March 31, 2012

ORCHARDS

Last spring, around this time, we began the seemingly insurmountable task of pruning our fruit tree orchard. We estimate that it's been at least ten years since the last pruning; many of the trees were so overgrown that they needed to be cut-back by almost half their height. Pruning is surprisingly hard work. We weren't remotely close to finishing before the trees began to bloom last April, and this March we started up again where we left off. I recently read that you need at least five fruit trees for the grouping to be classified as an "orchard" and that historically, orchards contained a walnut tree, a quince, a mulberry, and a medlar (a quick search explained that medlar trees produce an apple-like fruit and, while not widely available today, were popular in Europe during the 1800s). Our orchard is comprised of nine trees, including apples, crabapples, and one lonely pear. A number of the trees are quite old and will likely need to be replaced (mulberries? medlars?) in the upcoming years. See below for orchard inspiration images from simple mown paths with spring bulb underplantings to trained espalier trees. Pruning progress photos to follow.






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