Another good pruning job is complete at my Bedford, New York farm - this time, on the hedges surrounding my swimming pool.
In 2018, we planted more than 170 purple columnar beech trees, Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Purple' along the inside of the pool fence. The columnar beech is a splendid tree with deep-purple foliage that holds its color all season long. Around the outside of the pool fence, I have a hedge of two dark-colored burgundy-black leafed specimens - Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple' shrubs. I always try to incorporate unique and interesting plantings into my gardens - all these have superlative color and appealing form. This week, my crew gave the hedges a good pruning to keep them all healthy and looking their best.
Enjoy these photos.
When planning the gardens around my pool four years ago, I wanted to create a natural border along both sides of my pool fence, so I chose a dark purple color palette. These Physocarpus and Cotinus shrubs have grown quite a bit since last year – it’s hard to see the beech trees behind them.
Here is the inside hedge of columnar beech trees. These are fastigiate meaning their branches slope upward more or less parallel to the main stem. I knew these would be perfect around the pool, but like all garden specimens, they must be well-maintained. It was time to prune them all at least a foot.
The leaves of the columnar purple beech are rounded ellipses, two to four inches long and one to three inches wide, with an undulating margin and a slightly pointed tip. They are smooth and softly lustrous in the sunlight. In spring the new leaves are a vibrant, deep purple-red. As they mature in summer they become dark burgundy-purple, holding this color well through the hotter weather.
Physocarpus is commonly called ninebark, and is an upright, spreading, somewhat coarse, deciduous, Missouri-native shrub which is closely related to the genus Spiraea. It boasts a deep burgundy foliage with ovate to rounded, usually three to five lobed leaves that are dull green in summer changing to an undistinguished yellow in fall. Then its color veers toward bronzy red by the time the leaves fall in late November.
After the white flowers of the physocarpus bloom, what follows are these seed pods – a favorite food of small birds.
Also known as smoketree or smoke bush, Cotinus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. They are a great choice for massing or for hedges. The stunning dark red-purple foliage turns scarlet in autumn and has plume-like seed clusters, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips.
In fact, the name “smoke bush” comes from this – the billowy hairs attached to the flower clusters which remain in place through the summer, turning a smoky pink to purplish-pink. I have many smoke bushes around the farm.
Here’s Chhiring starting to prune the outside shrubs. Pruning means to lop or cut off any superfluous branches or shoots for better-shape and better growth. These look fuller every year – in part because of our regular pruning.
Chhiring cuts off any dead or crisscrossing branches first. The rule of thumb when pruning is to cut the dead, diseased, damaged, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material. The branch on the right is dead – it is woody and hollow.
To remove the top, Chhiring uses our STIHL HSA 94 R Hedge Trimmer, which is ideal for making clean pruning cuts.
Chhiring carefully goes over the top of the shrubs with the trimmer keeping them all at the same height as the fence itself.
Here’s a look after a section of it is cut – it looks so much better.
It doesn’t take long for the ground to fill with clippings. Once all the pruning is done, Pasang rakes up all the trimmed branches…
And then loads them all up in our trusted Polaris vehicle, so they can be taken to the compost pile where they will decompose for next year’s garden dressing.
Here’s a view from the other side. They’re the perfect height and still disguises the fence very well – one cannot see it at all.
To ensure the pruning is perfectly straight on the beech trees, we always use a landscaping twine, so it is visible and can be pulled taut.
Here’s a look at one side of the newly pruned beech tree hedge – so straight all the way around.
These trees create such a gorgeous privacy screen around my pool.
I wanted the pool to look as natural as possible where I could enjoy the panoramic views of the landscape with my family and friends. At the far end of the pool I have five staddle stones. Staddle stones were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version.
The pool is so inviting. This is one of my favorite summertime areas of the farm. And the perfect place to cool off – it’s expected to be a very hot, humid week ahead.
It's going to be another dry, humid day here at my Bedford, New York farm with temperatures in the high 80s. We haven't had any rain at all for at least two weeks - hopefully we'll get some soon.
Despite the uncomfortable summer weather and lack of precipitation, the vegetables are thriving, and the gardens are looking excellent. It's so much fun to visit right now because of all the growing produce - there’s something new popping up every day. We have broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, lettuce, peas, fava beans, Swiss chard, peppers, cilantro, and so much more.
