Mossline — allotment notes from plot 12 Field notes on growing, compost, and the slow repair of clay soil.

Pruning the plum tree

Why summer, not winter

Plums and other stone fruit are pruned in dry weather to keep silver leaf out of the cuts. I waited for July.

What came off

Three rubbing branches, one watershoot colony, and the leader that shaded the rhubarb. Under the lichen: old wire from a long-gone tie, grown almost into the wood.

What I left

The deadwood the woodpecker works. Some pruning is for other tenants.