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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Spring!
  • Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 00:17:16 -0400

Well, I lost all my experimental (global warming) zone 7/ tender zone 6 stuff this harsh winter, but all the hardy stuff seems to be doing well. I removed a number of Crandall currant suckers today (gave them to a friend) and generally puttered, fed, pruned, mulched, etc. I'm very excited to report that my Puget Gold apricot is going to bloom this year - I planted it last spring! (I wish the apples were so exuberant.) I think it will bloom too early, and be frosted out, but I'm still pleased.

I guess I ought to prune earlier in the season. It was easy to prune the grape and apple, which are still pretty dormant (although the grape bled a lot) but painful to prune the budding blueberry and currant. Redstart has some branches that are rubbing, but it doesn't have many branches (a rough transplant two years ago) and I'd have to either remove the strong new shoot or else the one covered in fruiting buds, and I couldn't bear to do either. Maybe I will prune some more after it fruits. The feral red currant probably has too many stems, but I found it hard to cut it back, too. (Also covered with buds) Unusually, there were no dead branches - usually the oldest branches die over the winter from borers or something, so in the past it's been very easy to prune in the spring. In fact, I have been in the habit of waiting until the buds swelled to more easily see which branches died, and remove them.

The blueberries had enough issues that I'm a little worried. The ends of several young branches were black and curled up - looks like pictures of fireblight, although I don't think that affects blueberries. I'm hoping it's just winterkill. There was also a large canker on a big stem. Even though the affected stem had a lot of fruiting buds emerging, I removed it, in case it's infectious. (Also, those buds were a little behind - I think the canker was slowing sap-flow, and I don't know if the stem would have been able to support the fruit.) I saw the canker last year, but assumed it was just mechanical damage. But it seemed worse this spring. Still, the blueberries are looking good, and I'm hopeful of a crop. Good except for one plant in the same spot where a prior bush died. There must be something wrong with that spot. Maybe the drainage is bad, as it's a little lower than the others in the row, and over a rock. I wonder if it would help if I removed the plant, added a lot more soil to build up the spot, and re-planted the plant? Any suggestions? (and if that makes sense, what time of year would you do it? Maybe next weekend?)

My project for this year is to kill back the grass from close to my fruits. The blueberries have an extra 18" of mulched space, and the apple tree will, soon. (It already has an extra 6" or so, as I put a lot of leaves over the grass this winter, and that seems to have inhibited the grass.) The currants and raspberries are so productive that it doesn't seem necessary (and the raspberries actually have a lot of space). I think I need to restrict the grape anyway, so I'll leave it alone. The Meyers lemon has so little root that I don't think it is competing with grass, despite living in a small hole. But the apricot may get more mulch, too.

Hoping others are enjoying the spring as much as I am.

Ginda Fisher
eastern Mass., zone 6





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