If you’re planning to put in new fruit trees, bushes, or canes in your garden the best time of year, generally, is spring. We want the soil to warm up enough that the roots of the plants will begin to seek out water and nutrients as soon as placed in the ground with as little transplant shock as possible. But, if we have existing fruit trees, bushes, or canes then any maintenance on those trees should be done before the soil begins to really warm up and the plants come out of dormancy. This is usual sometime between late fall and early spring, which means most of the northern hemisphere is primed for these tasks right now.
Today on Just Grow Something, we’re going to talk about those tasks and how to tackle them: pruning, fertilizing, and moving your established plants if it’s necessary to do so. This is one of those tasks that can scratch the itch for getting out into the garden when maybe it’s still too early to really be planting much and they’re tasks that are important for us to get the best yield possible from those plants. Let’s dig in!
March Question of the Month: “What is your biggest pest in the garden and how do you manage it (if at all)?”
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This is positively farming media.
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If you're planning to put in new fruit trees or bushes or canes
00:00:08
in your garden, the best time of year generally is spring.
00:00:11
We want the soil to warm up enough that the roots of the
00:00:14
plant will begin to seek out water and nutrients as soon as
00:00:17
it's placed in the ground, with as little transplant shock as
00:00:21
possible. But if we have existing fruit
00:00:23
trees or bushes or canes, then any maintenance on those trees
00:00:28
should be done before the soil begins to really warm up and the
00:00:32
plants come out of dormancy. This is usually sometime between
00:00:37
late fall and early spring, which means most of the Northern
00:00:40
hemisphere is primed for these tasks right now.
00:00:44
Today on Just Grow Something, we're going to talk about those
00:00:46
tasks and how to tackle them. Pruning, fertilizing and moving
00:00:51
your established plants if it's necessary to do so.
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These are some of those tasks that can really kind of scratch
00:00:57
the itch for getting out into the garden when maybe it's still
00:01:01
too early to really be planting much.
00:01:03
And they're tasks that are important for us to get the best
00:01:06
yield possible from those fruit plants.
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Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen.
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I started gardening in a small corner of my suburban backyard
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and now 18 years later, I've got a degree in horticulture and
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operate a 40 acre market farm. I believe there is power in food
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and that everyone should know how to grow at least a little
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bit of their own. On this podcast I share evidence
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based techniques to help you plant, grow, harvest, and store
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all your family's favorites. Consider me your friend in the
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garden. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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For over three years we have seen pandemic driven cost
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going to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/seeds
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Before we jump into fruit plant care, I have got your answers
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from the question of the month for February.
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These are some great answers that have me adding some new
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things to my garden plan this year.
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The question was what is your most successful crop and why?
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Brittany McCormick replied in the Just Grow Something
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Gardening Friends Facebook group.
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To say my most productive vegetable for me to grow is
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chocolate cherry tomatoes. I'm not sure why they explode in
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my garden, but my 4 year old niece loves to snack on them
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while helping me in the garden. One that I'd love to get to grow
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is sweet corn. Praying this year goes well for
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everybody's garden. Well, I have a similar cherry
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tomato to that one called black cherry, and it is one of my
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favorites. Also, it's not super sweet.
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It's got a more rich flavor I guess, but it's one that I love,
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especially when it's mixed together with some of the other
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really sweet cherry tomato varieties.
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It's called black cherry. And then sweet corn is a hard
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one for a lot of people, whether it's due to spacing or
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pollination or pests or whatever it is.
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And so I have actually resigned myself to growing our sweet corn
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in my planter box. Direct planters now because I
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can better protect them from the deer and the raccoons.
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It looks a little weird having corn stalks in all these
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multiple beds, but it absolutely does the trick.
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And I still have sweet corn in the freezer from last summer, so
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it works really well, Jennifer Caputo responded via e-mail to,
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say, May Pop passion fruit. It's a passion fruit that
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survives our winters here in the Chicago suburbs.
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We planted it next to our house about six years ago and gave it
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a trellis to climb up. It has no pests and no diseases.
