Following my entry yesterday about chores, I realised that I had failed to comment on one of my favourite chores of the year. About this time of the year the autumn fruiting raspberries need to be pruned. This is a job that I love. I’ve blogged about this before, but I think it merits a few more words, as I did the pruning yesterday (but not the weeding or mulching).
I like this annual task because there’s an element of restoring order by removing the old, dead growth, and creating a blank canvas for the new year.
This year the pleasure is more about the promise or, at least, the anticipation of spring. It’s been an unusually harsh winter, and most of the plants are several weeks behind their normal schedule. Most of the spring bulbs are barely breaking the surface of the earth, when typically they would be in bloom by now. But the raspberries are tough, so hopefully they can take the treatment. Maybe it’s an act of madness; I prefer to see it as an act of optimism, or even an act of faith - time will tell!
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