mkdukinI have never had a satisfactory system for organizing photos. Want to note what blooms when for planning? Make a color collage? Track a reno project?
I see #democrats have voted against #medicare and #SocialSecurity
Chant: focus on the garden, focus on the garden, focus...
I managed to get water hyacinth to bloom one year. It was in a copper fire pit.
Dang, forgot captioning: photo of hyacinth - yellow dot, surrounded by medium lavender, surrounded by pale petals. A variegated grass to it's left.
Winter pruning for today? First, let chickens out of coop/run area (garden #12). Hung out with them in their yard (garden #13) and pruned the two raspberry rows shown by dashed yellow boxes.
Next? 5 espaliered apples in garden #15 (hell strip) only needed a quick touch up. Hit the lower branches of the honey crisp in garden #16 (spring/fall garden). Will lower it's too tall branches when I tackle the kiwi. Got them and the neighbors 2 pears sprayed.
Let the #chickens out of their run to enjoy their yard. Top Finley (easter egger) and Petunia (orpington). Bottom: Pickle (orpington), Iggy (one of these is not like the others) and Cocoa (easter egger).
January 14, 3 weeks after the solstice I begin checking for eggs. Collected the first egg today - brown. I'm guessing it was Iggy (age 2) as the orpingtons are older (age 6).
Apple #pruning
before: long 'suckers and thin twigs.
After: suckers and twigs removed. Red arrows point to spur 'bulging' development.
Ignore the cauliflower in the background. Sigh, so tired of cauliflower. The collards look good though and, as seen in the pear photos, there is some nice fennel.
ok, 503 error, we're back...
Second up for pruning? 4 espaliered apples in garden #1, the vegetable garden. As these were planted Dec 2019, they don't need much. Just take out the long 'sucker' growth, the spindly items that can't support an apple and keep the spurs short. Maybe next year some of the stretched spurs will be shortened.
before and after...
#gardening #16gardens
What I look for when winter #pruning pears? The typical: dead, crossed branches and shape. Pears here have larger spurs than apples. These are young so no dead branches, some are too close and fruit will touch so thinned. I'll wait a week to evaluate then thin the top spurs out or they will suck energy from the bottom branches and keep them from developing.
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Time for winter #pruning of fruit trees. 1st: garden #2 the cut garden pear 'fence'. Pears are aggressive growers and require heavy pruning several times per year. These were planted Dec 2019 and still working on developing spurs especially on bottom branches which receive less light.
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before and after...
