The Apple Tree

Now that winter moved on, at least temporarily, I am reminded of the lovely weather we had on New Year's day and the days following, and of the apple tree in the middle of the gardens which we prune yearly.

 The street we live on used to be an orchard belonging to one of the large houses at the top of the road. When the houses were built in the mid- 1950s, each garden had an apple tree and a plum tree from the old orchard. When we moved in in 2003 both trees were sill there, though the plum was not looking its best.
5 years on and the plum tree had to be cut down (I think it was a Victoria plum, though I can't be sure). The apple tree is still here, as far as I know our tree and the one next door are the only ones remaining on the street.
The apples it produces are not very good, they are early eaters, ripening in August, and they don't keep at all. But the tree is a very nice specimen and we treat the apples as an unpleasant side effect we have to put up with. In fact in recent years we started picking off the small apples in June to reduce the amount of space they take up in the green waste bin.

I used to have someone prune the tree, but he moved on from the area, and all I can find now is tree surgeons applying the chainsaw, which encourages a lot of new growth and does not make for a very elegant tree.
Pruning the tree takes most of day (taking into account winter days are fairly short anyway) for the whole family. My other half holds the ladder, I climb up and prune (he is not allowed secateurs) and my daughter shreds the prunings. 

This year with the weather being so mild we took our time over the job, and I think the tree looks particularly well.