"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Saturday, February 22, 2014

A Peachy Idea



This weekend SM and I are going to tackle pruning our fruit trees. 

I always pull up a video on YouTube to remind me how to do this.

Last year was the first year we pruned our then 4yo apple trees.  I remember being told by a fellow blogger to be "ruthless" when pruning and she was right. 

We got our first apple harvest back in August and we were thrilled.

We do have a 2 yo peach tree that I bought at the end of the season at Walmart.  I didn't figure out until later why it was so cheap. 

The above video discusses that properly pruned peach trees have scaffold branches that grow at a 45 degree angle so the tree can handle the fruit load.

The center of the tree should always be open for air circulation. 

Our peach tree pretty much looks like a regular old tree with a main vertical branch right up the inside. 

We knew about this last year and pondered if we should remove it then but I wimped out and told SM to leave it alone. 

Not this year. 

SM will be breaking out the saw today to remove that center branch.  Hopefully the tree will survive.

I also wanted to share with you a great idea for all those pruned fruit tree branches. 





Instead of tossing them onto the burn pile, force them to bloom in the house instead.  I pulled up this "How To" article on Dave's Garden as a tutorial.

I'm going to give this a shot with both my peach and apple trimmings.  You can also do this with any spring flowering shrub like forsythias.


3 comments:

  1. Take pictures of your forced branches. Wish I had trees to do that with.

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  2. Heck with bringing pruned branches in . . . our whole trees would like to come in out of the snow threatening to smother them! ;o}

    Have fun with your pruning job today. We won't be doing same for a while yet. Maybe MONTHS if this snow doesn't stop. 'Course, a morning temperature of 6° doesn't make for any melting either!

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  3. What a blessing to have apple and peach trees. You'll be a happy summer camper!

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