Happy New Year 2026!
What is the first thing you plan to do in the garden/orchard this year?
Once it is above freezing, I’ll likely be watering the potted figs/pears/ blueberries I’m keeping stored in my garage.
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I celebrated by digging up a couple dying turmeric plants.
Not the best photo, but my first harvest of this year, a few small green turmeric rhizomes.
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i am pruning my japanese laceleaf maple this weekend! probably will be my first tree related activity. previous homeowners trimmed it terrible so its been a multi year project to make it look good again
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Uncovered my tomatoes and herbs and winterized some jalepenos that were looking rough. Second activity is to harvest pigeon peas before any real frost comes around.
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I’m about to head outside to resume pruning. I’m about a third of the way through at this point, most of the apples and cherries are done but thats it.
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I took inventory of the fig repository. Pruning is next.
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I hope to order some scions today and identify which ones of my rootstock I will graft them to.
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I will sit by the fireplace and eat an homegrown apple, while watching the snow come down out the window.
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@northwoodswis4
What is the first thing you plan to do in the garden/orchard this year?
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I downed a tree yesterday. It needs to be cut up. The drawback to battery operated chainsaws is one charge isn’t enough to cut up the whole tree.
The first thing I plan to eat from the orchard this year is highbush cranberry that are still hanging on January 1st in 1°F. Highbush Cranberry turned out to be a good choice for fresh fruit in winter. I had one off the other fruiting bush 2 days ago and the flavor was better than back on Thanksgiving, with a few weeks and a -16°F night in between.
I started reading the book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” last night. I’m worried that California Mediterranean climate practices are not applicable up here. Having a fruit tree in the yard is common in Southern California. More recent plantings are pruned yearly to maintain a size under 1 story if not under 7 ft.
By the way is anyone interested in having an online Zoom meetup to talk about your successes, your failures, and your plans for your orchard?
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Gotta fertilize my citrus and whatever tells me they’re hungry.
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Before:
1st prune (last year)
this year before I did half my pruning (cause it got dark, more tomorrow/this weekend)
at the end of today. Still need to clean up a lot of the back and right side. but we are on our way
happy for critique. my goal this year is to correct what i view as a lot of the branches drooping down, i’m trying to train it more of a gentle wave out vs just a weep straight down
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im hoping todo that next winter. got several late ripening apples that may produce this fall. black knox is one im really excited about. hopefully it has the time to ripen properly.
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So all the internet lore about only pruning cherries in summer is false? They’re fine to prune in winter?
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Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet 
I’ve always pruned my cherries in winter. I think most of the recs to not prune in winter come from places that are colder than I am, Z6 and colder, where they can get winter damage. Rain is not a good time due to bacterial canker so I avoid wet weather.
For me the main reason to prune in winter is there is nothing else to do in the orchard, so it spreads the workload out.
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summer pruning is great for controlling growth, but imo it doesnt translate to dont also winter prune if you need to. At least thats my read on things for stonefruit
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Prune the mulberry and almond tree. Get dirt, leaves, straws, and pine needles to make make soil for a new 30Gal tote. Collect worms to throw into the tote.
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My citrus trees will go outside My peppers are up for spring. Basil & tomatoes will get planted soon.
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If you can see the Full Moon tonight, it is matching the Sun’s path on approximately July 01. I just checked and I see some branches that I mistakenly thought were far enough north… are in fact overgrowing my future persimmon plot.
This is also a really great opportunity to see how far away – north and south – from due east the sun will rise in midsummer. I noticed: The moonrise was way up north in the northeast today. And the sun was way down south, all day.
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Prune next month, sweep the rest if the dried leaves, and dump soil out of my basil pots, and finally spray for canker.
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