating the strawberry bed

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Cedar Grove Booster Blend (a local compost and manure in a bag) and plant runners that have been in water a few days, made for a good rejuvenating of the strawberries today.

Meyer lemons

I bought this this plant last August from Lowes and put it in the greenhouse to winter over. How long does it take to produce fruit from flower? A friend  told met to expect lemons in 3 to 4 months.

Fruit, it’s what’s for dinner!

Fresh and ripe from the garden!

Lunch from the garden 75%

Take whatever greens are ready, today I had baby lettuce, sugar snap peas, spinach that was ready to bolt, flat parsley, celery and red sails lettuce. Rinse, salad spin dry. toss with dressing. Add left over chicken or fish. I had left over Copper River salmon. Dessert: fresh strawberries topped with low fat yogurt. The best in my opinion!

Crows vs. cherries

Earlier this season crows were bothering my tulips and now they have discovered the cherry trees! Aggh! I am trying two things to protect the luscious but unripe cherries from the damage by crows. They actually take one bite then drop the cherry! Bird netting was left in the shed by the previous gardener, for good reason, now I understand why. Installing it is not as easy as a person would hope. I decided to wrap up the smaller tree first to see how that goes. It took a ladder and a boat paddle and some clip clothes pins to do the job. Friends here told me to be sure and cover the underside of the tree because birds go from the grass up to the branches, not only top down. Is there an easier way? For the larger tree I decided to hang flash tape and hope it scares them off to another landing spot.

More fruit!

Time for roll call:  we have the Rose Club, the Dalia Society, the Mum club and the Fruit Club and probably a few more I have not yet discovered. The funny thing is that all this is happening in a semi-rural area of the Kitsap peninsula and the same people migrate from club to club. Many have also been through the Master Gardener program. Roses and mums are about all I have time for but the fruit people had good advice and they had a good sale last month. Yes, I did add some more fruit plants to the garden. They were grafting apples on M26 root stock, which was a very interesting skill to watch, so I now have two trees.

Then I wandered into the other fruit for sale area and bought a male and female fuzzy kiwi, a Marionberry plant and Fig. I am now surprised to learn that fuzzy kiwi is a giant vine that needs an equally giant trellis in a few years.

Meyer Lemon tree has been growing since last fall. Apples, kiwi and fig arrived in March.