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The last few years we've been harvesting several 100 fruit per
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year. The only work all year is
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digging through the vines in October to find the ripe fruit.
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So if you're not familiar with what May Pop is, it is also
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known as May Pop Passion flower, Purple Passion Flower, Wild
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Apricot. It is a fast growing perennial
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vine with climbing or trailing stems.
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The scientific name for it, or the the Latin name for it is
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Passa Flora in Carnata, if you're looking for it.
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Some sources say that they're Hardy in zone 6 to 11.
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Others I read said just 5:00 to 9:00, but either way I fall into
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those zones. And so now I'm really excited to
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like try these and plant these because I would happily have any
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more perennial fruits around here that I possibly can.
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Jennifer says not susceptible in her area to pester diseases.
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I suspect in my area it likely would be fairly susceptible to
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our Japanese beetles. So I'm guessing that they would
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probably do a number on the foliage.
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But if I can get them established and get them
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growing, I will bet you that these would do very well for me
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here too. So thank you for that answer,
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Jennifer. I am excited to try something
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new, Cody Ruth replied in the Gardening Friends Facebook group
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to say, oh the podcast question, what's your most successful
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crop? Okra and melons seem to be the
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most successful quote. Throw it in the ground and
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forget about them till it's time to harvest crop, which is how I
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measure success. But I think that the most
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rewarding thing I have accomplished so far in the
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garden is just the beauty that came together to be my garden
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after taking your garden planning course last year.
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And yes, Cody was one of my students in plan like a Pro last
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year and she posted some beautiful photos of her garden.
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So if you're not in the Facebook group, you need to get in there
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to see these. They could not have been a
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better endorsement of the plan like a pro course if I had gone
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and paid someone to do it. So go check those out and I am
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very happy that Cody is doing so well with her garden and her
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garden. Jennifer Winston also replied in
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the Facebook group to say green beans.
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I can grow all the green beans a person could ask for here in
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Missouri without a single problem.
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Okra 2. The base gets as thick as my
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arm. When we lived in the high desert
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of New Mexico, it was raspberries of all things.
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That ground was so hard and nothing wanted to grow.
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When I did get something growing, the quail and rabbits
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would find every stinking hole in the fence and eat the sprouts
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off. But I planted 12 small Raspberry
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starts on a drip line along a fence and harvested a gallon the
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first year, 3 gallons the second year, and I lost count the last
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year we lived there, how much I got.
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They loved the pH of that soil. That was more like rock.
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I miss those plants so much, and I believe it.
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Green beans are one of our staples here too, and I love my
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Raspberry canes. In fact, I'm desperately trying
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to clear out more area for my raspberries to grow because
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they've been sorely neglected and they are one of my favorite
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fruits. So this response has spurred me
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to really get on that this year. And that's two votes for okra
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between Jennifer and Cody. And if you've got a warm enough
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climate to get okra going, I will absolutely agree.
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It does seem to just take off and do its own thing and just
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produce and produce all season long without much in the way of
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pests. And even if it does have pests,
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it seems to just withstand them and continue to produce.
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So if you're looking for something that seems to be a no
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brainer. If you like okra, okra is is a
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good choice. I would I would agree there as
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well. And then finally, Kathy
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Carruthers responded via e-mail to say, plums.
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I get half my food from my inner city parcel.
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The plum trees always hog space in the freezer.
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So I emailed Kathy back and I told her that my plum trees have
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struggled in our awful clay soil and it's my favorite tree fruit.
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I finally had a bunch last year and the deer and raccoons
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decimated them and I was wondering what she did with
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frozen plums and she responded to say the Shiro plum is very
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juicy. Most days I defrost it in a
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bowl, add oats and make breakfast.
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The Italian is a great as a base for smoothies.
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Confession my blender can bring soup to 140°F so in winter it's
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a hot smoothie and in parentheses she said fruit soup.
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OK, I love that I could go for a fruit soup in the winter time.
