An Orchard Makeover

One item that's been on our "to-do" list since we moved into this place is to prune our orchard. Pruning the trees has a number of benefits, including: improving the structural strength of the trees; improving fruit production on mature trees; and keeping the branches closer to the ground so that they are easier to pick.

As with many things on our property, we don't have a clue how to go about pruning fruit trees. Thankfully, our neighbor Pat coordinated hiring a few workers from the Mt Adams Orchard to do some pruning for a few of us in the neighborhood.

They didn't speak much English, but Pat was there to provide translation. Apparently, one of the first things they said when they arrived was: "Boy, these trees are ugly." They probably hadn't been pruned in 3-4 years, and I guess it really showed. Of course, we didn't know what they were supposed to look like, so they looked fine to us.

Once we agreed on a price, they got right to work. The two of them worked diligently for a total of about 8 hours to get our trees into shape. Hopefully we'll notice a difference! And if anybody needs some fruit tree brush, we now have several substantial piles of it.

Now if we can only keep the coddling moths off of the apples...

We'll now leave you of some great spring photographs Corinne took of our orchard blossoms (plus one of the rhubarb patch).



- Mike (& Corinne)