It's Apple Blossom Time

 The Northern Spy Apple trees are just covered with blossoms ready to burst open.

The leaves are developing behind the blossoms and it will be about a week before the buds really start to open up and they will linger for a couple of weeks after that.

Now the Gala Apple Tree, that we planted back in 2022 and relocated in 2023 is at the same stage of leaf development but I really don't see any buds.  It should be blooming at the same time, which is why I chose it as a pollinator for the Spies.  It never has as many blooms as the more mature trees, but it should be putting out something.  Since the leaves have started popping out, it's shape has started to bother me and I decided it needs some header cuts.

It looks good from some angles, but the North side is starting to get thicker.

I've circled the branch that is bothering me.  Because this branch has gotten taller than the others, it will start to become more dominant, not to mention heavy.  You can see on the branch tips to the left that the leaves are more developed than the buds further down.  This is what I mean when I say that a tree will send more growth hormone to the terminal buds.  I don't want those sending out a whole lot of tip growth either.  I want to encourage branching further down on the side buds.  I want to be able to reach the apples!

This tree grows naturally in an open centered, vase shaped form.  I don't want one leader becoming dominant.  I need to head off the branches at an equal height.

Here we go.

Because of the terminal bud dominance, I want to cut just above a bud that is heading in the direction I want to direct the branch

We'll see how these cuts shape up this year.  This has not been a particularly vigorous grower or producer, but the Northern Spy trees did not begin to produce until the fourth year after they were planted and this is now the fourth year for this little tree.  Relocating it after one year probably set it back too.  The past two years it has set and held half a dozen small apples so I expect it will bloom soon.

Pruning Fruit Trees

I have three apple trees and a pear tree.  The pear tree is still small and I just prune out any branches that are growing back inwards towards the middle.  On of the apple trees is still quite young and not putting out a lot of growth.  I may take out a branch or two each spring.  Then we have the two Northern Spy trees that I planted in 2009 from grafts of the last old orchard tree here.  One tree is very productive but does not put out a lot of new growth.  It focuses its energy on apples.  I generally prune that one a bit at a time throughout the summer removing a branch here and there.  The other tree, is a beauty queen.  She focuses her energy on new growth and apples are an afterthought.  Most of my pruning focuses on keeping this tree thinned out.

When pruning a fruit tree, first stand back and assess what the goal is.  This tree is shaped well but always needs thinning in the interior.  The first branches to remove is the "Three Ds".  Anything Dead, Damaged or Diseased,  The second consideration is any water sprouts.  These are soft, fast growing branches that grow vertically straight up from old growth.  They are usually at the site of something you pruned off last year.  

Water Sprouts

Take them off right above the collar of the branch which is the angled portion right next to the trunk.  This will allow the tree to heal properly.

They are easy to spot because the bark will be bright and smooth.  These branches are always very straight and will not produce any fruit this year anyway.  I will, occasionally leave one if I want to fill in a bare spot, but most of them need to go.  I save the longer ones because they are useful around the garden for staking things.  You can even use them to weave a fence for your peas.

The third consideration, and one that requires more thought is any cross branches.  It takes a little more thought because you usually have to make a choice of one branch vs. the other.  Which will result in a better shape?  You should always favor the branch that grows straight out from the trunk.  Not up, not down, not to the left or right.   Cross branches will rub against each other causing a scar on the bark and allowing insects and diseases to enter.  They also cause congestion and limit air flow.  I always wonder where they all come from.  Presumably I cut them all out last year.  Trees fill in very fast.

There are several choices to be made here.

When I'm done I have a pretty good pile of branches, but the center of the tree looks airy and well groomed.  Last year and this year I concentrated on "limbing up" to get rid of those branches that are always catching my hair, trying to poke me in the eye...  They shouldn't be pointing down anyway.

Before and After

Now I give it some time.  I walk around the tree, maybe for a week or two, checking my work from every angle.  The hardest pruning cuts to visualize are the Heading cuts.  These cuts shorten a branch and cause it to send out a new shoot from that location.  Here are some Heading cuts I made on the other tree last year.  Then I went back and cut more a week later removing the top of the central leader.

