Saturday, May 11, 2013

A Saturday That Feels Like Sunday

You know how it is when you get confused as to what day of the week it is?  Like I am today?  Although more often than getting my weekend days confused, I'm likely to say a Wednesday (for instance) doesn't feel like a Wednesday.  (Hmmm, just what does a Wednesday feel like?)

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One of the things we've been working on lately is getting the fruit trees pruned . . . a task that needs to be done every year, usually in the spring before the trees bud out.  (Incidentally, Tami over at 
500 Dollar Tomato had a post today that contained a link to a good video on thinning "fruitlets" that led me to another video on pruning fruit trees.  It made me wonder if we've been doing it wrong all these years.  Geesh.)


During his high school years, my hubby worked for a man who owned a huge apple orchard and who vehemently maintained there were 52 days each year when you should never prune the trees.  Sundays.

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What's our weather like today?  C-O-L-D.  Our high temp was 44° which isn't too bad but couple that with a stiff wind, only a few quick glimpses of sunshine and it feels not nice out there.  Plus, we've had snow flurries during the cloudy periods on and off all day.  Yep, honest-to-goodness snow flurries.  Nothing that has mounted up on the ground but it's making everyone shake their heads and 'bout give up on the hope of warm weather ever arriving.

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It's now 5:30 p.m. and I have no idea what to fix for dinner.  For company last night I served a large chicken pot pie made in a 9 x 13" pan and, silly me, had hopes we would have leftovers for today, but the five of us polished it off with very little trouble.

Grilled cheese sandwiches, anyone?

11 comments:

Sparkless said...

Scrambled eggs and toast with salad is what I usually make when we have nothing else or I'm too tired to actually cook anything. Grill cheese is what the kids make for themselves and another good quick meal.
How many fruit trees do you have? My grandparents used to have a cherry orchard and we were taught how to prune cherry trees but I can't remember how it was done now.

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - We've got 7 apple trees, 2 plum trees and 1 pear. The apple trees are done, plums and pear are left. We know of a cherry tree variety that does really well in our area but I'm adamant about not getting any more "new" things going this year. (Well, except for the 6 blueberry bushes we're getting next weekend . . . but that's a different story!)

Scrambled eggs, toast and a salad actually sound pretty good. Would you please come fix them for me?

2 Tramps said...

I would sure change weather with you - it is 90 here right now - very wrong weather for this time of year. We are scrambling to keep things watered - next week will be better - even frost in the forecast. We put in two plum and two pear trees last year and have three bare root apple trees growing in pots to plant when we can. Pruning will start next year...

Just got the charcoal kettle grill loaded and ready to fire up to make dinner. Am going to grill a whole cabbage filled with sautéed bacon, onions and BBQ sauce, along with asparagus and corn on the cob. Our gas grill had small visitors during the winter and no one wants to clean it...

Sparkless said...

Sure if you'll pay my plane fair to get to you I'll fix scrambled eggs, toast and salad. Although I can't say they will taste good cause I am a horrible cook.

I want to get an apple, pear and peach tree but I have no idea where we would plant them. I guess I could buy dwarf varieties but I'm still debating that.

Unknown said...

I always forget to prune ours. I sometimes do that in the fall, after they've been harvested. Ours are too tall....

Sue said...

We got an inch of snow yesterday and I can see through the darkness of my windows that it's snowing like crazy now as well. Freeze warnings in effect tonight--lows of 25. Spring? Me thinks not!

I'd say you've definitely been pruning the right way all these years if you've had fruit....which, I can bet you have.
I never got mine pruned this spring either...and I'll be out there nipping at them from time to time all through the summer. My pruning comes more at the time I have time.

Susan said...

The only pruning I usually get to has to do with dried fruit. Every year I have to battle Japanese beetles, which stress my two plum trees to within an inch of their lives. Give ole man winter a kick in the pants, Mama Pea! Time to move on! We got much needed rain yesterday, but I'm not planting anything else - temps are predicted to dip below freezing Mon/Tues. It's this time of year that causes one to grind their teeth a lot.

Mama Pea said...

2 Tramps - How can you have 90 one day and frost warnings a couple of days later? That is just. not. right! And I won't take you up on your offer to trade temps. I melt into an unattractive puddle when the temp gets that high.

Your dinner on the charcoal kettle grill sounds wonderful to me . . . everything I like. Boo-hiss to the "small visitors" setting up housekeeping in your gas grill!

Mama Pea said...

Nancy - Our trees are semi-dwarf and even they are getting too tall for my 6'2" husband to reach. Hate to think about having to do the pruning with a ladder.

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Omigosh, you got the snow we were forecast to get . . . but didn't. Although we, too, have frost warnings for the next two nights. Today is mostly sunny, but dang, still very cool out there at 46° at 1:30 p.m. I think for us northerners this is going to go down as the spring that wasn't.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Well, there's just no way some years we can get a head start on the garden, that's for sure. Sorry to hear about your coming possible frosts. So far, I think you've been a lot warmer than we have. I have NOTHING in the garden outside even under cold frames. :o( And my seedlings are getting too big for their pants. I mean pots.