Day 3: Pruning my apple tree and hand-me-down strawberries

The sun was shining and it was so quiet at the allotment. I arrived at about midday and the baby was fast asleep in his buggy (love it when I manage a successful transfer from car seat to pram!). On my way in I met another allotment neighbour who told me she’s had her plot for about 14 years and also started when her two children were pre-school age. She then kindly gave me some strawberry plants, digging them up from a bed that she’s intending to plant something else in this season. Wrapped in newspapers, these straggly roots with leaves are the first plants on my plot.

My small strawberry plants in newspaper.

The first thing I did when I arrived was collect my watering can, filled it from the tap at the neighbouring plot, then turned over the soil of the bed where my strawberries will live. I then set them in four little rows, two on each end of the bed, and I’m going to find another plant to place in the middle of them. I'm thinking perhaps a rhubarb as they make good companions for strawberrries. Once they were all placed and covered with a little soil I watered them thoroughly, waiting for the water to absorb before adding more later on.

Strawberry plants in the bed in the soil before watering them.

I heard on the radio the other day that now is the time of year to prune fruit trees, so I got  my long gardening shears and secateurs and started trimming away at the old apple tree. I’d never pruned anything before, so I had a bit of a google and saw that I needed to take off any branches that were crossing over others, as that’ll allow the fruit to grow and hang better.

The tree post-prune with the baby asleep in his buggy below.

I think it’s good to make sure the tree doesn’t get too tall, as there is a rule about the height of trees in an allotment, but also I won’t be able to get to the top if it gets too out of control! I learnt quickly that the branches are quite bendy, so I could pull them towards me to get a better angle to cut. The little buds of the leaves are starting to grow through, so it was nice to see them and know that in a few months we’ll be able to eat the apples from it. My plot next-door-neighbours arrived while I was pruning and gave me some tips and the courage to go a little shorter. I was advised to cut at an angle so that water doesn’t settle on the stubs and cause rot. They also said that it is a cooking apple tree- I guess we’ll be making lots of apple crumbles!

Apple tree buds in early spring.

Cut branch of the apple tree.

I dug out another bed which had some lovely dried thistles in them, which I wanted to bring home to have in a vase but they started to fall apart! I got a nice photo of them anyway.

One more bed cleared.

One of my thistles.

It was then time to wake the baby and have the pack lunch I had brought on the picnic blanket in the sun. This is a nice spot to sit in peace, I feel very lucky.

Pack lunch.