Here at my farm, we've been enjoying a stretch of dry, sunny, warm weather with light winds and low humidity - all ideal for the multi-day process of haymaking.
Hay is harvested forage that must be dried and cured after it is cut in the field. For best nutritional value, most hay is cut during the late bud or early bloom stage. This week, my grounds crew is cutting, tedding, raking, and baling the hay. The first cut was done in June, but this second cut is especially impressive: greener, denser, and packed with protein. My horses are going to love it.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Timing is everything when cutting the hay crop. We hope for at least several days of good, dry, warm weather, so we can work in the fields and guarantee a good harvest.
My outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, and Helen Peparo, my stable manager, keep track of the weather during hay cutting time. It’s crucial they select the best days for this process.
When the hay is ready, it is typically 12 to 16 inches above the ground. The stems are finer, and the overall texture is smoother. At this stage, the plants are still in a growth phase, so the hay will be high in protein, digestible, and palatable for my horses.
This is my mower-conditioner. It cuts, crimps, and crushes the hay to promote faster and more even drying.
The discs and blades are located behind the machine’s protective shield.
Before using, Chhiring checks the blades. Here are two blades – one new and one that needed replacing.
Each blade can be used twice – usually for the first and then the second cut of hay in the season.
Chhiring also checks all the joints and makes sure they are well-greased.
On cutting day, Chhiring goes around the fields counter clockwise cutting all the hay. The process of cutting should take about an hour per field. I have three large fields.
The hay goes through the machine and processes the hay one wide strip at a time.
Here, one can see what has been cut and what Chhiring still has to do. It is important that Chhiring moves slowly enough to get every area of the hay field cut. He does not want to miss any bit.
Here’s Jimmy preparing what is called the tedder for the next phase of the process.
A hay tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath. It uses a rotary motion to grab the hay with spinning tines that cast it out the back of the machine.
Here is one of the tines that picks up and flips the hay.
This part of the process allows air circulation for drying and is crucial for conditioning the hay so it is ready for harvest. Chhiring and Jimmy like to fluff each field at least twice.
Jimmy must drive through the field, carefully watching that he has flipped everything that was cut.
Next, windrows are made out of the dry, cut hay. Windrows are rows of hay raked up and shaped before being baled. Attached to a tractor, Phurba pulls the bar rake at an angle and makes windrows from the tedded hay.
This apparatus uses pins to spread, turn, and gather cut or dried hay in the field.
The bar rake, also known as a basket rake is hydraulically driven. This rake allows for consistent movement across the fields making well-shaped windrows.
My fields are all planted with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clover. This is a well-shaped windrow.
Once several rows of windrows are made, the hay baling can begin!
Ready? In my next blog – what it takes to bale, stack, and store my hay!
I have long admired allées and have incorporated several into my farm's landscape over the years.
In landscaping, an allée, or avenue, is traditionally a straight path or road lined with trees or large shrubs on either side. Typically, the plantings are of the same species or cultivar, creating a uniform appearance along the entire length of the allée. In 2019, I decided to establish an allée along the carriage road through my lower hayfields. I planted a combination of London plane trees and approximately 100 Royal Purple smoke bushes, Cotinus coggygria. The allée is maturing beautifully and so quickly with the smoke bushes growing more than three feet each year. This week they were pruned and groomed.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Along the carriage road adjacent to my Equipment Barn, I have a mature allée of pin oaks. It is one of the first allées I planted when I purchased my farm. One of the tree’s most distinguishable traits is that its lower branches hang down, while the middle branches reach out horizontally and the upper branches grow upright.
This is one of two allées of linden, Tilia – medium to large shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape. This one starts up near my Winter House and extends to the Boxwood Allée and then to the chicken coops.
Here is the other half. I love how these trees have developed over the years.
And here is my long Boxwood allée leading to my stable. Buxus is a genus of at least 70-species in the family Buxaceae. It is a very versatile plant that provides strong shape and rich green color.
Among the newest allées at my farm is one planted with London plane trees and smoke bushes along both sides of a carriage road to my woodlands. I planted 46 London plane trees in this allée, but with all the growth of the Cotinus, it’s hard to see them. The smoke bushes are so healthy – they’ve grown about three feet in just one year. This is a section before pruning.
To share some of the development, here is the allée in 2022, three years after it was first planted.
Here it is in 2024.
And this year, they’re in need of a good pruning. These are pruned every summer. The smoke bushes all around the farm have grown so much because of careful and consistent care.
Cutting it back regularly can help the Cotinus retain its most colorful foliage.
The name “smoke bush” comes from the billowy hairs attached to the flower clusters which remain in place through the season, turning a smoky pink to purplish-pink and then light brown as the weeks progress.
