Tag: pruning

I doubt there’s a single place on our 54 acres where if you dig, you don’t find rocks. That’s the real reason New England is synonymous with stone walls. Robert Frost certainly knew that…

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

–From Mending Wall, by Robert Frost

We have built many walls on our property from rocks dug out during the excavation for our house addition and have added to them from working in the gardens.

Months ago, I ordered 3 different but pollinating-compatible apple trees: Roxbury Russet, Sundance, and Galarina. Why these? I have been curious about the Roxbury Russet and started my research with it in mind. It’s thought to be the oldest named apple variety in the US and was discovered in Roxbury MA. It’s a disease resistant apple and a good storage apple. The other two are newer varieties, but will cross pollinate with the Russet. They are both the kind of apples we love – sweet and crisp, and they are all good storage varieties and have some natural disease/pest resistance.

Because the fruit trees that were already on the property when we bought it were overgrown and difficult to prune down to human scale, I was determined to start these trees right. I am using the guidance in Ann Ralph’s book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree”.

That meant making a nearly heartbreaking prune to take all the whips down to knee high.

My spouse bought this cherry tree from our local ag co-op. It was already in a 5 gallon container and scaffolded out. I was a little worried that I’d have to prune it harshly to get it started, but it had been well pruned initially. All I have to do now is to thin out branches that will shade others and do some shortening cuts of limbs.

This aronia bush has been sitting in its 1 gallon plastic pot out in our back garden, essentially being neglected for 3 seasons. I honestly thought it had died over the winter, but then it began to leaf out. Anything that determined to thrive gets a spot in my orchard. Because it’s a bush and not a tree, I’ll prune to keep it from getting scraggly, but that’s all.

Planting an orchard is a leap of faith and a gift for our future. It will be years before any of the trees I planted today bear fruit.

In the meanwhile, this old, gnarled apple tree continues to bear little crisp and slightly sour, misshapen apples that we primarily let the deer enjoy.

According to an old proverb, the best time to plant a fruit tree is 10 years ago. The second best time is today.

So these three varieties – Roxbury Russet, Galarina, and Sundance, along with a peach I grafted last year, a cherry tree we bought at the Hardwick Co-op and an aronia bush cutting will be planted soon in a small orchard area we created last year.

We have a 40′ by 50′ space that has an existing old apple tree and some large rocks. (Hey, it’s New England, there are always rocks.)

While this may feel crowded for the number of trees we’re planning, the method I’ll be following is to keep the trees small with judicious pruning both in early spring and at the summer solstice. According to Ann Ralph in her book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” Early spring pruning sets the architecture of the tree. Mid summer pruning controls size.

I’m hopeful this will keep our trees at human and homesteader scale, giving us enough fruit but not too much to handle.

We’ll keep you posted!