Twice a year, we get busy mowing the whole of the orchards, as well as the pathways, leaving a few islands of grass, to preserve a habitat for grass dwellers, such as our Seed Saver frogs. For us, July is also the best time of year to do summer pruning, as it will be easy to spot the diseased branches with little or no leaf growth on, before the leaves become too dense. The plum and cherry trees will also get pruned before the end of the month.
The phacelia we planted last month in the Irish Orchard extension has taken well, and will suppress the grass until October when we will be ready for staking and planting the young trees in the newly drained and stoned ridges.
The sample leaves we sent for DNA testing have all been sent, and while we wait for the results, we’ll spend the month of July preparing for our favorite time of the year, by washing all our crates out. We’ll also clean out the storage area and begin to plan the order of harvest time, and get ready for our annual tours and talks in the orchards giving all you supporters a chance to taste all of the Irish Seed Savers collection, so you can plan your very own orchards big and small!
