Wednesday was a complete washout. On Thursday I was up around 5:30AM and got a load of dishes in the dishwasher. Then I tended the seedlings. A lot more were up on day 6 after starting. I sat down for a while then got ready to go outside.
I had to uncover the cold frame as it was to be a warm day. Everything seemed to have done well in there throughout the nasty cold. I collected the equipment we needed and headed over to the Little Trees row.
My #2 intern arrived about then and we got started on the #9 Contender peach tree.
Last year, 2025, my helper friend and I heavily pruned this tree in March. But it grew dozens of upward facing sprouts last year. And every sprout was covered in flowers. I half hoped the nasty cold would kill some, but it looks like most were untouched.
If even half of them produced a peach, it would be so heavy it would break branches or maybe even split the tree in half. So they all had to go. I hated cutting off all the pretty flowers. It was as bad as the year we had to remove peaches, hundreds of them.
We filled 2 of the big sleds to overflowing with branches. You can’t really see it but there are still lots of flowers and buds. We had been unable to prune in March due to a couple feet of snow.
After that, we cut some off the #6 Lapins cherry. That tree is not doing well but is still alive. And as we went by the #1 North Star cherry, I did some minor pruning on that.
I had decided to do something about the old forsythia as they weren’t flowering very well. I came across info that 1/3 of the old trunks should be removed each year over a course of years to allow for younger trunks that would flower. So we went down the row of old shrubs and took out 2 or 3 of the old trunks from each.
The 4th Fence forsythia had a lot of old wood and we took 4 off that one.
We also cut off a dead one on the Fence lilac and another on the East lilacs. In the wildflower area there had been a huge poke plant and we cut that down too.
My #2 intern still had a half hour left so after she cleaned up she went around and deadheaded the daffodils again. There aren’t many left after the heat and then nasty cold.
I was taking photos, but got too tired and forgot to do my notes. I’ll have to do them on Friday.
I sat down to rest when she had gone and my #4 helper arrived at 1:30PM. I sent her shopping, and rested a while longer.
Then I went out and managed to rake the area between the house and shed. That finished me off. I got a shower and into my pjs while she gave the little oven a good cleaning.
The gorgeous magnolia was hit hard and is all brown flowers now. But the lilacs have buds and I’m sure they will be opened by my anniversary in early May. The lily of the valley are still buds but they should open soon too.
And I was happy to see some of the rhubarb had survived being chewed during the winter.
Tiny micro climates: There are 2 flowering almonds in the South Herb garden, about 10’ apart. The west one, the one most exposed to wind and cold, has started to flower. The east one just has buds and is about a week behind the other one.
I spent the rest of the day watching ‘Leave It to Beaver’. When my #1 intern got home she brought in wood and I got both stoves going as it’s still to be in the 30’s. I had to dash out and close the cold frame as I had forgotten it.
I was in bed by 9AM.
On Friday I need to get out and get a much of the backyard raked as I can. I’m hoping my #3 helper will not mind raking as I have to mow for the first time on Saturday afternoon.