Snip!

After months of winter weather, it's time to start some
outdoor duties.  Today was the day we chose to start the
task of pruning our fruit trees.  Well, it was the day I chose.
My tired, overworked husband looked at me wearily when
I started in on my mile long list of farm chores that needed
to be done,  now!!!   He would love to get a little rest
on Saturdays, but I need his help.
Timing is important when it comes to pruning.  This much I
know.  The rest, I'm learning.

I took my book and stood in front of our little

trees and tried to figure out things like - which

branches are going to cross over other branches

and prevent the fruit from growing, which 

vertical branches need to be pruned because

they won't bear fruit, which is a lateral bud and

which is a terminal bud, what are suckers and 

water spouts.

Mark knows more than I do about all these things

and tried to help me understand how to shape the trees.

We are pruning these trees to have an open center which

requires you to cut back the leader ( the main shoot of

the tree) and any branches that threaten to become

leaders.  The objective is to open the tree up at the 

top, so the sun can get to the developing fruit.  A well

pruned tree is stronger and less likely to be damaged

from wind.

These trees were planted two years ago and they are dwarf

varieties of apples and pears.  We have twelve trees in our

little orchard.  I'm not sure how long we will have to wait

before they begin to bear fruit. 

We realized after we started that we didn't really have the

correct tools for pruning these trees.  We were using long

handled loppers and we needed small hand tools, such as an

anvil pruner or bypass pruner.( Yes, I read that in my book.)

But we did the best we could with what we had.

At first it was scary making the cuts.   It seems like you are

doing something wrong.  You want the trees to  grow and then

when they do, you start cutting them back.  But all this pruning

now, will hopefully pay off in the future with healthy trees that

bear good fruit.

I have a lot more to learn about pruning fruit trees, but I feel 

like I'm on my way.

And once he got started, Mark worked like crazy.  He tilled my

new garden area, (which I'm super excited about), cleaned out

one of my raised beds, repaired the door to the chicken coop

and more!!   What a guy!

* Goal #5 - Learn to prune my berries and fruit trees