country n news-trim day

COUNTRY N NEWS-TRIM DAY

each year on valentines day i call it trim day
its the day i trim a lot of my plants to get them
ready for the new growth in the spring
which i may add seems to be occurring early this year

there are three plants that are high on my list for trimming

one is the peach trees
do it right
you get more better peaches
and
you wont have to climb on a ladder to get them down

so this sunday i will go out to my peach tree
trim off any of those suckers that come out from the
bottom of the tree
trim off any branches that are angling downwards
i have noticed that with all the rain we had last year
that there are lots of new branches
trim off any branches that dont allow the tree
to have a saucer appearance
so there are no branches going straight up to the sky

now when we first moved in
the trees had not really been trimmed much
so
we had to use a ladder a lot to pick the upper
tops of the trees
now
overtime thanks to this trimming
the tops can be reached from the ground

the next plant i trim is the
rose
its a knockout rose
i trim about 1/3 of it
apply my country n compost
a little bit of organic fertilizer
mulch it well
then
wait for the beautiful blooms this year
besides our lady banksia rose its the only rose we have

then the third plant i trim back is
the autumn sage or salvia greggi
the must have plant native plant to have in your yard
i have about 18 in my yard
that are beautiful carefree plants
that are hummingbird magnets
every year or two if they get leggy
that means the trunks get thick with less blooms
i trim them down to about 10-12 inches
this makes the plant produce new growth
that produces a lot more blooms

then later in the summer when those blooms have
died back some
i trim off the spikes where the blooms were
this makes them produce even more blooms
for that late fall push of blooms

i also go around and clean up any limbs or sprouts
on my trees that are broken crossing each other
going the wrong direction
its easier to see all this when the leaves are off
if i trim a red oak or live oak i try to do it earlier
in the winter so to decrease the risk of spreading
oak wilt
i dont paint any of my cuts on the limbs

then i go around and look at all my perennials
some i trim some i dont
you can trim yellow belles lantana flame acanthas
turks caps red bush etc
although
i admit i tend to let nature do its thing
usually
since thats the way nature has done it for years
and
things have turned out pretty well

this is the time of the year when i go out and clean out the
three bluebird houses we have on our property
some years we dont get any
other years we fill all three with bluebirds

you know we as a society almost got rid of all the bluebirds
but
thanks to conservation measures
and
homeowners putting up birdhouses
they are making a comeback

while i have been outside working lately
i can hear the distinct sound of their
bluebird song

interesting is they like the one thats is all beat up
is over 20 years apart
the worst looking one of the three

also
on this valentines day
i will wish my wife she
a happy valentines
a hug
and
a kiss she will receive

the organicgreen doctor