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Thank you to everyone who responded to February's question
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of the month. I have added May Pop to my list
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of what to grow and I am determined to clear out and make
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space for my Raspberry canes to spread anything.
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Anyone mentioned that you will be adding to your list?
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OK, so let's keep the ball rolling.
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The question of the month for March is what is your biggest
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pest in the garden and how do you manage it, if at all?
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Leave a voice message from the link in the show notes.
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Respond to the question in Spotify.
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If that's where you're listening, send me an e-mail,
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drop it in the Facebook group or in Adm.
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You know the drill. I think this question is 1 where
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we can really help each other out, especially if you are at
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your wit's end with a specific pest and you need some help with
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managing it. So send me your answers.
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You have until March 31st to respond.
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Well, we had several fruits that we discussed in the question of
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the month, so let's talk about how and when we should be doing
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maintenance on our perennial fruits.
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First up, let's discuss pruning. And often times this is probably
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one of the most intimidating things that gardeners encounter
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with their perennial fruits, whether they're trees or their
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bushes or their canes. But really, it is simply about
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shaping and just maintaining the health of our fruit plants, so
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don't let it scare you off. And during dormancy is the
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perfect time to just give them a little trim.
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The best time to trim your fruit trees is in late winter or early
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spring, before the tree begins to produce new leaves and after
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the coldest winter weather passes.
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Bare branches in late winter make it easy to see a tree's
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structure. Before starting a pruning job,
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stand back and analyze the trees branching.
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Strong trees are generally symmetrical and have wide branch
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angles. A wide branch angle is formed
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when a branch grows from the trunk at a 45 to 60° angle.
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Prune away branches with narrow branch to trunk angles.
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We also want to remove any dead or diseased wood, so take a pair
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of sharp, clean pruning shears and remove any branches that are
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dead, damaged or diseased. Cut these back to where they
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meet a healthy branch or the main trunk.
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Fruit trees less than 10 years old tend to produce many
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vigorous upright shoots called water sprouts.
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These non fruiting sprouts do not contribute to the overall
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structure or the health of the tree and they are best removed
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before they gain size. Cut water sprouts back to the
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main branch. If a young tree has few lateral
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or side branches it can be encouraged to produce new
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branches by cutting the existing branches back by 1/4 of their
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length. These branch tip cuts will cause
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the tree to create side branches a few inches from where the cut
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was made. It's also important if you
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notice branches that are too close together which is causing
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crowding, to go ahead and thin out those overcrowded areas.
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So if it's just a couple, then just choose one to remove.
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This allows better air circulation.
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It also allows the sunlight to come through better in the
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spring. So cut any offending branch all
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the way back to its point of origin.
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Do not leave a branch stub behind.
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This just opens your tree up to disease infiltration.
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By pruning back to a main branch or the trunk, you're going to
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prevent the tree from producing these vigorous, unproductive
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sprouts, and that is going to keep it from adding to more
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pruning chores down the road. It'll be less maintenance that
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you have to worry about later on.
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While your tree does not have any leaves on it is the best
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time to sort of examine it for this dense interior growth too.
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Look for branches that can be removed to let more light into
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the interior of the tree. Do not be afraid to sort of thin
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things out every few cuts. Step back and look at the
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overall shape of your tree. You want in general an open vase
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like shape for most fruit trees, so you also kind of want to
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remove any branches that are growing inward or crossing over
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each other. So don't be afraid to get in
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there and thin. Step in, make a few cuts, step
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back out and look at the overall shape.
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You can always remove more as you go.
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Now when we're talking about cane fruits, things like
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raspberries, Logan berries, Tay berries, all of these.
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These can be pruned as early as in the summertime after they
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have finished fruiting. But you can also wait to do this
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when the canes are dormant. I generally don't get around to
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pruning or trellising mine until the very early spring.
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These canes are going to produce their fruits in most instances
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on stems that are one year old, so and then they send up new
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canes from their roots each year.
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So you're gonna have two different canes.
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You've got the floricanes and the primicanes.
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So the primicanes are being sent up during the growing season.
