Introduction – Blueberries – North Apple Bed – Panoramic View – Dwarf – Conclusion
Gene’s Answers – Train a Mini-Dwarf – Favorite Apples – Map of Backyard
After viewing the north apple bed, you continue the virtual tour by turning around and facing south. Here is what you’d see. Well not exactly. This is more of a bird’s-eye view. The above photograph was taken on a ladder peering over Gene’s neighbor’s hedge. Most of Gene’s apple beds are visible, with the exception of the north bed. That is hidden directly behind the hedge.
There are over 50 dwarf and mini-dwarf apple trees in this view. Many are at their mature height.
Gene’s backyard always has that neat manicured look, not just when it’s being photographed. One reason is his low maintenance beds, which have evolved over the years.
“At one time I used the plastic lawn edging to form circular mulched areas around my trees. It looked beautiful, except it was a pain to run a lawn mower around, I had to do everything with a weed whacker. I now use rectangular and squared enclosures, and it’s much easier to maintain.
“My borders are made up of treated wood 2x 4’s. I leave the top of the wood 2 or 3 inches above grade. If I had to do over again I’d use 2 x 6 and bury them deeper. Within these borders I use garden plastic with little tiny holes in it and put it on top of the soil. On top of that I place my cypress mulch. It’s low in cost, easily available and not as acidic as pine bark. It keeps down nearly all of the weeds. I want it low maintenance.
“I reapply the mulch as needed. In the beginning you think you have enough, but it settles down, and low spots appear, so you add a lot the second year. After that about every 4 or 5 years.”
Are you wondering how Gene acquired his many apple trees? We, at MidFEx, know Gene is an expert at grafting; he leads our grafting workshop each year. So it may come as a surprise that Gene has in the past purchased many of them. Here is how Gene explained it in 1998.
“I’ve made up about half my apple trees by grafting onto rootstock, but now that I’ve found a reliable mail order source, I sometimes find it’s easier to order the tree. I order from Bear Creek Nursery. They are in Washington State. They will send you a newly grafted tree called a benchgraft. See, it comes as a little piece of wood grafted on top of the rootstock, the same way as if I had grafted it myself. I don’t want a tree that’s older than that, because I want to control everything. I’ve tried many other sources, but I’m most satisfied with them. I’ve only had one out of the many trees not take, and that was because of a bad graft, and they promptly refunded my money.”
Unfortunately Bear Creek Nursery went out of business in 2000. Since then Gene has been unable to find a source for benchgraft trees which he can highly recommend.
Back in 1998 he recommended another nursery, Raintree Nursery. He still likes them today and adds, “I’ll also put in a good word for Rain Tree nursery, another source for some of my apple trees. This is my favorite based on the how they come to me, and the quality of the trees.”