(note: no prunes are involved)
Like with many gardening days, I often have no plan when I first set foot outside, as I walk around the garden it tells me what I need to do. It can take a bit of faffing before I settle to the main task, but the garden is never wrong and guides me patiently to what I need to do.
On this particular day it had been raining on and off all night and the day before. This makes for a soggy garden that is hard to do much of use in. Staying indoors on a sunny day even in winter (especially in winter) is just not a pleasing option for me.
As I was getting ready to go outside I was having a twitter conversation and the word 'pruning' was used. The day was suddenly set - it was a perfect pruning day. Pruning saw and loppers were fetched and out I went.
and then I ran back in. You see the day before I noticed I had a flat tire, so reinflated it. I thought I would just have a look at it to check it had stayed up and of course it had not. There were pancakes that were thicker. So a quick jaunt to the tire place - a quick spending of more money than you want to just before Christmas (is that the tiniest violin I can hear??) and I was home again within the hour.
Out I went into the garden again with the Medlar tree in my line of sight, I had a pruning saw and I was going to use it. I love my Medlar 'Nottingham' tree. It was planted to remind me of my home town, it was also planted so I could use the word 'blet' in context. It is a very fine tree, not hugely tall but early to blossom and with good autumn colour. If you want to grumble about it you could accuse of it having 'large elbows', but I love the shape and structure of it. It is not an old tree, but it grows gnarled and I like that.
The pruning commence, firstly out came the sucker that was a good four foot tall. How do they get so tall and you do not notice?
Then I imagined Monty's imaginary pigeons and started to de-clutter the Medlar. Crossing branches were removed, space was created in the middle.
and a small pile of branches was created, well quite a large pile really.
I then had a little wander around the garden removing the odd twig here and there, nothing huge. The day that had not had the best start had ended well. A bit of pruning salves the greatest frustrations. The tree looked better (if skilled tree-people do not look at it and tut too loudly) and I had spent a good hour or two in the garden. Happy happy.