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The floricanes are the ones that are flowering, hence flora and
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producing fruit. So once those canes have
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produced fruit, those are your old fruited canes and those are
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the ones that you want to prune out.
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So if you're doing this in the summer, at the end of fruiting,
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you can look for canes that are still carrying sort of the
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remnants of the fruit stalks. They're going to be probably a
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russet brown color. They're not going to be that
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fresh green and white of the new prima canes that are growing in.
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So cut the old canes back all the way down right to the base
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of the plant. Now, if you're doing this in the
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dormant season, you're still going to be able to see a
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difference in the color of the canes.
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And in many cases, those old canes are actually going to be
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fairly brittle and break easily. So you can kind of
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differentiate, differentiate them that way too.
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Either way, make sure that you're cutting those old canes
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back down at the ground level, and you also are going to want
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to cut off any of the primocanes that have come up that are
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thinner than a pencil, or that are spaced too closely together,
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or that have even popped up further away from the row than
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where you want them to grow. This is how you kind of keep
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them in check. Especially in certain areas,
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things like blackberries or raspberries can tend to get out
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of control, and they'll grow in these sort of brambles.
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And in blackberries, wherever they're touching the ground,
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often times they're going to go ahead and root, so if you need
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to keep them contained, this is how you're going to do that.
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Now blueberry bushes are a little bit different.
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They can often go the first few years without any type of
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pruning, but eventually they're going to need some care,
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especially after they've started fruiting.
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So during dormancy is the best time to do this.
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So either after all the leaves have dropped off in the early
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winter, but before the green growth begins in the early
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spring. And kind of similarly to how we
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do our fruit trees, you're going to do the same thing with your
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your blueberry bushes. You want to cut off any dead,
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diseased, weak, or crossing branches.
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You want to remove any soft shoots, any really Twiggy
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growth, any old branches that haven't produced anything in
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several years, and then just kind of shape your Bush up by
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removing any stems that are very close to the ground or again,
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that are too crowded in the center.
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You want the light to be able to reach all of those areas.
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And then for something like strawberries, you really just
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want to clean up any dead plant material prior to the new spring
00:17:16
growth kicking in. And then many times you'll need
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to renovate the bed. So renovating a strawberry bed
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is actually really important for maintaining really good yields
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and for prolonging the productivity of your plants,
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because most of these plants are only productive for about three
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to four years. So you need to renovate them
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based on what type of strawberry you're growing.
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So you can do this and again a couple of different times after
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the berries are ripened and are picked, the plants are going to
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enter a semi dormant stage. So this is a really good time to
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be able to go ahead and clean them up.
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You can also wait to do this until the late winter or the
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early spring, which is when I do it because that's when I have
00:18:02
the time to do it. So if you're growing June
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bearing strawberries, it's generally recommended to do this
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renovation once a year for day neutral or ever bearing
00:18:14
strawberries. And you can wait to do this
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about every two to four years. So First things first, you want
00:18:21
to weed the bed out after you've picked the last of the season.
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Strawberries weed that bed by getting rid of any of the
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unwanted plants. This is going to make it easier
00:18:31
for the young plants that grow from the runners to be able to
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get established. So this is one thing that you
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really do need to do, sort of towards the end of the summer
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when the strawberries are done producing.
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Now, another thing to do is to remove the dead leaves.
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Now you can do this at any time, basically before new growth
00:18:50
starts. If this is a bed that's actually
00:18:53
in the ground and you can mow it, you can actually just use a
00:18:57
lawn mower that has been set up high enough to clip off the
00:19:01
leaves, but that leaves the crowns untouched.
00:19:05
This removal of these sort of dead and dying leaves is gonna
00:19:09
help regenerate the plant for much more vibrant growth in the
00:19:13
spring. You know, if your plants are
00:19:15
like in a raised bed or something, then you can just
00:19:17
rake lightly over the top of the plants to remove the dead leaves
00:19:22
from last season while still leaving those crowns untouched.
00:19:26
And then if you are growing your strawberry plants in rows, then
00:19:32
you're going to want to sort of clean up in between those rows.
