Cold Climate Gardening

Pruning the apple trees is a rite of spring. In past years I had a tendency to get started late and finish in a somewhat hurried splurge of activity–tinged with a bit of panic that perhaps I wouldn’t get it done in time. This year I had to take a different approach.

Since I’m no longer living at home, I don’t have seven days out of every week in which I can choose when and how long to prune. I’m only home on Sundays, and Sunday afternoon is really the only time I have of that day free to prune. That means instead of having thirty days in a month when I can choose to prune, I have four or five. And that is assuming every Sunday afternoon is actually free and the weather is of acceptable quality.

I could, of course, have not pruned the apple trees at all.

Popularity: 22% [?]

I’m sorry to hear of the demise of Bear Creek Nursery. I never ordered from them, but I kept hoping to. They had quite a selection of apple trees. One that I always wanted to get was Chenango Strawberry, because it was discovered fairly close to where we live. I notice all the mail order nurseries you mention are west of the Rockies. Do you know of any nurseries in the east that specialize in fruit trees for colder climates? The only one I know of is St. Lawrence Nurseries, and since everything they sell is hardy to zone 3, they don’t carry most of the trees you mention. They do have Chenango Strawberry, but my son decided to …

Popularity: 6% [?]