Pasang Sherpa is my resident tree pruner. He does a wonderful job overseeing the maintenance of all the trees here at my farm. I like as much of the pruning and grooming to be done by hand, so Pasang trims every branch with his pruners – one by one.
Pasang goes deep into the plant to lop or cut off any superfluous branches or shoots for better shape and better growth.
He cuts off any dead or crisscrossing branches first. The rule of thumb when pruning is to cut the dead, diseased, damaged, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material.
Here, one can see where he pruned the branch last year and the new branches that have grown since.
As the branches are cut, Pasang gathers them in neat bunches, so they are easy to collect later and take to the compost yard.
Here is a pruned smoke bush.
Here, one can see what Pasang pruned and what he has to prune next.
And here is a section done – the London plane trees are now easier to see.
The London plane tree, Platanus × acerifolia, is a deciduous tree. It is a cross between two sycamore species: Platanus occidentalis, the American sycamore, and Platanus orientalis, the Oriental plane. London planes grow best in full sun, but they can also thrive in partial shade. These are growing excellently.
These leathery leaves are about six to seven inches wide with roughly toothed edges.
After every pruning, the Cotinus grows bushier with larger leaves. Both the Cotinus and London Planes grow fuller every year.
Planting evergreens is a great way to bring year-round color, texture, and structure to the garden.
Here at my farm, I have a special area I call my pinetum, an arboretum devoted to pines and other conifers that I began developing soon after moving to the property. Over the years, the trees and shrubs have thrived and I continue to expand the collection with new additions each season. Recently, I purchased a group of junipers that I knew would be perfect for the space. Once they arrived, markers were placed where they would be planted and the crew got to work.
Enjoy these photos.
I started my pinetum about 20 years ago. Now it extends to the carriage road under the partial shade of my pin oaks and weeping willow trees.
This is a very healthy juniper, Juniperus virginiana. Its upright growth habit and beautiful color make it a great addition to any garden. For my pinetum, I got six from nearby Hardscrabble Farms in Westchester County, New York.
Leaves on the tree are soft, scale-like blueish-green or green sprays, growing compactly on their stems. Female trees produce berry-like cones.
I decide where the trees will be placed and then markers or flags are put in the approximate planting positions. My gardeners also check each individual plant’s space and light needs and adjust accordingly.
First, all the holes are dug at least twice the size of the plant.
Each specimen is placed by its designated hole.
I use Miracle-Gro Shake’n Feed Flowering Trees & Shrubs plant food which has done so well for my plants. It contains natural ingredients such as kelp, earthworm castings, bone meal, and feather meal, which will feed the plant and maintain its deep, lush green foliage throughout the season.
A generous amount is sprinkled into the hole and mixed with the existing wet soil. Remember what I always say, “if you are eating and drinking today, so should your plants.”
Arnold removes the protective wire or rope from the root ball. If left untouched, these wrapping materials could reduce the ability of a tree’s roots to grow out into the surrounding soil.
And then he removes the bottom of the burlap covering.
The tree is rotated on its root ball closer to the hole and then into it. When moving heavy trees, only hold it by the root ball and the base of the trunk – never by its branches, which could easily break.
Once the tree is positioned where it should be – with its best side facing the carriage road – the rest of the wire cage is removed.
And the rest of the burlap is also pulled. Some leave wire and burlap in place; however, I prefer to remove everything, so there is nothing preventing root development.
Here is the pile of wrapping from just one tree.
Arnold backfills the tree and tamps down to establish good contact between the root ball and the soil.
The area is then raked, so it is neat and tidy.
Finally, it is given a good drink. The soil is already wet from recent storms, but it is always a good idea to give newly transplanted specimens water once in the ground.
All of them are planted and watered before lunch.
Other interesting plants in this pinetum include this Burke’s Variegated Red Japanese Pine, Pinus densiflora, a multi-stemmed evergreen with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. It features striking wide, horizontal, creamy yellow bands on each needle, which are visible year-round on rough branches.
The dawn redwood has feathery, fine-textured needles that are opposite each other and approximately a half-inch long. Don’t confuse them with the bald cypress needles, which grow alternately. These dawn redwood needles will turn shades of red and brown before falling – it is one of the few deciduous conifers.
This is a variegated false holly, a tree-form version of the Goshiki Osmanthus. It is a well-loved specimen for its radiant, variegated, holly-like leaves of creamy white, yellow, and dark mint green.
This is a dwarf pine tree. If you’re not sure how to tell some of these popular trees apart, here are some key tips: pines have needles that are arranged and attached to the branches in clusters. Spruce and fir trees have needles attached individually to the branches.
I add more specimens to this collection every year – some are very rare and slow growing, but I love the variety of plantings I’ve amassed. I’m looking forward to watching this garden mature. I hope this inspires you to try planting more unusual plants that can add both texture and color to your garden.
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