We’ve left some of our pruning of the apple and pears rather late this year so it was a case of ‘out with the tripod ladder’ and ‘get up high’ to deal with the excess growth that was thrown up last year. One advantage of this eleventh hour exercise is that the flowers or buds are clearly recognisable so the choice of where to cut, what to remove and what to leave, is quite clear.
The prunings were stored away to use later on the barbecue where they’ll impart their sweet smoky flavour to our food. It was a beautiful bright clear day so the job was carried out amongst birdsong and sunshine with just one aeroplane breaking the rural silence. World problems aside there couldn’t have been a nicer day to be out in the garden.