Effective orchard maintenance requires year-round care, from seasonal pruning and fertilization to irrigation and regular grooming.
At my farm, the orchard surrounds my pool and is home to more than 200 fruit trees, including a variety of apples, plums, cherries, peaches, pears, medlars, and quinces. Each season, these trees reward me with an abundance of delicious, sweet fruit. Keeping such a large orchard healthy and looking its best is no small task. Right now, my outdoor grounds crew is carefully manicuring the pits beneath each tree — the prepared areas that provide support for the trees and their roots. It is meticulous and time-consuming work, but as I’m sure you will agree, the results make all the efforts worthwhile.
Enjoy these photos.
I planted this orchard in 2017. Many of these trees were started as bare-root cuttings. They’ve grown excellently over the years. Fruit trees need a good amount of room to mature. When planting, be sure to space them at least 15-feet apart.
The peach trees still have many fruits. They are so delicious this year.
And the apples are also growing nicely – we should have a bountiful apple season come fall.
Before any tree pit is groomed, the crew feeds the trees with Miracle-Gro Fruit & Citrus Plant Food Spikes, which will promote more fruit and lush foliage.
Each spike is inserted into the soil where it will release food slowly. I usually put a couple under each tree.
I also use natural tree “crutches” to support limbs weighed down by fruit. Notice the natural notch that supports the branch. These crutches are repurposed from felled limbs around the farm.
Arnold sets up the twine. I encourage my crew to use twine to line the spaces whenever they do this kind of work. Arnold secures the twine at one end of each row. This takes time to do, but this is a very important step in the process – it will guide all the work that is done.
We use gardener’s twine to line up the squares so it is perfectly straight down each row of trees. The bright color makes it easier to see in the grass.
I wanted each tree pit to be about four feet square. My outdoor grounds crew foreman built simple wooden square frames that could be placed down and removed easily.
The frame is secured with latches and hooks to ensure it is perfectly square.
Any grass within the frame is trimmed and covered.
Wheelbarrows are brought in full of mulch made right here at my farm.
It takes about a wheelbarrow and a half to cover the tree pit sufficiently.
Using a hard rake, the mulch is spread out evenly. Using the frame also allows the crew to bypass edging, which could harm the roots.
And the mulch layer should never be more than about two to four inches deep. This depth provides moisture retention, temperature regulation, and weed suppression without suffocating the tree.
The mulch is then tamped down carefully to create a well-shaped tree pit.
Once the pit is formed, the wooden frame is removed slowly and carefully.
The most important tip is keep the trunk of the tree “bare to the flare,” meaning nothing should ever be above the tree’s flare – the point where the tree stops widening at meets the roots.
The trees look so great already – I love the geometric appearance of all the square pits.
The crew has completed a good number of pits already. Maintaining a garden space correctly and thoughtfully will go far beyond just growing plants and trees, it will encourage vibrant growth and higher yields, which are very good things.
The next time you’re looking for something interesting and inspiring to do, consider visiting an antiques shop or gallery. It’s a great way to discover and appreciate one-of-a-kind pieces while learning about the history, craftsmanship, and stories behind them.
My operations director, Matt Krack, enjoys antiquing in his free time. Recently, while driving through Maine, he stopped at The York Antiques Gallery, a multi-dealer shop featuring an eclectic collection of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century furniture and decorative arts. With more than 30 booths and display cases, the gallery is filled with fascinating pieces to explore, learn about, and perhaps even take home.
Enjoy these photos.
The York Antiques Gallery is located on scenic Route One in York, Maine, in the southern part of the state. The gallery contains a large inventory of items from everyday household objects to rare and ornate pieces. Dealers from New England and other areas are always changing and updating their displays.
Many of the pieces are decorative. This is a vintage wooden rooster.
And here is a vintage metal horse, covered in a nice patina, the green film on the surface produced by oxidation over time.
Some pieces are more functional. These are vintage curtain tiebacks or pullbacks – decorative accessories that gather and hold curtains away from the window frame, allowing more light inside.
Old cookie cutters are always an interesting find. Cookie cutters date back to the 1800s and can come in interesting and whimsical shapes.
Matt also admired these books on Maine – a nice and well cared for collection. Collecting old state books — antique, vintage, or rare — offers a unique blend of historical value, personal connection, and aesthetic appeal.
This is a 1930s Yellow Ware Pitcher. Yellow Ware is a type of highly-fired earthenware pottery made from a rich yellow clay body with a clear glaze that gives it its distinctive warm golden-yellow color. It was produced in both England and North America and became a popular style of pottery in its time. I have a very large collection of Yellow Ware.
This is a Treenware Cream Skimmer. Treen, literally “of a tree” is a generic name for small handmade functional household objects made of wood. A cream skimmer is a tool used to separate cream from milk by lifting or skimming the fat layer that rises to the top. This one dates back to the 18th or 19th century.
The bowl is Lusterware, or Lustreware. This is a type of pottery or porcelain that features a metallic glaze, giving the effect of iridescence. The ball inside is a hollow glass float, which was used to keep fishing nets afloat.
Another type of pottery is called Faience. This pottery is a type of glazed ceramic known for its bright, glassy surface, originating from both ancient Egyptian quartz-paste ceramics and later European tin-glazed earthenware. The word “faience” comes from Faenza, an Italian town famous for tin-glazed pottery, and the French term “faïence” became widely used across Europe.
