Consideration should be given to watering during this current dry period.  Our meterologist has indicated that this season may be setting up to be a dry one.  Plans should be made now to avoid plant loss due to dry weather. Focus on water saving techniques such as drip irrigation, timers, and rain barrels can not only save you money but can also save your plants as well. 

There will be a rainbarrel workshop as a part of the June 5th Blooming Bardstown Garden Tour.  This year there will be an educational component to the tour featuring several different topics.  

Gardening in my yard

Spring break is the time I generally get the yard in shape around my house.  This year I made a point to address one of my perennial gardens for renewal.  It was installed 10 or 11 years ago and I hadn't done much to it over the years.  But this week I tackled it by digging everything out and then tilling the bed.  I took the perennials to the barn where I began dividing.  If your are looking for money saving ideas; dividing perennnials is a no brainer.  For example four clumps fo daylilies turned into twenty five, four clumps of blue sage turned into fifty clumps, and one clump of an ornamental grass became seventy five. Once I had the divisions done I began to create the design for the garden based on what I had available.  After the design was settled on planting began.  Before transplanting fertilize was applied and worked into the soil.  After transplanting was complete a preemergent herbicide was applied and everything was watered.

Pruning Fruit Trees

Now is the time to be pruning your fruit trees.  I have made farm visits on a couple of occasions this week to see the progress of pruning on both commercial and backyard orchards.  This nice weather has given perfect opportunity to get the job done.  Above you can see a before and after picture of apples during the pruning process.  Notice the central leader and the four or five scaffold branches that remain.  He generally begins with the removal of the water sprouts,  broken limbs, thinning cuts and finnally heading back cuts.  The goal is to create a strong fruiting structure and create balance in the tree for sunlight penetration and fruit holding capacity. 

       Below you'll see the pictures of peaches in the pruning process.  Notice the openness of the structure.  The final product should be bowl in shape (open in the middle) with four to five scaffold limbs balanced around the trunk.  Pruning any fruit tree should take three years to get the structure correct and then followed by a lifetime of annual pruning.