Ticked off

One of the jobs I did today was on my daily list: pruning the blackcurrants.

This annual task is done as soon as the harvest is complete. Indeed I know people who prune and then harvest the currants from the pruned branches, sitting comfortably somewhere. I prefer to squeeze under the bushes, bent over on a tiny stool to pick. I’m not sure that makes any sense at all, but it’s what I’ve always done.

The idea with pruning the blackcurrants is to open out the centre of each bush and to remove any branches which are crossing, as well as to reduce the height overall.

I’ve given my four bushes the most severe prune so far. It should help them carry on for years and years to come. And I had such a huge crop this year that the inevitable slightly smaller harvest next summer will be no bad thing. Prior to the prune they were growing through the bird netting and spreading throughout the fruit cage.

So that was the main job from my list.

Another of today’s tasks never made it onto the list. It somehow annoys me when something takes up my time and I don’t then have the satisfaction of ticking it off to reduce the length of the list.

The unlisted task was to clean the outside of the tunnel house plastic. I realised this morning that it was coated in lichen and muck, compromising the amount of light getting to the tomatoes and peppers.

Three hours of clambering up and down a ladder with the hosepipe and broom saw it sparkling clean again. And so bright inside.

All the other smaller things I did today were on the list, but aren’t now. That’s satisfying.