How could anyone hate spring, you ask? Well, with spring comes Pruning Agony. I have two peach trees, three grape vines and two apple trees. Oh, then there are the raspberries. Yikes! Every year it's an exercise in guesswork, agony, and wondering if I've done enough, too much, or too little. The weather has been lovely the last couple of days, and today I finally got outside for a little yardwork. I grabbed my pruning tools and headed for the grapes and peach trees. Since I got hardly any grapes last year I decided I would not prune too much off the canes this year. The three grape vines went pretty quickly. Actually, I started with them first because my peach trees still scare me.
Starting the pruning process begins with a walk around the tree a few times with my smallest pruning shears, taking a nip off here and there as I spy little dead twigs. Pruning off dead stuff is easy. And on my trees, I mostly find little dead bits instead of big branches that have died over the winter. Then I sigh deeply because walking around looking for little dead stuff is over and now I have to face the more serious pruning. I think I know what a water sprout is: anything growing straight up into the middle of the tree. Once I get most of those out of the way, then I am stuck. I look at those branches and wonder what to do. How far back should I prune a branch? Is that one over there really one of those "droopers" (a branch that curves downward too much and is therefore a weak branch) or not? I think my two trees (an O'Henry and a Reliance) are getting a little big for their britches, but how hard dare I prune? The cutting part goes quickly once I finally settle on WHAT to cut. That part takes me forever.
Then there are the two apple trees. One is a Fuji and the other is a Honeycrisp. They are pruned completely differently from peaches. Sigh. Now I have to learn a whole new pruning technique.
I finally decided I am really going to go to a pruning demonstration this year. There is an university agricultural extension office here that has a number of demonstrations scheduled at private residences. Hopefully I will get to go to one of those. And don't worry, Mom. I won't touch your fruit trees until I have attended one of these!
Other than Pruning Agony, I love spring. I've got tulips and crocus and a few daffodils poking their brave little heads through the soil. And no, I haven't started any seeds yet. My youngest child is getting baptized this coming weekend, so the seeds are going to have to wait just a little longer. I'll post on that later.
2 comments:
I enjoy pruning a lot. I'm not very skilled but it's such satisfying work and somehow I find the apprehension and nervousness about what to do enjoyable. My two favorite bits of pruning advice are: When you think you've pruned enough, prune everything back more and then you're done. And, When you prune a fruit tree correctly you should be able to toss a cat through the tree without it hitting any branches. Good luck!
I feel your pain. Pruning is hard. Roses, I can handle but we have a lemon tree and an orange tree. I'm always afraid I'll take too much and we won't have any fruit next year.
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