Enjoy these photos.
Here is one side of my vegetable garden down by the chicken coops. The vegetable gardens are entirely fenced in to protect the crops from hungry creatures. I try different configurations every year to see which ones work best for what we are growing. I like to use the most amount of space possible for planting.
Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color. This year, the Swiss chard is near the front entrance of this garden.
We’ve already harvested many beans. Bush beans are second only to tomatoes as the most popular vegetables in home gardens. Bush beans, or snap beans, are eaten when the seeds are small. They are also called string beans because of a fibrous string running the length of the pod, but most varieties grown now do not have that fibrous string. Purple beans are so pretty – violet-purple outside and bright green inside with great flavor.
We’re always growing lettuce. Lettuce, Lactuca sativa, is a cultivated plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70-degrees Fahrenheit. We always grow several varieties.
In one garden along the fence we have lots of peas – one section for shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and another for edible pods, which can be eaten whole, such as our snap peas. They are best grown on supports to keep them off the ground and away from pests and diseases.
By early July every year, these peas are plump, and ready to be picked. The pea, Pisum sativum, is an annual herbaceous legume in the family Fabaceae. The pods can range in size from four to 15-centimeters long and about one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half centimeters wide. Each pod contains between two and 10-peas.
The onions look wonderful too. We planted a lot of white, yellow and red onions. Onions are harvested later in the summer when the underground bulbs are mature and flavorful. I always look forward to the onion harvest!
Kale or leaf cabbage is a group of vegetable cultivars within the plant species Brassica oleracea. They have purple or green leaves, in which the central leaves do not form a head.
Look at our bed of kale – very pretty with ruffled leaves and a purple-green color. One cup of chopped kale has 134-percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin-C – that’s more than a medium orange, which only has 113-percent of the daily C requirement.
Broccoli is a hardy vegetable of the cabbage family that is high in vitamins A and D. And, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, the average American eats more than four-pounds of broccoli a year. Because broccoli is a cold weather crop. The recent warmer weather causes it to bolt, or go to flower sooner, but these heads are looking terrific.
Cauliflower is filled with nutrients. They hold plenty of vitamins, such as C, B, and K. Cauliflower is ready to harvest when the heads are six to eight inches in diameter. When picking, cut the stalk just below the head, leaving a stem of about two inches long.
Our cabbages are growing nicely. To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. Savoy cabbage leaves are ruffled and a bit yellowish in color.
Here’s a perfect artichoke ready to pick. Globe artichokes, Cynara scolymus, are popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.
See how it grows on its stem? When harvesting, always use sharp pruners and carefully cut them from the plant leaving an inch or two of stem. Artichokes have very good keeping qualities and can remain fresh for at least a week.
There is also a lot of fresh and fragrant cilantro. Often known in the United Kingdom as coriander, cilantro comes from the plant Coriandrum sativum. In the United States, the leaves of the plant are referred to as cilantro and the seeds are called coriander. Cilantro is also commonly known as Chinese parsley.
Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean or fava bean is an ancient member of the pea family. They have a nutty taste and buttery texture. I always grow lots of fava beans. We used many fava beans from my garden at my 20-year plus party last week here at the farm.
Basil, also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. Basil is native to tropical regions from central Africa to Southeast Asia. It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. Since basil grows in tropical climates, it grows well in hot weather. Actually, this plant can thrive in very warm temperatures, and it grows amazingly well up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also always growing here – parsley. This will find its way into my morning green juice. Parsley is rich in vitamins K, C, and other antioxidants. It has a bright, herbaceous, and slightly bitter taste.
This is curly parsley. This comes from the same family, but curly parsley leaves are thicker and ruffled. Some also say its flavor is a bit stronger in curly parsley than in the flat-leaf varieties.
Our herbs are planted in the center of the garden. Thyme is an herb whose small leaves grow on clusters of thin stems. It is a Mediterranean herb with dietary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. Fragrant variegated thyme is green with white leaves. It is delicious with fish or poultry and imparts a lemony flavor.
And here is Moises weeding the areas beneath our tomato plants. I like to use bamboo canes for my tomatoes. They’re easy to buy in bulk, and can be found in a variety of sizes. They should be seven to eight foot tall stakes that are at least an inch in diameter. Staking is the best way to ensure the plants get the support they need for the many vegetables they will produce this season.
