Another balmy one in Barnso today; perfect weather for a YMCA allotment gardening session. We had been asked to go up to the allotment to attend to some fruit tree pruning that needs to be done in the next week or two before summer ends. At the moment it really doesn't feel like summer is ever going to end, but the brown leaves and grey sky are just over the horizon! It sneaks up on us every year.

Celine and James had been asked to prune the apple trees before autumn begins. Luckily Celine is a dab hand at all gardening tasks and had had specialist pruning training recently so we knew the pip holding produce would be in safe hands. What we wanted to do was cut down the long skyward pointing branches near the top and smaller ones beneath the main canopy reaching towards the ground to promote outward growth from the centre of the tree. Thus providing good quality, easily reachable fruit for all.

We used loppers and shears to cut the branches 5 or 7 sprigs from the new growth in order to promote the desired growth and angles. We expertly snipped for a couple of hours, skillfully avoiding any rain, before clearing up and packing the equipment away. We put the long lengths of branch we'd cut down on the hedge at the far end of the allotment to bolster it where it looked lacking.

We left the lotty looking lush! We'll be visiting it again on Friday to continue the good work carried out today.