Tree Tanglefoot, or "Stop milking those aphids", and an espalier

Every year like clockwork the local ants start climbing the fruit trees in our yard, and having a relationship with aphids on the leaves of the trees.  The aphids produce some sort of food for the ants.  The major problem in all this is that the aphids create disease problems for the trees.  The leaves they inhabit curl up.  So each year the remedy is the same- Tree Tanglefoot.  This is an extremely sticky resin that I paint onto the trunk of the trees.  It is an impassable barrier to the ants as they try to take the aphid food down to their ant colony, and come back again.  They soon give up the attempt, the aphids die off, and the trees survive.  It takes a few days to make sure that each tree is properly coated at its base and there are no gaps for the ants.  Here is what the tanglefoot looks like freshly applied.  (It lasts all season). Click on them to enlarge the photos.

The other event today was the continued saga of weeding.  We have a perennial flower bed to the east of our new retaining wall (see previous posts regarding Moss Terrace.)  Illijana and I spent quite a few hours there today pulling out bermuda grass and other weeds.  Tomorrow it gets a coat of mulch.  Here is a pic of the weeded bed.

I also planted out (transplanted) another round of vegetables to take the place of ones we have eaten or given away.  Here is the completely planted bed.

Plant of the day
     One of the reasons the tanglefoot is so important is that most of the fruit trees on our property in planted in a "Belgian Fence" pattern in an espalier.  An espalier is a formation of trees or vines which have been trained in a pattern which is flat, or two dimensional.  It is meant to be both decorative, and space saving.  My espalier was begun 11 years ago by building a structure with wood beams and wire to train the trees against.  It contains 9 different apple trees and 6 pear trees (three asian and three european).  It takes lots of pruning in winter to maintain its flat aspect, and it produces very well.  It is quite beautiful in each season.  Here it is today, being an effective screen, just after the tanglefoot application.

Belgian Fence Espalier