Tree Haircuts and Mowing - June 24, 2024 @goldenoakfarm

in HiveGarden5 months ago

Little trees - 9. Contender peach branches on ground crop June 2024.jpg

On Monday morning I was expecting my general helper and intern #2 at 7AM. I was up at 4AM to get my post up and clean the kitchen up. I went out at 6AM to get the yard cleaned up so I could mow. I had hoses still out and the oak tree has dropped dozens of branches. So I got the branches picked up, hoses put away, and even raked in front of the woodsheds so I could mow there.

I was just getting the equipment over to the Little Trees when my intern #2 arrived. My general helper was right behind her.

Our most important job was to get the fruit off the branches of the Contender peach tree so the branches could lift off the ground. The above is before we started.

Little trees - 9. Contender peach branches off ground crop June 2024.jpg

It took us nearly 45 minutes to thin the fruit and slowly the branches lifted up off the ground. We thinned the 1” – 1½” diameter fruits to 4” – 6” apart, selecting the best ones to leave in place when possible.

Little Trees - 9.Contender peaches discarded crop June 2024.jpg

This was heartbreaking, to remove half of the crop from this one tree. And even with all this off, the branches are still low. I expect I may have to do it again when the fruit gets larger. But the tree is only 4 years old and doesn’t have big branches really.

Little trees - finished crop June 2024.jpg

Once the peach was done, we started at this end and worked our way down, weeding and removing winter kill.

Little trees - finished2 crop June 2024.jpg

There were 2 cherry trees that had a few cherries earlier, but none now. The end tree above is the 2nd cherry and it had mummified cherries on it. Neither cherry has done very well compared to the peach or elderberries.

Once this row was in good shape for the summer, we moved over to the Little Trees II.

Little Trees II - peach tree crop June 2024.jpg

The peach in this row is a Reliance peach. I’d discovered back in early May that it had Peach Leaf Curl fungus but it could not be treated for it until November. But one thing that could be done was remove the affected fruit, leaves and branches.

So we got the cage off and got that done, then put the cage back. The tree is very stressed and has a lot of pest pressure. But it is trying to grow new leaves so maybe it will do ok, if I can get it treated in November.

Little Trees II - finished crop June 2024.jpg

One plum had a small amount of winter kill that we removed, otherwise none of them needed any work. So once they were weeded we moved over to the trees by the Big garden.

Magnolia - haircut crop June 2024.jpg

The first tree my intern #2 and I tackled was the magnolia. On the left you can see the stump. I’d hit my head on that branch one time too many when mowing, so my intern sawed it off. Then I pruned it up so it doesn’t hit me in the head anywhere.

Carina deadheading lilacs crop June 2024.jpg

While we were giving trees haircuts, my general helper was up on the 8’ ladder deadheading all the East lilacs. This rarely gets done in a timely fashion, so maybe next year we will have lots of flowers.

MacIntosh - haircut crop June 2024.jpg

The next one was the MacIntosh. It had a huge branch out over the Big garden, so she cut it off. You can see some of the apples on the tree near the bottom.

My intern #2 had to leave at 10AM, so once we’d cut everything, she carted it all out over the bank.

Spirea - haircut crop June 2024.jpg

The spirea had not had any attention last year and gotten far too big. So I proceeded to give it a major haircut.

Spirea - 3 sleds of prunings crop June 2024.jpg

I filled 3 sleds with the prunings.

I also gave the lilacs a pruning so they don’t scrape cars or hit me when I am mowing.

Trees - haircuts crop June 2024.jpg

All the trees are ready for the summer now and up high enough to not hit my head.

Climbing rose - flowers crop June 2024.jpg

Climbing rose flowers

My general helper had to go at 11AM and I got to sit down and rest for an hour and have some lunch. Then I went out to mow. It had been a lovely cool day with lots of wind and that had dried the grass well. I’d not mowed in 10 days and the grass was much too high and lush from all the rain.

I had to do the yard and up at the barn and finished at 3:15PM. I got a shower and rested for an hour or so then went out to make supper.

Elderflower - dehydrating crop June 2024.jpg

I had picked what was left of the elderflowers before we started on the Little Trees. I got them onto a tray and in the dehydrator while I waited for my supper to cook.

On Tuesday I don’t have anyone here and it’s to be a decent day again. I’m hoping to get outside at 6AM and do those 2 gardens by the front steps. I have my first PT appointment in the afternoon, for the sciatica. It’s taken so long to get in, the sciatica has resolved on the right side. The left side still bothers me at night. So I hope the PT will help.

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 5 months ago  

Ugh, tree trimming and thinning fruit trees are so hard to do. Thank goodness you have good helpers. That was a lot of peaches that you thinned out, sigh!

Thinning the peaches must have been tough, but it’s all for the best. Hope your PT helps with the sciatica dearest

Nice one
Have you ever seen a weed on your garden and what did you do to it?

The mulch in the big gardens keeps the weeds to a bare minimum. When I harvested the garlic scapes I pulled up the few weeds I saw. I tend to do that when harvesting and it only adds 5 or 10 minutes to the job at hand.

In the flowerbeds, I have to pull them out. They usually get dumped over the bank.

It must have definitely be a very choky time for your helper to actually handle or what do you actually think of