Blackberry Pruning. Late Nov, 2023.

 I finished pruning the thornless horticultural blackberry bushes.  The main one is the variety "Triple Crown", which is the best producing, best tasting and least trouble of the several varieties that I have tried (Until Ponca).  Triple Crown is quite vigorous.   

Each winter, I remove the old stem that produced this year.  It's done and won't bear again.  During the summer,  I tip the new growth at about four feet tall.  That produces new branches, that I prune back to about 18 inches long, in winter .  The exact length doesn't seem to be too important.

Finally, I covered the old tree leaf mulch with a fresh layer of tree leaves, about 6 inches thick.  I've done that for ten years.  The old gummy clay (winter) and brick hard clay (summer) is now a soft loam, like forest floor.  These never get fertilizer or summer water, and bear generous crops of  big, delicious blackberries each summer.

I have a second bed on the south side of an old shed.  They are not as old, maybe three to four years (Triple Crown from cuttings) and two years (Ponca, mail order).  The shed is ancient, snd sinking into the ground.  The siding is in bad shape.  I dug a trench by the shed, to allow the siding to dry.  I pruned the Triple Crown as noted above.  Ponca is a brachytic dwarf - the internodes are quite short.  So it doesn't grow nearly as tall as the others.  Ponca's berries are bigger than Triple Crown's and I think the flavor is the best of all I have tried.

The one caution I have about Ponca, so far, is the berries are so heavy that the branches break off.  I added a fencepost to tie supports for next year.

The brachytic dwarf character shows in this photo, with Ponca in front and Triple Crown in back.

Fig Tree Pruning. Late Nov, 2023

 I've been under the weather a bit, so haven't posted.  A couple of weeks ago I pruned the fig trees by the access road.  I think their last major pruning was two years ago, so they needed some shortening.  These don't bear a lot, so far.  I think that's the location which doesn't get a lot of sun, but they do bear some.  They are good for privacy in that location.

This is Brunswick.  I grew it from a cutting about 20 years ago in Vancouver, and moved it to Battle Ground about 10 years ago.   It did bear a pretty good crop this year, the biggest figs of any variety I grow, possibly the sweetest, and very nice flavor.  It is usually shy bearing.

This is Smith Fig.  It is roughly 8 years old.  The origin is Louisiana.  Many have considered Smith to be one of the best tasting of all fig varieties.  I agree, although this is not a prime climate for this  more heat adapted, variety.  So far it has been pretty shy bearing but had a great crop this year.  

This is Adriatic.  The figs are nice and big, but production minimal for me so far.  It's only about 7 years old.

Here is the row of fig trees.  It also shows a two year old Hardy Chicago and a 7 year old Champagne Fig.    Hardy Chicago has always been a great bearing fig variety for me, and good tasting figs with lots of "figgy" flavor.  Champagne is very mild, and so far doesn't bear well.

This pruning was fairly drastic, taking about 1/2 of the the height.  They are all about 6 feet tall now, a good height to manage growth, pinch stem tips to encourage fig production, and pick figs.  Deer haven't been bothering them.    By trimming back, they should also have more low growth, to help with the privacy aspect.  One drawback, pruning too much growth might delay production for a year.  We will see.

The last photo shows tree leaf mulch too.  I did not remove the dropped fig leaves.  By themselves, they don't make a good mulch, because they are so fleshy they break down too fast.  By adding tree leaves on top, they should stay almost weed-free for another year.  The leaves also build soil humus and soil life, and manage soil water.  I never water these during the hot, dry summer.

Nice Holiday Cacti (Schlumbergera) In Bloom. 15 Nov 23.

 The Schlumbergera bus are opening.  It's a nice show so far.

They don't get much special treatment.  I keep them on the North side of the house for the summer, bring them in during fall.  Give a little flower fertilizer.  Several are cuttings from older plants that became too big, a couple of years ago.

Edit - here's one more.

A couple of others are not blooming yet.  That will extend the show.

Fall Color. 14 Nov 23.

 Lots of fall color this year.

Below are some red maples, down the road.  Ours has already dropped its leaves.

This is a Japanese Maple that I dug up as a volunteer from my old yard, on the left.  On the right, the lower yellow leaves are a ginkgo I grew from a seed, and the higher yellow leaves are an aspen tree that I planted ten years ago.

Collecting Fallen Tree Leaves For Garden. 14 Nov 23

 Here my truckload of leaves from my generous neighbor.

Some of these went onto the refurbished, topped off, raised bed, after I mixed chicken bone meal, crushed eggs, and coffee grounds into the top layer of soil.  Now that will sit until Spring to mellow and settle.

More will go around the miniature fruit trees and onto containers, as a mulch, then the rest onto the fig tree and forsythia and wildflower border.  

Tree leaves are the best soil protector, enricher, weed prevention, soil conditioner on this green earth.