00:19:36
You either want to remove any of the plants that have kind of
00:19:39
strayed too far out of the row, or cultivate or till in between
00:19:43
the rows to to clean it up. In most instances, you know the
00:19:47
recommendation is to thin those rows and keep them about 12
00:19:51
inches wide, but I do my strawberries in matted beds and
00:19:55
they're about 36 inches wide, so that's an option too.
00:19:58
It's whatever works best for you.
00:20:00
I also have strawberry plants that are just in raised planter
00:20:04
boxes and I just allow them to take over the entire space.
00:20:09
And they do tend to try to jump out of those boxes.
00:20:11
So I do have to go around the edges occasionally and clip
00:20:14
those plants back. Now, if you've not allowed for
00:20:18
those plants to grow runners, or if you're growing in like a
00:20:22
vertical planter or something where the runners just aren't an
00:20:25
option, then you will likely need to pull those old plants
00:20:30
when their production starts to decline again after about three
00:20:33
years or so to make way for new plants.
00:20:41
You've heard me talk all about my favorite garden planter boxes
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00:21:47
Next on our list of tasks is fertilization for our fruit
00:21:52
plants. Again, this should be done in
00:21:54
the early spring just as the plants begin to come out of
00:21:57
dormancy. You can do this in a couple of
00:21:59
different ways. My favorite and the easiest way
00:22:02
is just to apply a good amount of organic matter.
00:22:06
You can also do this one in the fall as well.
00:22:11
Just spread a layer of really well rotted compost or aged
00:22:14
manure around the base of the plant.
00:22:16
This is going to add organic matter to the soil.
00:22:18
That's also going to improve its structure, and it's a slow
00:22:21
release way to get nutrients back into the soil Again.
00:22:25
If this isn't an option or you notice that the production has
00:22:29
really been reduced in your fruit plants, whether it's the
00:22:32
trees or the canes or the bushes, you may consider using a
00:22:37
fertilizer. You've got options out there
00:22:40
that are specifically labeled for fruit trees or bushes or
00:22:43
canes, so follow the instructions on the package.
00:22:46
Less is often more with fertilizers, so don't overdo it.
00:22:51
Two different types Liquid fertilizers.
00:22:53
Obviously these are fairly easy to apply.
00:22:55
They are very quickly absorbed by the roots.
00:22:57
So you really need to make sure that you are paying attention to
00:23:00
the instructions on the liquid fertilizers.
00:23:02
It is very easy to overdo it. Granular fertilizers.
00:23:05
These are usually a little bit more slow release and so usually
00:23:09
only one application is needed. But if you have very sandy soil,
00:23:14
you may need to split that application into two, because
00:23:17
sandy soils tend to lose those nutrients fairly quickly it runs
00:23:21
out. So you may need to split us to
00:23:23
split your feeding up between two different times of the year,
00:23:27
just no matter what you're doing, avoid too much nitrogen.
00:23:32
Yes, the nitrogen is going to encourage leafy growth, but that
00:23:35
may come at the expense of fruit production.
00:23:39
So during dormancy, it is best to focus on fertilizers or
00:23:43
amendments that contain phosphorus and potassium for
00:23:47
strong root development and flower production.
00:23:50
And then you always want to make sure that you water the area
00:23:53
after applying the fertilizers to help them get into the root
00:23:55
zone and work their way into the soil.
00:23:58
And as a friendly reminder, it's always a good idea to get your
00:24:01
soil tested, to know exactly what nutrients your plants need
00:24:05
and whether or not you need to be fertilizing at all.
00:24:08
If you have been adding good amounts of compost this whole
00:24:11
time, one little note on blueberries also is to be
00:24:15
checking your soil pH. Blueberries thrive in acidic
00:24:19
soil. They appreciate aph between 4
00:24:21
point O and 5.5. That is much more acidic than
00:24:25
almost anything else that we grow.
