Collaborating with Mother Nature

Apple tree beginning to grow

The apple trees are beginning to open their leaves, and it is a gratifying sight. Each year I prune them quite severely and then spend a month or two worrying that I went too far, they won’t come back this year, they are too old and I am stressing them out too much by pruning….my list goes on. But once again they have sprung back to life with exuberant glory!

Their form when pruned is very interesting – I sometime call them my Halloween trees or my Fairy trees because of their odd outlines and rambling, twisted branches. The silhouette of one of them reminds me of a woman taking a stride forward with both arms raised, and I have tried to capture this ghostly impression many times through various art techniques but the essence of it always eludes me ( and sadly, the arms fell off my clay sculpture of it; it’s become a Venus de Milo of apple trees!). I think that it’s because I can never artistically create something so full of life and energy, only the Earth can do that. 

When all is said and done, I am happy to be an observer of this beauty and to try to use it in my garden – I don’t have to create it, just place it and encourage it to develop and let Mother Nature do the rest. Collaborative creation at its finest

The Plant Lady

Apple Tree Boot Camp

Pruning apple trees is an interesting gardening task.   They are such prolific plants, surging up to meet the sky with great gusto, growing three stalks back where you cut one off last year. It takes endurance, stamina and a plan, or it can’t even be attempted, really.

I have only have 6 trees to prune and harvest from, but they keep me busy through March and April.  I have amazing ratcheting loppers but even so, the sheer volume of new branches is overwhelming. Once they are cut off the trees they have to be burned right away, or rabbits set up house under them and when I do move the pile the baby rabbits find themselves exposed to all sorts of predators.  I’m shuddering at the memory of such an event….I like to save some of the branches to burn in the fireplace during the winter because they smell sweet as they burn.

Pruning the trees makes harvesting much easier, and reduces the area to be sprayed with lime sulphur and vegetable oil. I’ve heard that if I prune in fall they will grow less but I haven’t found that to be the case with my trees  – pruning at any time of year seems to trigger the growth of many replacement branches. The number of apples may be slightly less when I prune, but the quality is improved, with the apples being larger and having more pleasing shapes.

It’s pretty hard work, especially after a winter of sitting down and reading gardening magazines and books!  Sort of an Apple Tree Boot Camp, guaranteed to whip me into shape in 6 weeks or less.  Thankfully, they are done for this year and I can look forward to the sweet crunch of apples starting in mid July and continuing until October!

The Plant Lady