Pruning the fence line trees commences!

 This week we were four volunteers and two of us started the summer pruning of the trained trees on the orchard.  A trained tree is one that is pruned into a specific shape or form. On the orchard we have a long fence line of trees which have been trained as vertical cordons - this means they have one main stem with shorter fruiting stems - meaning they take up limited space. This allows us to grow lots of different varieties of fruit.  

Summer pruning is an enjoyable task, as well as a necessary one. If we don't do it the trees will develop long thin branches which will bear fruit - but the weight of the fruit will break the branches. 

Below is a photograph of the long fence line that we prune each year. There is also a fruit arch with vertical cordons that has another 12 trees which we summer prune.  Other work done this week - strimming and more tidying up around the base of trees then mulching.  There are a lot of trees so this takes a long time!

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