Heading cuts, by their nature, occur on the outer edges of the tree.  The trickiest ones are at the top, mainly because you can't see what needs to be cut when you are standing beside the tree.  A tree will send growth hormone to the uppermost tips of the branches.  So, if you have a tree with one central leader, and one of the side branches develops and starts to come out above the tip of the branches growing from the leader, that branch will get more growth hormone and eventually take over for the original leader.  The other tree, shown above has a central leader (and not the original one) but the tree below has been pruned to a Modified Central Leader.  The top sort of fans out with several main branches.   This is most apparent from a distance.  These branches to the right want to take over and must be shortened.

Because of the size of the tree, I have to use the old pole pruner.  There is no way I could reach these even from a ladder in the center.  I have to choose a good place to cut as well as a spot where the pruner will stay put.  You should always cut a branch right above a bud that is facing in the direction you want new growth but in this case the side branch is already there and I just need to remove all of the tall branch.

Cut #1

Cut #2

Gone.  Now the top has a more uniform shape from every angle.

While I have the pruner tangled up in there, I take the opportunity to cut two branches that are headed back into the middle.

Done.

And here is the Before and After from this angle.

This tree still has more growth on the south side (left of above photos).  That is something I am working on over time.  A few years ago the apple trees got a touch of blight and I had to take a lot of large branches out of the north side of this one.  The tree has recovered it shape well but almost any plant or tree will put more growth out on the side that get's the most sun.  

If you would like more, expert advice the blog link below from Cornell is excellent.

A Basic Guide to Pruning Your Fruit Trees.

After pruning the trees, I applied a general dormant spray and a copper fungicide spray.  The copper I bought chiefly for the pear tree.  Back in 2024 it got some sort of leaf spot, the leaves bronzed out and the whole tree defoliated by the end of August.  I used the copper spray last year and the leaves stayed green and healthy all season.  I put both concentrates in the sprayer at the same time so the apple trees get treated as well.  Last year was the first year I used this particular combination and I noticed a reduction in the sooty blotch on the apples as well.  These sprays can be used up until the time of harvest, but I may spray a second time before they leaf out.

 

Out Looking for Trouble

 We finally had a pleasant day with no snow pack so I could go out and look around for winter damage in the garden and landscape.  We have had such weighty snow that everything is smooshed down.  So smooshed in fact that some of my bulbs are pushing new growth up through leaves.

Daffodils coming through Verbascum leaves

The best news is that there is no vole damage.   Last year I had a vole or mouse nesting under the deck which ate all of the roots off of my Prima Ginger Echinacea plants.  I took steps to block them out, and it looks like we did not have a nest under the deck this year.  No damage. 

The Primroses have buds and a few blooms on them.  

Once they get a little air and sunlight they will bloom.  They will be in their prime in early April.

In addition to Primroses, I have a couple of Hellebores that I have managed to keep alive.  I wish that our garden centers would bring these in as perennials so I could plant some more established plants instead of bareroot.  They always look like heck this time of year, but this one is looking pretty darn nice by my garden standards.

Below is the dream they sell you... but it takes years to get them established like that.  I get a bloom or two, but they have not yet been nice enough to bother photographing.  ...someday....

Some of my Heuchera plants look pretty darn nice.

Heuchera Changeling

It is time to prune and spray the fruit trees.  I just need a couple of days of nice weather.  This tree always has a lot of water sprouts in it.  I actually enjoy the pruning process and look forward to it each spring.  The spray part is sort of a hassle, but the pruning is one of the first rights of spring.

Garden time is just around the corner.

Apple Pie Season

I have been picking up useable windfall apples for several weeks already, but now the Northern Spy apples are starting to ripen by the basket load.  These are hard, tart pie apples that do not keep well at all.  By the time they soften and sweeten enough to be tasty to eat on their own, they are too soft for pies.  And then they get mushy on the outside so that they are impossible to peel anyway.  I have already given away several bags to people who look forward specifically to having the old fashioned and hard to find Northern Spies.

