A PRE-SPRING VICTORY - PRUNING IS DONE

One of the Apple trees

With typical weather in Vancouver at winter's end, it can be a chore to find enough clear and warm days before spring in which to prune my little "gentleman's orchard". This week the task was finished, leaving only a handful of crabapples and dogwoods on the north property line left to complete in the house-yard area out front.

Pick-up Sticks

The general game of "sticks" is fun enough, and challenging too, if you have a good set of wooden sticks with tapered ends to work with. Picking up these sticks is always the pits. A backache and general soreness are guaranteed. Several days of hot baths helps soak out the lumbago or cricks or whatever the hurt is called.

Soon after pruning...

It is not long, however, before some of the reward and promise is evident. This tree, a plum-cherry hybrid, always blooms first, followed in turn by the others - apples, plums, cherries, asian pears, and domestic pears. The flowers promise the setting of fruit and remind me of the hope of fruit in harvest months. It is still rather cold, so I hope a few warm days come quickly to wake up the mason bees and other insects to help spread the pollen.