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Bwahaha! Next time you'll post when I ask for help with pruning! 8)

Seriously, it'll get over it (probably) because it's on a vigorous rootstock. I think Frankenstein's monster was probably on this very same rootstock... I did the same thing to a neighbouring tree two years ago and spared this one because I still wanted a few apples. This year I'll get a bunch of vigorous upright growth, and next spring I'll thin them down to half a dozen of the more horizontal ones... and so on.

Drastic, I know, but there wasn't a single fruit below 8' high (most around 10') and the tree was very crowded. Don't worry Mandyz, I'll take good care of it - a good feed, and some actual attention from now on! The logs I got from pruning have been innoculated with oyster mushroom spawn and are wrapped up in the garage, and I'll shred the healthy twiggy growth to go on the paths. The cankered stuff (and there was quite a bit) will go in the woodshed for kindling, so not even that will be wasted.

I don't believe it, Mandyz's actually got me feeling guilty! I did plant four other apple trees at the same time, you know!

hedgewizard wrote:I don't believe it, Mandyz's actually got me feeling guilty! I did plant four other apple trees at the same time, you know!

lol Such was not my intention. I'm sure that under your care the apple tree will eventually grow to new wonderful glory. I appreciate that your decision was with a long-term vision for its health. I don't know if I could do it! Of course, I'm not in a long-term home right now either.
And your use of what you removed is fantastic. I'm sure Apple forgives you.

Hey, perhaps I could get some suggestions on how to best use my fallen Spruce. So far DH removed the branches and I have them covering what will be garden area to help in the process of transforming lawn to garden. DH would like to use most of the trunk to line one part of a new garden, but it wasn't a very big tree, so there's not much trunk.

Here is before (taken with a wide angle lens when we bought the house)


And now (note that much of it is sloped. This is not wide angled.)


We don't have a firepit or fireplace. And I'm not sure what to do with the branches when I start the garden besides leave them for yard waste pickup.

It would take an industrial chipper to deal with that, otherwise I'd say use it chipped for walkways or mulch. Hmm. I'd either cut it into sections and use it to bury a hedgehog lodge, or just as a loose woodpile for wildlife habitat.

There is another option, which is to innoculate it with pine oyster mushroom culture. It grows well on spruce but you'll have to get your skates on as the sooner it's done the less likely it is to have to compete with other "wild" fungi which might have already moved in. I'm not sure where you'd be able to get a kit for this one but this guy at Mycologue will know - ring, don't e-mail.

Hedgie - my reaction was just shock after you'd asked about (normal) pruning advice - then suddenly it was chopped back hard!

We pruned a few very overgrown peaches in our orchard like that actually - but then we found they are so bady diseased (bacterial spot and brown rot) that they are all going to become firewood. It's not as bad as it sounds because I have a load more not-so-diseased trees in the main part of my garden, and I plan to plant a quince and a couple of other fruit trees where the manky peaches and manky soon-to-be-firewood pears are.

Quince - why? I've thought about putting one or two in as part of the backbone of an edible hedge, but I remain unconvinced about how useful they are. No free rides in my garden!

Mandyz - if you chop the trunk in 12" lengths, and split the larger parts, you'd have enough (maybe) to edge a flower bed. Logs look nice in shady gardens, with ferns and hostas. I don't know if you are planning any 'flowers' though, or just veg.

hedgewizard wrote:Quince - why? I've thought about putting one or two in as part of the backbone of an edible hedge, but I remain unconvinced about how useful they are. No free rides in my garden!

Cos, the orchard is beside a stream and stays moist all through the summer, even during last year's drought. Quinces like moist soil.

Er, and because you can make a very nice mango chutney substitute from quinces. Mango chutney costs €4.50 a pot here!!!!

Er um, and they look pretty?

Expensive here too but we have quite sandy soil. I might have to look this up.

Bah I was gonna buy a load of mango chutney when I am in England in May. Won't bother unless I will save loadsamoney.

I don't know if you will find an indian style quince chutney recipe - I just followed a mango chutney recipe and substituted quinces. The result was fab, hot and sour and sweet. However, it is hard work peeling quinces!

Have only just found this...and it is the first time I have really really felt the urge to use this dude ----->

The whole eye bulging exercise certainly left me laughing though. Am now left pondering your username and wondering just how many hedges have been surrendered in your wizardry!!!

As a matter of fact, putting in an edible hedge is one of this winter's projects. Anyone got an suggestions for the UK? So far I've got hibiscus (Rose of Sharon) and possibly quince, both as the backbone. I need more though, and I'm steering clear of nuts because of the local multitude of grey squirrels.

hedgewizard wrote:Quince - why?

Because they are absolutely lovely fruit! I'd love to have one, but they don't like cold and wind. I'd have to have a seriously sheltered, southfacing, walled garden to grow one up here...

Quince jelly is the most fabulous jelly I know, and they taste nice stewed, too. Have tried some prety good quince liqueur in the past. Not for raw eating, admittedly. So if you grow them and have a bumper crop you don't know what to do with, I'll come and pay you a visit!

What about a lilly pilly? They are tough, like a good prune, and their fruit has been used for centuries. Though white folk tend to just jam them. They make a really tight and good hedge...

Damson, Medlar, I think there's an edible Viburnum (for jam making), Rowan (again jam from the berries). Elderberries. There is tons of choice, have you Googled edible hedge?

What is an edible hibiscus? (And what's that got to do with Rose of Sharon?). Thought they were completely different plants.

As for the lilly pilly, Boots, please explain for the northern hemisphere contingent!

Aha, googling "Rose of Sharon" produces two completely separate plants. Go figure! Hibiscus syriacus is the one I'm on about, and is used commercially where the pink flowers get made into tea, so far as I can make out, and it will grow here.

Quince... OK, I think I'm convinced. Ta MMM and Ina! Can't find any info on edible vibernum with a casual glance, anyone got a link?

Lilly pillylooks really interesting! Thanks for that one Boots, I'll look into that closely. I've got all summer to think about this and I've not done the research yet - I'm starting with you chaps because I think experience counts for more than booklearning when it comes to plant choice!

Medlar... *sighs* I remain unconvinced that they're worth the hassle of partially rotting and then having to cook them all up. I'm listening though if you want to tell me how wonderful they are... I hadn't even heard of them until I started to think about which fruit trees I could have. Don't forget though this is a hedge, and I want to limit growth to 6-8' without having to prune everything down twice a year. That rules out elderberry, but I'm not worried as I have a shady corner set aside for two elderberries (one of which will be an American variety since they flower all summer because there's nothing to pollinate them) and the woodpile habitat.

Damson and rowan I can look into, but the height thing gives me some pause... perhaps there are some dwarf varieties?

The edible hedge concept has three layers to it - the top layer (or backbone) at 6-8', the herbaceous (or shrubby) layer at 2-4' and the understory of low-growing plants to suppress weedy growth like ivy and ground elder. I've not really got anywhere with the other two layers either, although alpine (wild) strawberry looks like a strong contender since ground elder hates it.

I'll try to work up the pretty version of the garden plan soon so you can all see how it fits in with the overall design...