00:24:27
You can use a soil kit, a soil test kit to determine the pH,
00:24:32
and if you need to lower it, you can use a granular sulfur, a
00:24:37
peat, Moss, pine needles, oak, leaves, any number of things.
00:24:40
Again, during dormancy is a good time to do this because you want
00:24:44
to lower the pH gradually, so if you can, do a test at the end of
00:24:50
the growing season to test for the pH.
00:24:52
If you see that you need to lower it, you can do an initial
00:24:55
application in the late fall or early winter and then test the
00:24:59
soil again in about 3 months, which would put you right around
00:25:03
the beginning of spring and see if you need to add more to lower
00:25:07
it even further. Just like anything else with the
00:25:10
soil, we want to make small changes a little at a time.
00:25:15
And then lastly, let's touch on transplanting.
00:25:19
If you have established fruit trees or Berry bushes or canes
00:25:25
or things that you need to move, there is a way to do this, and
00:25:30
usually during dormancy is an excellent time to do it.
00:25:34
You want to aim to move them on a day when it's fairly mild.
00:25:40
The ground isn't totally frozen, so either doing this in the late
00:25:45
fall right after the plants have gone dormant, or in the early
00:25:49
spring. This allows the roots to adjust
00:25:51
a little bit before the new spring growth begins.
00:25:55
When you're preparing the new place for them to go, you want
00:25:58
to dig a hole that is twice as wide as the plants current root
00:26:04
ball, and you want it to be planted at about the same depth.
00:26:08
So dig around your plants drip line.
00:26:12
The drip line is the outer edge of its leaf canopy.
00:26:17
This is whether it's a tree or a Bush or whatever, and that'll
00:26:20
give you an idea of about how large the new hole needs to be.
00:26:26
Once you got the new hole prepared, then you can go back
00:26:29
and you can gently lift the plant up out of the soil where
00:26:33
it is, trying to keep the root ball as intact as possible, and
00:26:38
then set the plant down in its new hole, making sure that it is
00:26:42
at the same depth as it was before.
00:26:45
We do not want to set this in any deeper because we don't want
00:26:49
to put any soil up against where that trunk growth is.
00:26:53
We also don't want it to be too high up out of the ground.
00:26:55
So fill in the oil the hole with the soil that you removed enough
00:27:01
to be able to get that depth the same as what it was in its
00:27:05
original place, and then fill in the remainder of the hole with
00:27:09
the soil and then just gently firm it around the roots.
00:27:12
You don't want to tamp it down really tightly.
00:27:14
Just gently push it down and then give it a really good
00:27:17
watering. This is going to help it settle
00:27:19
into the soil and then apply a layer of mulch around the base.
00:27:23
This is going to help to retain the moisture.
00:27:25
It's also going to insulate those roots a little bit and
00:27:28
prevent them from becoming damaged.
00:27:30
Transplant shock is going to be totally normal here, so do not
00:27:34
be alarmed if your plant looks a little bit droopy or wilty or
00:27:38
sad at first. Just keep watering it regularly
00:27:41
and it should bounce back as the soil starts to warm up and the
00:27:44
plant gets established in its new happy spot.
00:27:51
That's pretty much all you need to do for maintaining your fruit
00:27:55
plants. Now of course there are
00:27:56
specialty plants out there that I did not cover because there
00:27:59
are just some things that are less likely to be in most
00:28:02
gardeners backyards, and if you're in a tropical climate and
00:28:05
the plants never really go dormant or you're growing things
00:28:07
that are fairly exotic. I didn't cover those, but I am
00:28:11
happy to answer specific questions if you have them.
00:28:14
You can always reach me by e-mail or direct message me at
00:28:17
anytime and I am happy to help. Until next time, my gardening
00:28:21
friends. Keep on cultivating that dream
00:28:23
garden and we'll talk again soon.
00:28:26
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Just Grow
00:28:28
Something podcast. For more information about
00:28:30
today's topic and to find all the ways you can get in touch
00:28:33
with me or support the show, go to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com.
00:28:37
Until next time, my gardening friends keep learning and keep
00:28:40
growing.
