Fruit tree pruning & caretaking workshop

The chair of the Eagle Heights Garden Committee invited all of us to learn about fruit tree pruning and caretaking on 3/6 at 1pm at the Eagle Heights Gardens. This an awesome chance to learn these skills from an experience farmer. Check out his email below for the details:

Dear FH King Students:

We (the Eagle Heights Community Gardens Fruit Group) invite you to join us for an informal fruit-tree pruning workshop (led by us) on Saturday, March 6.  We'll meet at the Eagle Heights garden shed at 1:00 and walk out to prune the apple trees we planted in 2008 and 2009 (as well as the plum, cherry, and pear trees planted near the shed in 2009).  To get to us, ride the 80 bus to the first stop at the top of the hill in Eagle Heights, get out, look for a sign for the gardens, and go to the white shed at the entrance.  If we have time, we may do some raspberry pruning as well and/or prune a semi-dwarf apple tree in a nearby abandoned old orchard.

When we meet, we can also discuss plans for other fruit-related activities in 2009.  The minimal set of caretaking activities for our fruit trees includes fertilizing with N-P-K and aglime (to be done in April), removing flowers from trees planted in 2009 (to be done in May or early June); thinning fruit on trees planted in 2008 (to be done in approx. early July); summer pruning (in August or thereabouts); and harvest and cider pressing (yay!) from 2008-planted trees in September and October.  There's lots of other work to do through the season (some of it, like mowing and watering, must be done no matter what, while other pest management stuff can be done for educational purposes if we all decide we want to), and we can decide what we want to meet collectively for and what might be done by individual people or small groups.

Please bring pruning shears and saws on March 6 if you have them, and please pass this message on to anyone you know who might be interested.  

See you on March 6, I hope!

Best regards,

Robin Mittenthal

Chair, Eagle Heights Garden Committee