Organic Gardening Tip of the Week


Week of January 7, 2021
Blackberries have three possible growth habits—erect, semi-erect or trailing. The way to train and prune them will depend on the type. If you did not top the new canes during the late summer, you should top them to about 5’ (or the height of your trellis or fence). Dormant pruning of erect blackberries entails removing dead canes (color is brown vs a newer green cane) and cutting back laterals to 12–18”. Semi-erect blackberries should be thinned to 5 to 8 of the strongest canes, shorten the laterals to 12–18” and remove any growing on the lower 3’ section of the main canes. Tie to a fence or trellis to provide support. Trailing blackberries are less cold tolerant and in cold regions the canes can be left on the ground and protected with rowcover or mulch over the winter. In spring the canes can be lifted and tied to a trellis at 3’ and 6’.

Week of December 31, 2020
Bare root trees are shipping out to their new homes and they need to be cared for upon arrival. Take the trees out of the box and inspect them for any damage at the graft, some broken branches are fine, they will regrow quickly in the spring. If you can’t plant your tree in the ground right away, they should be heeled in to protect the roots until planting time. This can be done outside if the ground is not frozen, or if it is, put them in a garage, shed, basement or greenhouse; cover with loose soil, compost or wood shavings (but not cedar, redwood or rice hulls). Keep the roots moist but not soaking wet. Plant your tree as soon as you can and definitely before it breaks dormancy in the spring (leafing out and blooming). If your trees/plants are potted (figs, almonds, pomegranates, olives…), just leave them in the pot and keep them moist over the winter.

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Winter is a good time to prune your established grape vines. Grapes can be spur or cane pruned, depending on the variety. Cane pruning promotes the highest yield for most table grapes. Select a total of about 4 canes that come off close to the trunk and remove the rest (but not before you select your renewal canes). The canes that you are keeping should have at least 15 buds and be about pencil size. These canes will be your fruiting canes. Cut the fruiting cane back to about 15 buds and and remove any laterals. For every fruiting cane you keep, you should also keep one renewal spur. The renewal spurs will produce next years fruiting canes. The renewal spurs are short and should be cut back to about 2 buds. The other method of pruning grapes is spur pruning. Watch our video to learn more about spur and cane pruning.

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