Lazy Landscaper No More!

My weeping cherry tree before and after I had my way with it. 

I love to garden, but I've been prego or nursing five times in fifteen years so when one does the math, that's a lot of summers where I declined squatting or kneeling, getting filthy pulling weeds or planting.  Some summers we had an enviable huge heirloom vegetable garden with tall corn, sweet peas, a variety of lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes.  Then there were summers where there were weeds as high as veggies and it felt as if weeds were going to take over the entire yard. 

We live in a high-elevation, rocky area that actually resembled a slate quarry when we built our addition.  It's hard to plant here.  My husband was once a work horse around the yard, but maybe it's getting older, having a few more kids to tend to and recreate with, or a midlife crisis, the yard work has gone by the wayside.  Stuck in an abysmal real estate market like so many others, we've lost the curb appeal we once had.  We have had difficulty getting interested buyers to come take a peek at our home let alone complete a deal.  We've had a couple of offers in the last 12 months, but it's a buyers market and the offers were not acceptable.  We've pulled our home off of the market and hopefully we can hit the "reset" button on it all.  I'll share some little things I am doing to spiff up the place.

Let's start with tree pruning. I have these three flowering fruit trees I haven't known how to care for.  After birth, we plant the placentas of each baby under a flowering fruit tree.  Each spring, we take a photo of each child next to their tree in bloom. It has been super cool to see their growth with their tree. The placenta-part of the tradition originated in Native American communities. Some tribes planted the placentas under the doorstop so the child would always know where home was. 

 I've been waiting eight years for my husband to take charge with these trees and get them pruned. I made the agonizing decision that it was time I take matters into my own hands and show my daughters that I can do this task that we all so often defer to men. So I went to Aubochons yesterday in search of some  big guns to do the job.  I came home with these:  

Fiskars. My new favorite toy!!  I then went to the tree nursery and spent 20 minutes conversing with the expert on how to tend to my orchard. I don't know why this has seemed like such rocket science to me, but it has. Remembering whether to trim above or below the knub, trim the downward or inward branches, and even remembering what time of year is best has all been a mystery to me. I'm ready to stop waiting for my husband to decode the enigma, and figure it out for myself. 

Below is a weeping cherry tree that is affiliated with Harleigh, age eight. It's grown pretty mangy, and anything I had in the garage resembling a pruning tool was cheap and dull and couldn't even trim a small hedge.  Those made it into the trash heap yesterday. 
 

Harleigh and I have taken to doning skirts while gardening. It helps us feel more civilized. Plus, I can't yet fit into much else as I gave birth just four months ago. 

Here it is me versus the tree. Tree one.  Me zero. I'm feeling annoyed but determined at this point. 

Once I get the new pruner tool around a branch, it cuts like butter! I'm smiling!  The nursery guy told me that we shouldn't have let these branches grow all the way down the trunk like this. I felt kinda silly. It's supposed to be a droopy canopy tree. 

The task was so simple despite 2-3" diameter branches that Eight year old Harleigh could do it!  She plotted and planned with me on how much to take off and where. 

It's starting to look like the ones at the nursery! 

There were a couple 3-4" diameter branches just a bit too large to bite with my new toy. We pulled Cory in and asked him to get those with the chainsaw blade of his weed wacker. 

While at the nursery, Harleigh picked out some purple sage and an orange poppy plant to adorn her new and improved tree garden! We thought the purple sage might fill in nice around that propane tank in the backdrop. Hastas and a tall grass are in front. 

Harleigh took real ownership of her tree garden and had so much fun the rest of the day pulling weeds and planting. I am so glad I dove in with her! 

Ciao!