by Greg Alder | Jul 5, 2019 | Fruit |
Summer pruning is monkey work. I love its simplicity. There is joyously little thought or skill involved. But it is necessary monkey work. If you want to keep a deciduous fruit tree small and you skip a summer pruning, you start to lose hold on the size and...
by Greg Alder | Mar 29, 2019 | Avocados |
I think of my Hass avocado tree as small even though it is far bigger than the newly planted trees above. As I looked at my Hass last week, it stood 17 feet tall. It was time to prune. I prune it every year in order to keep it down to 15 feet. This post is about...
by Greg Alder | Jan 25, 2019 | Fruit |
What do you think about when you’re pruning your nectarine tree? I think about sunshine. Myriad smaller thoughts also go through my mind, but my overarching thought is about imagining rays of sun hitting the tree’s canopy and working their way down and in. The reason...
by Greg Alder | Mar 9, 2018 | Fruit |
The first time I pruned a plum tree, I climbed into it and started snipping off stubby branches that looked good for nothing. They were kind of in my way too, snagging on my shirt. Hmm, the plum tree didn’t flower much that year. It set only six plums in total....
by Greg Alder | Jan 26, 2018 | Avocados |
I call this tree the Japanese Fuerte. I’d seen many pruned avocado trees, I’d pruned many avocado trees, and I’d read much about others’ pruning of avocado trees, but I’d never encountered an old tree that had been so consistently and artfully molded to a shape and...
I'm Greg. My goal is to help others grow some food at home, with a focus on vegetables and fruits -- especially avocados -- in Southern California. I write a new "Yard Post" every Friday. 
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