What have you been doing today?

[Mottie]

Going to have to have the whole tree taken down. There’s virtually nothing of it in our garden now but most of it is hanging over our neighbours. We had another major branch snap off a few years ago when it was laden with apples. TBH, tall apple trees are a pain in the arse - in autumn I’m picking up and chucking away a bucket of apples a day from the lawn. We will probably replace it with something that’s got colour and leaves all year round such as a Eucalyptus. It’s gotten too high anyway - it was tall enough when we moved here in 1990 and we had two of them then. Had one taken down about 20 years ago as it was leaning at an alarming angle. I need to get my ladders out these days just to get some apples from it!

 

[crystal ball]

Opened my post, and lo, my bus pass has arrived, a new beginning.

 

[Odds]

Going to have to have the whole tree taken down. There’s virtually nothing of it in our garden now but most of it is hanging over our neighbours. We had another major branch snap off a few years ago when it was laden with apples. TBH, tall apple trees are a pain in the arse - in autumn I’m picking up and chucking away a bucket of apples a day from the lawn. We will probably replace it with something that’s got colour and leaves all year round such as a Eucalyptus. It’s gotten too high anyway - it was tall enough when we moved here in 1990 and we had two of them then. Had one taken down about 20 years ago as it was leaning at an alarming angle. I need to get my ladders out these days just to get some apples from it!

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It'd be a real shame to cut down the tree and lose its shade, fruit and aesthetic quality to the garden all in one go: why not cut back the top branches and thin out around the sides - or give it a 'short back n' sides'?
I used to look forward to climbing ours to gather fruit but since my joints protested too much at that i got me an apple-catcher on a long pole.

 

[Mottie]

It'd be a real shame to cut down the tree and lose its shade, fruit and aesthetic quality to the garden all in one go: why not cut back the top branches and thin out around the sides - or give it a 'short back n' sides'?
I used to look forward to climbing ours to gather fruit but since my joints protested too much at that i got me an apple-catcher on a long pole.

I know but it’s too far gone for that. Looking down the line of our fence, you would be mistaken for thinking it’s not even in my garden. Now that chunk of tree has been lost, there’s nothing to balance it up and it’s only going to lean further into next doors garden. They, by the way, like the tree.

 

[Odds]

I see your point. Perhaps you could crown it and cut back old branches to give it new life and shape the way it grows upwards, limiting it to around five meters. Picking apples off the ground is a chore but as the neighbours enjoy the tree perhaps it would be one way to keep it around - how old is it?

 

[Mottie]

I see your point. Perhaps you could crown it and cut back old branches to give it new life and shape the way it grows upwards, limiting it to around five meters. Picking apples off the ground is a chore but as the neighbours enjoy the tree perhaps it would be one way to keep it around - how old is it?

It was mature when we moved here in 1990. Trouble is, there’s nothing growing on the lower end of the main trunks - if we cut it to 5 metres we'd just have two tree trunks and the one main trunk with all the branches on is leaning well into next doors garden - it’ll be years before it can be trained back over to our side and that’s if it doesn’t start leaning any further. We do have a tree specialist down our street and I’ll be getting him to look at it but I won’t be doing anything for a few months yet.

 

[fillyboy]

Plastering a ceiling, one of the few jobs that brings it home I'm not as young as I used to be.

 

[Mottie]

Took the dog out for her first proper walk since the hot weather started. I let her have a swim in a local lake. She loved it - I’m sure she was getting depressed being stuck indoors.

 

[Odds]

It was mature when we moved here in 1990. Trouble is, there’s nothing growing on the lower end of the main trunks - if we cut it to 5 metres we'd just have two tree trunks and the one main trunk with all the branches on is leaning well into next doors garden - it’ll be years before it can be trained back over to our side and that’s if it doesn’t start leaning any further. We do have a tree specialist down our street and I’ll be getting him to look at it but I won’t be doing anything for a few months yet.

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I wouldn't worry about the angle of the tree at all, really, it's just the way it is. Topping the tree could encourage it to grow new branches lower down, although i'm sure your neighbour will be able to give more advice...i had a similar issue with our tree in 2010 when the topmost branch fell, then a year later a lower branch split and had to be cut. I trimmed some of the old wood away and cut down a holly bush that was crowding the lower trunk; after five years it had begun to grow new branches in every direction and now they're starting to bear fruit. It's a venerable tree, over 100 years i'm sure, a lone survivor from an orchard that once grew in the fields before they built this row of houses in 1930, so they can withstand a shock or two in their old age, and yours looks to be bearing a good harvest this year.

 

[Mottie]

Just given my mums dog a street walk and saw this camouflaged wrapped car. Looked it up and apparently it’s an orange Ford Ranger. No fuel type or CO emissions so must be fully electric. Must be a new model they are bringing out - I thought they only did those as a double cab pick up type vehicle?

 

[Mottie]

Went to the allotment BBQ last night. About 70 people turned up. Just burgers and sausages, nothing special but one woman had made a massive salad with everything from her plot. Someone else made a chocolate cake consisting mainly of shredded courgettes! We were one of the earliest couples to leave as I am a gnat magnet and as dusk came, the little swines were all gunning for me. Next time, gnat repellant and long trousers!

 

[Diver Fred]

Went to the allotment BBQ last night. About 70 people turned up. Just burgers and sausages, nothing special but one woman had made a massive salad with everything from her plot. Someone else made a chocolate cake consisting mainly of shredded courgettes! We were one of the earliest couples to leave as I am a gnat magnet and as dusk came, the little swines were all gunning for me. Next time, gnat repellant and long trousers!

Why Oh Why do people have to put courgettes into everything??? Absolutely sick of courgettes. If I never see another Courgette it will be to soon.

 

[Mottie]

Why Oh Why do people have to put courgettes into everything??? Absolutely sick of courgettes. If I never see another Courgette it will be to soon.

I must admit, I only have them in stir-fry’s. Trouble is, the damn things grow far quicker that you can eat them! They seem to double in size each day. I give most of mine away but I’m leaving one of them to see how big it will actually get.

 

[Mottie]

Over the allotment again today. I’m getting quite excited and I’m making an impression on the ladies .

 

[HERTS P&D]

Not when it turns green!



Andy