The Buds Are On The Move

Sundrop Buds Almost Ready to Pop!

I hate unseasonal weather!
Especially when that unseasonal weather is warm weather in late July that causes the buds on the trees to move!

That’s right folks, thanks to a couple of weeks of warm weather here in Roxburgh the buds are getting set to burst.
Needless to say I’m not very impressed.
If the weather keeps up the way it has been then we could have blossoms on the Apricot trees within the next week!

So in between pruning, mulching and other winter maintenance I’ve been running around getting the frost fighting system all good to go.
This involves checking sprinklers, flushing lines, cleaning out filters, getting the tractor and pump serviced, doing a full test run, etc.
Thankfully I’ve had the assistance of my 2IC (Ruby) so things have been going smoothly!
Ruby may be small but she’s certainly a little worker!

On the pruning front I’ve been making steady progress.
At this stage I hope to finished the stone fruit in around 2 weeks and then I’ll be into the pip fruit.
That’s the thing about pruning, it’s all about finding the perfect balance of speed and quality.
You can go really fast but end up doing a substandard job. Likewise you can go the other way and over analyse every cut and end up moving down the row at a snail’s pace.
Once you can move along at a good pace but still be doing a good job then you’re away laughing.