Last Sunday, Ian Prigmore and I were back at Holly Mount community orchard to help out with a training refresher on pruning the last of their veteran apple trees.
The rain held off just long enough for the volunteers to finish working on the last four or five trees to be looked at this year. There are perhaps still a few bits and pieces still to do – every tree will benefit from a second or third look after the main pruning work has been done, just to pick up on those odd issues and snags that go unnoticed first time around – but the folks at Holly Mount are happy with the way the work has gone this year:
Pruning: tick, done! And just in time too with this freakish warm weather, pushing winter aside too early. Huge thanks to @nftallotment (of @OrdsallHall ) and Ian P (of @RHSBridgewater ) for your perfectly pitched expertise and patience. Our trees doff their crowns to you both! pic.twitter.com/04IPpUEfxt
— Holly Mount Orchard (@HMount_Orchard) February 2, 2020
I look forward to working with them on fruit thinning in June, and hopefully with some of their infrastructure and biodiversity enhancement projects in the meantime (as always, free time and other commitments allowing…)