Pearls baby girl and some pruning projects around the house.

I was happy to receive a couple of pictures of Pearl and her baby girl from my buddy David in Montana.

Dam; Charolais x Angus  Sire; Longhorn

She is a frickin cutey!!!  Not sure what I am going to name her yet.  I am just really pumped that she is a heifer!!!

Dam; Charolais x Angus  Sire; Longhorn

Because I have been so busy I haven't had time to take care of any of the landscaping here at home.  Well, after getting done with work yesterday I came home and decided to go out and try to do some cleaning and mowing before the rain hit again.  I managed to get all the string trimming and mowing down and decided to start pruning.  

One of my specialties is pruning.  I started learning from my father right after I was old enough to walk.  I helped him as a child to plant all the trees we had at our house growing up and we also pruned them as well.  After going to college and learning all the specialty trees I decided to make a few of my own specimens instead of buying them.  

First up is my Coralburst Crabapple.  I have seen many sizes and shapes of these and this one was removed from a landscape because it was looking like it was not going to make it.  It was about 4' tall to the graft point and total diameter of the head was about 18".  I nursed it back to health and I decided to see if I could shape it to be about 3' thick from top to bottom and I am hoping to have it 30-40' in diameter some day.  I love the color of its flowers in the spring and the fruit later in the summer.  Having it spread way out makes a much larger color impact and also allows us to see the birds and other animals that use/live it in every day. 

Coralburst Crabapple Specimen

Above you can see that it was very thick and overgrown.  In training it over the last 9 years I have been selecting every shoot for a certain direction of growth and for how I want the branches to look.  Below you can see the finished product.  I am at somewhere between 10-12' or approx. 3 meters across now.  You can also see some of my wife's hosta collection around the base of it.  Every time I see a new kind of hosta I get a cutting and bring it home for her.  This is only part of them.    

Coralburst Crabapple Specimen

A view from the other side.  

 Coralburst Crabapple Specimen

Another tree that I have been training for about 8 years is a weeping cherry.   It is hard to tell in the picture below but it is getting quite big now and it is actually above a stone boulder wall.  

Weeping Cherry Specimen.

Here is anther angle.

Weeping Cherry Specimen

Here is the finished product.  I had my wife int he picture for a frame of reference to the size.  The rocks underneath are about 3' tall.  I am trying to train this one to keep going up and out to make it like an arch so I can someday put a bench or small table and chairs under it and use it for shade.

Another very cool thing I have gotten this one to do is to make a ground cover for the bed it is growing in.  It is pretty cool to walk in the bed and realize that the tree is covering the ground and actually keeping the weeds out and keeping the soil cool.  The other neat thing is seeing it in full bloom in the spring.  It creates a mat of white flowers all over the ground. 

Weeping Cherry Specimen

Well, it looks like my prediction of a very wet summer is turning out to be a reality.  We have had almost 8" of rain this month and there is another 2" in the forecast for the week.  Second cutting is going to have to wait as I have a lot of customers counting on high quality dry hay this year and I am not going to risk it getting rained on or baling to beat the rain and it getting moldy.   Let's hope for a break in the rain long enough to make a good cutting.  After that I will fertilize again and it can rain some more if it wants to!

I also want to remind everyone that our customer party is going to be July 5th.  We are doing another whole hog roast as well as about 8 beef briskets and a bunch of sides.  Please contact me and let me know you are coming.  If you are not currently a customer but would like to come to check us out just email me at ken.r.merrick@gmail.com, or call or text at 330-771-3978 and I will let you know how to get here.

I will be sending out the RSVP email tonight to everyone I have an address for.  

Kenny