To be fair, apart from keeping the fat ball holder full for the small birds and trudging across the garden to deal with the chickens, there isn't much to do in the garden at this time of year. But there is one very important job, and it is very much mine - pruning the fruit trees.
We have one old Williams pear tree, one quince tree we planted 13 years ago, and three apple trees (one Granny Smith, one Reine de Reinette and one Belle de Boscoop) that need to be pruned at this time of year. The plum, cherry, peach and apricot trees all have to be done in the summer, once they have fruited.
Today I managed to do two thirds of the quince tree (the other bits are too high for me to reach), the Belle de Boscoop, the Granny Smith and half of the Reine de Reinette. This last one is the most difficult, as it has little blossom and little fruit, but instead sends up loads of close packed sappy shoots. I think it wants to be a poplar tree. This year I am taking quite a bit of wood out of the centre in the hope that will encourage more blossom, and that if any fruit sets, it will actually get to see sunlight and benefit from the breezes. The pear tree suffered last season with the weight of fruit, so we need to do some serious work with a bow saw to deal with the damage. That is a two person job.
The other January job is to admire any snowdrops that are daring enough to show themselves.
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