Take that, plum tree

Before

The Martha Stewart magazine had an article last year about pruning fruit trees. It showed off her "heritage" apple orchard being meticulously pruned, twig by twig. Of course she wasn't out there on a ladder in February-- Martha hires expert tree arborists, although she probably goes out to check their work afterwards.

Pruning fruit trees is both physically hard and mentally challenging, unlike most garden chores that are either one or the other. No wonder people put it off. But even the "dwarf" fruit varieties get tangled and too tall without annual pruning. I suppose many a limb has been broken (human, that is) reaching out on a ladder for that last delicious-looking plum.

John does not get involved in pruning our plum tree unless I ask him to whack off something large with his chainsaw, which he seems to enjoy. And if you look closely at the picture above, you can see the top was sliced off once as a last resort after several years of neglect. I don't recommend it. Cutting off the top removes all the mature "fruiting" branches and the tree sends up hundreds of useless shoots. But after a couple of long years and more restrained thinning, there may finally be plums again.

After

There are articles, videos and entire books on the subject of fruit tree pruning. I think it appeals to fussy gardeners which I am not, being more of the "amputate and just get it over with" pruning personality. But after many years of butchery, I've learned to slow down and do a more thoughtful job on our apple and plum.

Sunday was overcast and cold but dry, and I got the job done in a couple of hours. I left the prunings in a big messy pile for the ground birds to enjoy. Chopping them up is a chore for another day.

So if we're lucky to get warm weather this spring, no aphids and enough pollinators, there might be nice plums to look forward to in September:

Which seems like a lifetime away...