  We have two trees and I bag the apples to keep them from getting Sooty Blotch.  Oddly enough, over the years I have noticed that the unbagged apples show less and less of the blotch to the point that this year I don't really see any at all. I wonder if that is a result of bagging so many of the apples each year.  Have I killed it off?  Starved it out?  Or is it more to do with our dry weather?   I usually bag about 130 apples on this tree but this year I bagged 150.  The cool, wet June meant that I had almost no June drop at all.  The few bagged apples that dropped, I just reused those bags on remaining apples so that I went into harvest with a record 150 bagged apples.

The second tree is rarely as productive.  This year I did not bother to bag any apples on the second tree, but it still produced pretty well.  All of my apples survived two significant hail storms. There are a few scabby spots or mishappen apples.  Lumpy and bumpy.  The bagged apples showed the least damage.

The better tree is underplanted with thyme which cushions any windfall apples well enough that they don't bruise.  But once they start to color up well, I go out each morning and put a little pressure on the ripest looking ones to see if they want to come off.  If I let them all fall, the rabbits will have ruined most of them by the time I get out there in the morning.  This year I thinned and bagged those 150 apples without even getting out a step ladder.  But, there are still good apples high up in the tree.  I put my apple picker head on the 12 foot telescoping handle for our roof rake and now I can reach anything.

I have often weighed in apples over 16 ounces, but the more apples you leave on the tree, the smaller they are.  I still get a few really large ones around 12 to 13 ounces.

I have already run a batch through the dehydrator and made one apple pie.  It looks like I will be processing some of these for pie filling the freezer.

In and Out

 I have been hardening off my seedlings rather than just throwing them out in the cold frame.  I'm working around the house each day so it isn't too inconvenient.  They can be out for several hours each day now and by the weekend they will be fine in the cold frame all day.

The Coleus and Marigolds are out there already.

I am warming the soil for my Dahlias.  The regular soil temperature here is 50F but under the panels I have it up to 64F.

I finally got the Caesar's Brother Siberian Iris planted.  

We decided to remove the brick border.

We got our new mulch and finished mulching.

I am enjoying some of the new to me perennials.

This is Penstemon Onyx and Pearls.  The foliage stayed "green" all winter.

This is Amsonia Storm Cloud

I've had this several years, but it is the first year it has significant blooms.  
It is Lemony Lace Elderberry

The Bartlett branch of the pear tree is blooming.

Both Northern Spy apple trees are full of buds

The later blooming daffodils are opening and there are new variations every day

And the strawberry plants are blooming.  These are first year plants.  I snipped the runners from the neighbor's plants last year.

Spring is under way.

April Showers

The weather has been pretty cool and wet.  There have been some breaks of sunshine now and then but after you figure out that they do not last long enough for you to get outfitted and go outside, you realize that they may be best enjoyed through a window.  But every day I go out and do a garden patrol.  This is the time of year when the rabbits decide that the thyme under the apple trees would make a lovely location for a nest.  And I agree, it would be lovely.  But the itty-bitties are trouble enough when they are under foot in the lawn.  I sure don't need them based under the apple tree.  Usually just smoothing back the mulch and sprinkling some repellent granules around is enough to do the trick but this year they are busy enough that I have had to plug the hole with a big ol' rock.

The daffodils are beginning to bloom.  The little tete-a-tete daffs are the first.

The larger ones are not far behind.

The hardy primroses are still a little rough from being buried under snow for months but they are beginning to bloom.

I have been thinking of adding some bulbs to this corner by the deck steps.  I have to keep track of where things are planted.  This will come in handy in the fall when I can either plant accordingly or talk myself out of it completely.  The Winter Aconite should be showing up and blooming at the feet of the snow drops but they aren't.  I need to add some more this fall.

Oh look... the Hyacinths are coming up nice.

Last week I  planted some bareroot Seascape strawberries.  They are already greening up.

The elderberry bushes are leafing out.

I finally finished pruning on the apple trees.  I took a lot out of this one but it is still a very full tree.

Below are the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants.  They will be ready to set out in three weeks.  i am pleased with how compact they are staying under the new LED light set up.

And the micro tomatoes and ornamental peppers.  Such tiny little guys.

Yesterday I seeded the indeterminate tomatoes.