This Malus needs a bit of pruning. For historic reasons, the growth is very lop-sided. When the tree’s in full leaf it’s difficult to make the call as to where to thin it out, though it did have a bit of a haircut in the summer to remove the straggly bits.

Now it’s bare and without the leaves it’s easier to work out where to make all the cuts. And the fruits show where the concentration of growth is. They’re mostly above where the car stands on the drive. Which means the car will soon be covered in half-eaten crab apple pulp and blackbird poop.

But it’s the wrong time to prune now. It needs to be done in the early spring, just before the new leaves appear. You know, just when there are so many competing jobs and so little time to get them all done.

But I can plan. Take my time. All it needs is a little pot of white paint and an artist’s brush. I’ll just mark rings of paint just above where I want to cut and then, in the fullness of time, I can quickly nip around the tree and, you know, nip. A quick nip.

This post is part of my “Fill the Gill Heavens Gap” series. Gill is currently vacationing in a derelict badger sett and subsisting on a diet of cheese and onion crisps and protesting (too much I wonder) that this diet is not inducing flatulence. Normal service will be resumed over at Off the Edge Gardening when the gin supplies run out.  Meanwhile you have to put up with my witterings. Tomorrow I’ll be posting something different. You may pay homage to Gill again on Thursday.