On this wall is an interesting diamond-shape basket. Walking through an antiques shop gives visitors a glimpse of what was handmade or popularly used during a certain time.
Here is a charming painting of an old barn in winter.
And here is a Folk Art painting of a dog eyeing a rat or mouse in its cage. This is signed by artist A.E. Boulanger, a 19th century painter known for creating small-scale handcrafted works of oil on canvas.
Silhouette prints featured a style of black-and-white profile portraits that originated in the 18th and 19th centuries. These prints were often used as a form of identification or as decorative art in the home. They are typically hand-cut paper profiles, sometimes reverse-painted or framed in ornate wood, and often depicted individuals, couples, or scenes.
These are considered “smalls” or small and often charming vintage or antique items. These “smalls” are mourning brooches – commemorative pieces worn to honor and remember a deceased loved one.
This likely came from an old hardware store. It is a vintage storage unit for screws and nails.
Do you collect Steiff animals? Steiff is a German heritage brand renowned for high-quality stuffed animals and plush toys, famous for its craftsmanship. This is a tiny Steiff owl.
Handmade wood carvings are also often found in antique shops and galleries. This one reads “A Souvenir of the Land of Evangeline” which refers to the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1847 poem, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie.
Do you have andirons in your fireplace? Andirons are metal supports, usually used in pairs to hold firewood raised and in place, allowing air circulation and preventing logs from rolling out.
After some time browsing through the many interesting vintage and antique items, Matt went home with a collection of flower paintings by a 12 year old girl in the 1800s. Antiquing is a mix of luck, skill, and timing, and the “finds” can vary widely, but it’s a wonderful way to learn. And as I always say, one should “learn something new every day.”
Aside from their beauty and intoxicating fragrance, roses have the wonderful ability to continue blooming throughout the summer.
I've adored roses for more than 30 years and have grown them in many different places here at my farm. Earlier this year, I designed my biggest rose garden yet - behind my chicken coops. The bed was previously planted with gorgeous lilacs as well as roses, but it was in need of an overhaul to revitalize the space and add some new young plants. I planted more than 140 new roses to add to the existing rose bushes. The roses bloomed this season, and were recently pruned and groomed.
Enjoy these photos.
In order to grow beautiful, healthy roses, they must get an abundance of sunshine. This garden bed is perfect. My roses also get nutrient rich soil, lots of food, and regular maintenance through the year.
Last spring, I completely transformed this garden. All the old lilacs were pulled out and new, young, vibrant roses were planted. Here is one side shortly after planting was complete. Among the varieties recently planted here – Parfuma® Earth Angel™ ‘KORgeowim,’ Bolero™ ‘Meidelweis,’ Raspberry Cupcake™ ‘KORcarmsis,’ Parfuma® Bliss ‘KORmarzau,’ Michelangelo™ ‘Meitelov,’ Sunbelt® Savannah,™ Romantica® Moonlight ‘Meikaquinz,’ Princesse Charlene de Monaco® ‘Meidysouk,’ Dee-Lish® ‘Meiclusif,’ and Top Cream™ ‘Meiroguste.’
The two beds are surrounded by young boxwood.
These boxwood shrubs were nurtured from cuttings right here at the farm. Eventually, they will grow into a nice formal hedge.
In just a couple of months, both the roses and the boxwood have grown so nicely.
Some of the existing roses were transplanted years ago from the gardens at Lily Pond, my former home in East Hampton, New York.
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae. There are more than a hundred species and thousands of named cultivars.
I always knew I wanted many different roses in all sorts of petal formations. Double blooms consist of 16 to 25 overlapping petals in three or more rows.
Roses come in many different colors, such as pink, peach, white, red, magenta, yellow, copper, vermilion, purple, and apricot.
Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses to climbers that can reach several feet in height.
Many roses are loved by bees, depending on the variety, bloom structure, and how much nectar and pollen they produce. Open, single or semi-double blooms that expose the pollen-rich stamens are some of their favorites.
When watering, give roses the equivalent of one-inch of rainfall per week during the growing season. Water at the soil level to avoid getting the foliage wet. Wet leaves encourage diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew.
Rose leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species, they are about two to five inches long, pinnate, with at least three leaflets and basal stipules. The leaflets also usually have a serrated margin.
And remember, rose stems are often armed with sharp prickles, not thorns. A prickle can be easily broken off the plant because it is really a feature of the outer layers rather than part of the wood, like a thorn.
And depending on the variety, some can have more prickles than others.
There are different pruning strategies for different times of the year, but overall the goals are the same – to keep the plants looking fresh and open, promote new growth and re-flowering, and to improve the overall health of the plant.
Deadheading is one of the easiest forms of pruning – as blooms fade, cut off below the spent blossoms and above the first set of full, healthy leaves. Make any cut at a 45-degree angle just above an outward-facing bud. This angle helps water run off the stem while encouraging strong, outward growth.
New leaves are similar in shape to older foliage, even if slightly redder or thinner. The red/purple tint is normal and comes from anthocyanins, which protect tender tissue from getting any sun damage.
Depending on the variety, climate, and care they receive, roses can bloom from late spring through autumn. Here’s the bud of a new flower just waiting to open.
And always use nutrient-rich compost, composted manure, and other organic and natural fertilizers. I am a voracious feeder of all my plants. Good, thoughtful maintenance in the garden will always be well worth the effort.
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