Every once and a while we will get a day around here that feels like spring. It is wonderful. I purchased two peach trees to be planted my back yard. My yard is full of 20 year old landscape, so I have slowly been making some changes. My plan is to take out a lot of our shrubs and ground cover to produce more edible landscaping.
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| Attack of the giant rose bush! |
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| Alas, mission accomplished! |
We also have one really large ?Birch? tree that shades a good portion of our back yard, so it limits some of my planting options, but we are trying to make the best of what we’ve got.
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| I know it is hard to see against the fence. |
My plan is to espalier these two peach trees. Depending on how that goes I may create a fence line with espaliered fruit trees in the front yard. That won’t be until next fall or spring. But the plans are brewing in my little brain.
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| Remove bench, rake up leaves and.... |
The art of espalier is more common in Europe. It is when trees and branches are pruned and trained to be on one plane. They’re commonly found up against a wall or fence. It is a great solution to limited space. I think I will try the fan design, due to the nature of peach tree limbs. My yard isn’t small, but I do have limited space for growing trees. I will post more as the adventure continues.
Here is a photo of a Espaliered apple tree. Photo Credit:
For detailed "how to" here is a great link.
Along with my new peach trees I have planted two blueberry bushes, a blackberry bush and will soon be planting more strawberry plants. It has been fun to have nice enough weather to get digging again.
I put an ad on craigslist for free bushes and ground cover. I had many people reply so I took the ad down the next day. The problem with craigslist is getting people to follow through. I had one guy come and dig up a couple of rose bushes. I dug up our monster cascading rose bush a few days earlier so he took that one too. I think roses are pretty, but I don’t really like taking care of them, so I was happy to see them leave. I also had a gentleman come and dig up and evergreen’s from the front and back yards. Our yard looks so much better already with them gone!
The bushes I have to tackle myself are called Oregon Grapes or Grape Holly’s. The scientific name is Mahonia Aquifolium. They are a major pain. I took out several last year (like 7) and I have four more to go. They are great bushes if you need color and variety in your yard. I have plenty of color and variety and want more garden space, so they are out of here! After doing a little research I guess the berry on this bush is edible. I wasn’t sure and actually haven’t tasted them. I am sure Lil’Miss has given them a try. She eats everything in our yard.
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| My Little Garden Helper |
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| My Other Little Helper! |
[Keep in mind I originally wrote this over a month ago…] This week the weather has been warm and the blossoms on my apple trees are falling. I hate to see them go, they are so beautiful!! But I have great hope that they have endured the frost we have gotten here and there. I hope that is a good sign for apples in the future.
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| Plant a Peach tree! |
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| Pre-pruned tree pic. |
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