By Roberta Bailey Close to 2 acres of the Common Ground Country Fair’s permanent site is being planted to an experimental orchard. Another quarter acre or so will be a tree nursery. Both sites will be test plots for soil amendments, cover crops, rootstocks, and new and old fruit cultivars, hardy and tender. A portion
By Roberta Bailey Cider is an extraordinarily versatile beverage that can be enjoyed in its many forms, sweet, semi-sweet, dry, sparkling, still, apple brandy and apple jack, as well as in a staggering number of hot and mulled drinks. Recently, the United States has rediscovered this beverage that quenched the thirst of its founders. Interest
By C.J. Walke As the days grow longer and the sun climbs higher, we are slowly rolling into the month of March, and it’s time to prune your fruit trees and maintain the structural framework that will support bushels of beautiful, organically grown fruit. Remember to keep your tools sharp and your cuts clean, and
Toki Oshima drawing By Roberta Bailey Another fall has come, time to give up the quest to keep the garden watered and weeded. Many of the plants have faded to golden hues already. The brown of skin fades. We welcome a sweater and jeans. It is a time of surrender, yet it can be the
By C.J. Walke Growing organic tree fruit can be a bit of a challenge, considering the various insects and diseases that like to call your fruit tree home and the relatively short efficacy window of organic control materials; so being attentive to stages of fruit development and biological cycles of pests in your orchard is
When fruits aren’t thinned, a tree will produce many small apples rather than fewer, larger fruits. English photo. Summer Tasks By C. J. Walke As spring rolls into summer, I hope you’ve had a beautifully blooming, successfully pollinated orchard and avoided those late spring frosts that can kill blossoms and ruin your hopes for a
A whip and tongue graft works well on small-diameter branches. Make a slanted cut and a tongue in a branch of the rootstock tree. Rob Lemire photo. Likewise, make a slanted cut and a tongue in the scion. Rob Lemire photo. Fit the scion into the prepared branch. Rob Lemire photo. Wrap the graft completely
European apple sawfly larva damage. Photo by C.J. Walke By C.J. Walke As winter draws to a close, the days continue to lengthen and we approach early March, it is time to prune the orchard (see The MOF&G, Dec. 2010-Feb. 2011), collect scionwood for grafting, prepare to plant young trees and patiently await the brilliant
The branch collar is the wrinkled-looking tissue where one branch joins another or joins the trunk of a tree. English photo. By C.J. Walke As the ground freezes and winter takes hold, our fruit trees become dormant and settle in for their own winter’s nap. The trees may be dormant and we may spend more
Apple scab on fruit and leaves. Photos by C.J. Walke. By C.J. Walke Autumn is an exciting time in the orchard, because you get to taste the fruits of your labors and share the harvest with your family and community. Autumn is also the time to clean up the orchard, prepare trees for winter and
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