Why I Oughta...

Took these two photos (below) earlier this Summer - June - after I cleaned up the sets of espaliers in the back and side yards.  First, the Apple trees in Belgian Fence.  Then, the SugarTyme Crabapples in horizontal cordon (for now).   This was post-pruning and they (now) look much more shaggy with new growth all over the place.  The Belgian Fence needs to still have a couple of replacements.   Note to 2024 self.

Back in the dark, stay-at-home days of early COVID, I bought a series of eight tiny, various apple trees and proceeded to plant them 24" apart and lop them off at 18" tall .  Hoping that I'd - one day - have a diamond-pattern Belgian Fence espalier along the northern side of our property (facing south on the fence, though).  By August of that same year (2020), three of the trees had been lost .  And there was VERY little sense of the diamond pattern showing up just yet.   This Spring, I came across two suitable crabapple trees (I needed three!) and planted them.  Suitable in this case means:  on the Honeycrisp pollinator list, cost less than $10 a piece and disease resistant or recommended.  They went into the #1 slot on the left.  And the #6 slot from the left .  Leaving slot #5 open.   I have spent a little time out there pruning up the trees and wiring up the new growth this Summer.  The last time I posted a photo of th...

Back at the beginning of Summer (or end of Spring), I planted two replacement trees in our Apple tree Belgian Fence to bring the total up to seven - of the needed eight trees.  I used a couple of crabapple trees that are known pollinators for the existing Honeycrisp apple trees.  A couple of weeks ago, I pulled out my pruners   secateurs and some padded wire and cleaned these trees up and wired the limbs in place.  You can see the trees below.   A few notes:   I'm still missing tree #5 (from the left).   I'll likely try to plant something this Fall.   Tree #6 (from the left) is not pruned down far enough.  I was concerned that all the growth was above my cut line, so I decided to leave some on a little higher.  And scored some buds below/near the (ideal) cut line to try to push some new growth.  The other five trees are in growing season #2. I'm now realizing that 18" is too close together.  It will work, ...

Back during quarantine (Spring/Summer of 2020), I bought eight very inexpensive apple trees and planted them about two feet apart along our fence .  Then, I proceeded to lop them them off at about 24" from the ground and hoped for the best.  They all seemed to throw off some new buds and I thought that maybe they'd all do fine.  I wired them up by mid-Summer and saw some new growth.    But, by August, I had three trees that had died .   #1, #5, #6 (from the left) were all lost - that was two Golden Delicious and a Honeycrisp trees. When I was planning this Belgian Fence espalier, I did a little bit of research into pollinators and what combination(s) were needed to bear fruit.  I'm KNOW that Honeycrisp trees pollinate Golden/Yellow Delicious Trees.  And...I'm pretty sure that Golden/Yellow Delicious trees pollinate Honeycrisp apple trees.   So, when I was going to find replacements, I knew that what I had remaining were four Honeyc...

Number eight on my 2020 to-do list for the yard was to buy some fruit trees and plant them to start a Belgian Fence espalier.  Why a Belgian Fence?  Well, we already have a pair of Cordon'd Linen Trees in our yard, so I wanted to try a different form.  And, on our trips to Disneyland, I noticed that they have a number of Belgian Fences that served as inspiration .  And, on our trip to Luxembourg Gardens in Paris last Summer, we walked by their espalier garden a number of times and was struck by how they've worked their fruit trees a number of ways.  So, earlier this Winter/Spring, I identified the place that we'd plant them and then in April, I pulled the trigger and bought eight Apple trees .  By May, I had planted them 16" apart and lop'd off their heads .  Then I held my breath and hoped that we'd see some growth.  Turns out, the garden gods smiled on us and there was enough energy stored up in the rootballs and all of the trees have...

A couple of weeks ago, I planted eight Apple trees for a Belgian Fence espalier and chopped off six of them at 16" tall .  The two on the ends, I left tall and proud.  And today?  They are showing off some pretty pink blossoms.  On the top of this post you'll see the tree on the right (facing the fence). Below, is the tree on the left (facing the fence) that is blooming, too: Also...in an effort to shame myself, I'm now two weeks in and still haven't gotten around to installing the wire system on the fence. Why does that matter?  Because I'm seeing some TINY buds that are emerging from the trunks of the trees that I lop'd off.  Take a look (a close look) below: Both of the top buds seem to be emerging from the 'front' of the tree, so that's going to take a little work to move it around the side.