Look at these beautiful young tomatoes. There are already so many growing. Most tomatoes are red, but other colors are possible, including green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, white and purple. We’ll be harvesting a lot of tomatoes later this summer.
We always extend the harvest season by re-planting in two-week successions. Succession planting is the practice of following one crop with another to maximize a garden’s yield. It is an efficient use of gardening space and time. Everyone always asks what I do with all the vegetables I grow. I share them with my family, but I also love sharing the bounty with friends, colleagues, and my hardworking crew here at the farm. I provide fruits, vegetables, and eggs for magazine and video shoots. And, of course, all my birds get vegetables too. I hope your gardens are doing well – share their progress with me in the section below.
Pruning at my farm continues at the long hedge that runs in front of my Summer House and along the road behind my Winter House.
The hornbeam, Carpinus, is deciduous and very fast-growing. In fact, it can grow about four to five feet per year. I always keep a close eye on all the hornbeams, so they can be maintained regularly. It's quite a task to get all of them trimmed properly, but the end result is well worth the effort.
Enjoy these photos.
Next on our long list of pruning projects is to prune the hornbeam hedge along the back of the Summer House and the Winter House. This is a European hornbeam hedge, Carpinus betulus. Because it is planted on a gradual slope, it needs to be pruned using a step method.
It is quite pretty in this location, but it also serves as a good privacy barrier from the road. The top and upper sides of a hedge are exposed to lots of light, so they grow more vigorously.
From this angle it is easy to see all the growth from the past year. We trim these hornbeams annually. If left unpruned, hedges start to look tatty and lose their desired shape.
These round hornbeams in front of my Summer House entrance also need trimming.
The European hornbeam is related to the beech tree, with a similar leaf shape; however, on the hornbeam, the leaves are actually smaller and more deeply furrowed. They become golden yellow to orange before falling in autumn.
As with all the hornbeams, the crew does most of the pruning by hand. It takes longer, but it looks much better in the end. These are Okatsune 30-inch long Hedge Shears. Okatsune shears are light and precise and come in a range of sizes.
Pasang does all he can from the ground first and works his way up.
I prefer the straight edge finish that is done when using Japanese shears. An important tip is to use the sharpest tools possible to avoid unnecessary damage and stress to the hedge. Their large leaves can turn brown if not cut properly.
Here, the front of the hedge is trimmed – it’s looking better already. Carpinus betulus is a hornbeam native to Western Asia and central, eastern and southern Europe, including southern England. Because of its dense foliage and tolerance to being cut back, this hornbeam is popularly used for hedges and topiaries.
Here is a view looking up. One can see what has been trimmed and what there is still left to do. Hornbeams do best in rich, moist, well-drained soils. All this growth shows how healthy the soil is at the farm.
The blades of this STIHL HL85 also have double-sided cutting blades that cut in both directions.
In this image, one can see the top going down the length of cut hornbeam – it is very level.
And looking down, here are all the clippings ready to be raked and taken to the compost pile.
This is the back of the hedge – also completely pruned.
And here is the finished front of the hedge – all neat and tidy. Deer do eat hornbeams, but since the property is completely fenced, it isn’t a problem here at Cantitoe.
The hedge looks great from all sides. It is important to keep up with the care and maintenance of all plantings. Proper pruning can remove any portions that have disease, fungi, and other types of decay. It also exposes the inner foliage to more sunlight and air circulation, which helps to reduce the chance of disease.
The hornbeams opposite the long hedge were also pruned and groomed. Here is one finished side facing my Winter House courtyard.
After the entire task is done, Chhiring and Pasang rake all the fallen leaves and branches. Chhiring uses a soft rake to carefully remove debris that has fallen into the pachysandra in front of the round hornbeams.
Here, Pasang carries a load to the cage of the Hi-Lo.
One of our favorite tools here at the farm is our STIHL backpack blower. We’ve been using STIHL’s blowers for years. These blowers are powerful and fuel-efficient. The gasoline-powered engines provide enough rugged power to tackle heavy debris while delivering much lower emissions.
And here is the front of my Summer House. It is always so nice to see these great hornbeams trimmed and sculpted. Next, it’s time for a big drink. We’ve had a week without any rain. I hope some rain comes soon, but in the meantime, our professional adjustable circular tripod sprinkler from Gilmour does an excellent job.
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