Today I baked an apple ... tree.
I hadn't meant to and should have been more careful but up it went, the tree, in flames.
It was a Lord Suffield, a rare heritage apple tree (of course) about 3 years old, recently pruned to about my height. It was the prunings I was burning nearby, all carefully controlled and watched over. I even draped some burlap over the tree to protect the new leaves from the heat of the fire.
The phone rang (thanks Bob!) and I went up to the house to take the call. While I was there, the burlap caught fire and the tree followed soon after.
I've not told Robyn.
She'll not be pleased.
I've pruned the tree again, down to knee height and it'll be alright, as I hope I will be too.
8 comments:
Have you thought of getting one of those twig shredder things? I don't know the proper name for them, but they're small electric motors on a stand with a hopper you feed twigs into and a chute that blows the shreddings onto a tarpaulin or similar. The shreddings can be used for mulch, and I imagine they'd compost fairly decently; the only reason not to do so that I can think of would be if there was disease in the cuttings.
Your right Dave - I was burning against disease but I've been thinking about it and decided that fires are out for me now - too risky in my closely planted orchard.
Hot composting would do the trick, after chipping or chopping. Better yet, I'll cut them to size and use them to start up my soon to be installed wood burner.
I've gradually rid my garden of motors - mowers, weed eaters etc. and am enjoying the quiet so I won't go to the electric chipper option - but thanks for your suggestion.
How do you maintain everything then Robert? Do you just let all the grass go crazy?
I like the idea of reducing sprays etc but the weeds here grow so damned fast!
Embrace your weeds Shunda - they're your best friends!
I'm not joking.
I've introduced a range of 'weeds' to manage the orchard understorey but cow parsley is king! It quickly replaces grass, even cock'sfoot and is easily managed. It produces beautiful soil in the way hemlock does. It attracts predatory hoverflies like mad and it breaks the blackspot cycle amongst the apple trees.
Gotta run! My wife just read my blog at work and is coming home to see her burned tree!!
Yikes!!!
Is cow parsley the same as Sweet Cicely?
Southernrata - hi!
Cow parsley is a different plant altogether. Sweet cicelly is ..sweet.. nice fragrance, licorice-tasing seeds, filmy/ferny fronds. I grow a lot of it here. It has a very strong purchase on the ground. Cow parsley is more toward the hemlock side of the family, is much taller and starts earlier in the season. It has no nice smell nor can you gnaw on the seeds. here some info and a link :-) I have seeds if you want them.
Anthriscus sylvestris, known as Cow Parsley, Wild Chervil, Wild Beaked Parsley, and Keck, is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant in the ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthriscus_sylvestris
Thanks Robert! We have just bought a paddock, near the sea in North Otago, and your food forest is an inspiration we want to emulate.
I was lucky enough to see your place about this time last year, in a greens group, and it was full of those white lacy flowers, but someone told me they were sweet cicely.
I might get in touch with you later re the seeds, because at the moment we have an infestation of hemlock, and I'd rather get rid of that first, so I don't get them confused, not to mention the sheep who will be looking after it for us for a wee while
Great! Now I can read your blog!
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