The Kindest Cut of All

The recent warmer afternoons and all the sunshine we've enjoyed 

has allowed us to get out to the farm and really get our hands in the ground. 

As we've observed before, even though Winter is a dormant time at the farm, 

with minimal opportunity to grow a lot, we see it 

as the "beginning of our Spring garden." 

And there is much work to do now.

This is the time for pruning trees in the Orchard. 

There are many reasons to prune trees: 

"Even healthy trees and shrubs develop areas of rot, pest infestation, 

or even inexplicable areas of dead wood. 

Removing these diseased or dead limbs prevents 

the spread of disease in the plant and results in cleaner wound closure. 

Pruning can also improve air circulation and increase exposure 

to sunlight which results in a stronger tree or shrub." 

the Pakistan Mulberry tree "breathing" in the sunlight.
Did you know the juicy berries from this tree can grow up to 5 inches in size?

But most important for our fruit trees, we prune for symmetry 

and to increase and improve fruit production.

 "Without pruning, most of the tree's energy goes into growth, 

resulting in a much smaller fruit yield." 

So, with dreams of treats like apple fennel galette in our mind, 

we are hard at work on the 50 trees in our Orchard 

to ensure the Chefs at the girl & the fig will have fruit to create 
dessert magic for you this Spring and Summer. 

apple fennel galette photo by Steven Krause for
Plats du Jour: the girl & the fig's Journey Through the Seasons in Wine Country.

One important thing to remember when pruning trees, 

is knowing where the tree produces fruit. 

You can see that we leave this "apple spur" (which is where the apple forms) uncut, otherwise we wouldn't get any apples next year. 

And that would mean, no galette!

apple spur from one of our 8 apple trees

we are hopeful to get apple blossoms like last year

A helpful video from a great source, GrowOrganic

to show you how to prune your fruit trees: 

working towards our trees in healthy bloom

so we will have luscious fruit to pick for you!
This is from a rare Indian Blood Peach tree

Are you pruning trees now? Let us know your tips or challenges.

What else are you doing in the garden this time of year to get ready for Spring?