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Got fruit trees?
By Jen Nelson, OVE Program Manager, Tualatin SWCD

At the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District, we often get calls from new homeowners uncertain how to care for the small home orchard they just acquired. We enjoy helping small acreage landowners find solutions to local problems too, so we’ve included the topic in the August 23 Rural Living Field Day. We invited Tonia Lordy, Arboretum Manager for the Home Orchard Society, to teach a class on home orchard maintenance at the Field Day.

Here are her top tips for getting started this summer:

Most important summer activity: Summer pruning of unwanted vegetative growth. Be sure to plan your pruning before you start. A common mistake is over-pruning the trees, so it is good to visualize your stopping point ahead of time.

Looking forward to fall: Get ready to mulch! Spreading ramial woodchips around the base of your trees and removing windfalls (dropped fruit) from the orchard floor will help prevent infestation and protect the roots through the winter. “Ramial” refers to chipped twigs and branches of woody plants. You can ask for help finding this product at a garden center or farm store. Many local tree-maintenance companies are happy to dump a load for you for free.

At the workshop, I’ll go over the importance of proper and timely pruning, orchard sanitation, observation, and increasing the bio-diversity in your home orchard. It would be hard to pick just one of these as most important!

Want to learn more about keeping the home orchard healthy? Join us for this and many other great topics related to managing your small acreage property at the 2014 Rural Living Field Day on August 23 at the Bybee-Howell House on Sauvie’s Island, hosted by the Tualatin, West Multnomah and Columbia SWCDs and several sponsoring partners. For details and registration, visit wmswcd.org.

Rural Living Field Day!

August 23, 8:30 am-2 pm, Howell Territorial Park on Sauvie Island

Rural Living Field Day is a fun event for rural landowners and anyone interested in conservation and sustainable land practices. Speakers address a wide variety of issues that face rural homeowners, farmers, and land managers every day. Topics include wildlife, forests, pollinators, invasive weeds, orchards, riparian restoration, crops and soil health, and manure composting.

The location of the event will give participants the opportunity to visit a stream riparian area, a woodland stand, an orchard, a working organic farm and barn. Folks will participate in some hands-on demonstrations and will be able to ask the experts about specific concerns during the break-out sessions.

Whether you’re a seasoned landowner or just starting your own farm, this is the event for you! Rural Living Field Day is also a great time for landowners to meet each other and share concerns and ideas about their properties and operations, and make valuable professional and personal contacts.

Sponsored by West Multnomah, Tualatin and Columbia Soil & Water Conservation Districts and the Oregon Small Woodland Association. To register, just visit the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District website and click on “Events” or go directly to www.wmswcd.org. The cost is $15 per person or $20 for families, and includes morning beverages and snacks, as well as a fully catered lunch!

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