Hooray for Dirty Fingernails!

Don't worry, I didn't take any photos of my dirty fingernails.  But I was happy to have them!  We spent a few hours pruning the blueberry bushes and doing a spring groom of the hellebores.  It is still rather cold outside -- upper 30's today -- but it felt so good to get out and work in the garden. 

 

Four of our blueberry bushes are about seven years old.  We have never pruned them.  I now realize that we should have been shaping them from the very start. 

 

The goal of pruning is to create an open, vase shape to the plant.  An open, vase shape will allow good air-flow and make harvesting easier.  Damaged branches, crossed or rubbing branches, and any branches older than 5 - 7 years old should be removed.  As the canes on the blueberry bush age, fruit production will decline.  Pruning the bushes will encourage the production of new canes. 

 

Some of the worst looking branches (bent, crossed, rubbing) on our bushes were the oldest ones.  Because we have had so much fruit on the bushes the last several years, I was very anxious about pruning them.  I cut off viable branches today, so the plants may be less productive this year, but I know the bushes will be healthier and more productive in the long run.  

 

Unripe fruit in late June.

 

Ripe for the picking! Mid-July

  

Blueberries in various stages of ripening.  Mid-July

 

Blueberry bushes add fall color to the early November garden.

 

Hellebores are some of the first flowers to bloom in my garden.  They start putting up flower stalks as early as the beginning of January. 

Hellebore flower stalk - early January

During late winter, the leaves of the hellebores turn brown and ugly, and stray leaves from the deciduous trees collect around the crowns of the plants.  Our job today was to clear away the leaf litter from the fall and remove any messy Hellebore foliage.  Under all that mess, the flower stalks are already about 4 - 6 inches tall today, but the hellebores won't be in full flower until mid-April. 

An un-named white variety.

Having cleaned up some of the mess, we will now be better able to enjoy the upcoming show from the warmth of the indoors.  I can't wait!
 

An un-named mauve variety.  The nodding head of a more mature flower in the lower middle of the photo shows the developing seed pods.