The Grounded Orchardist

So, it’s been a while since I have written a blog post. We’ve been moving house. We’ve completely moved from the area we were in and so far we’re loving it.

My commute to work is much shorter, it’s now 14 miles each way rather than 45 miles each way! This is already better!

The new house is lovely and we have the Chiltern hills on our doorstep. I can’t wait to start exploring!

One exciting thing is we have the leaning tower of Pyrus. We are not sure what variety it is, but it was laden with blossom.

I love the irony that I have this fruit tree in my garden and there is so much wrong with it.
I can easily fix it. However, as a big Japanese garden/plant fan, I love the potential I can see once our japanese patio is relocated. A borrowed landscape!

So, fix it or keep it? I may attempt a bit of both.

Initial thoughts before pruning this pear tree

🍐  Pears are very heavy and the branches will easily snap if I don’t tip the branches back to strengthen them. Also if we do get a vast percentage of the potential crop you can see, the weight of the fruit will help pull the tree over completely. The tree is pulling the stake over so there’s nothing stopping it. A little push on the tree shows it won’t take much to be laying on the floor one day.

🍐  Some of the limbs are too thick and are taking vigour away from above, you can see there is not a good balance within the tree. (nothing to do with the wonk!)

🍐  There is an obvious centre leader but you can also just about see a gnarly, vigorous branch coming off it which is making that centre leader very weak.

🍐 We also need to be able to mow under it. When the fruit comes in, the branches will be even lower. I don’t enjoy mowing lawns with a normal mower (Give me a tractor and topper/pulveriser anyday!) so I need to make that as easy as possible.

So, I will reinstate the centre leader and won’t tip this back because I want the tree to get taller and don’t want to encourage any more vigour back into the tree this year.
I will sort out the post and straighten the tree a little-ish (all the rain we’ve had will make this easy) and thin out some of the branches.

It’s a shame because I love it as it is and it’s going to loose a lot of the charm it has…but it will be worth it.
I do feel very lucky to have an established fruit tree in the garden and look forward to seeing what pear it is!

So, how did I prune this pear tree?

So, for those who asked. This is step one of rejuvenating the pear tree in my new garden.

🍐 We now have an open structure that light and air can get into.

🍐 There is a very definite centre leader now in place.

🍐Branches are now not too close together, rubbing or shading another out.

🍐 Branches below knee height have been taken out. This allows easy mowing and increased airflow.

🍐 Fruit buds have been thinned out…they could do with more but I’ll wait for June drop.

I’m pretty pleased with it. The lean is still there but I’ll tackle that another day. Due to the very upright growth pattern of pears the structure will be completely different when weighed down by the fruit and look much more balanced.
There are a few warped branches still but I’ll take them off next year on the assumption there will be replacements.

Good news is…I still love it! 🙂