Any gardeners will know that this February has been a stop start time for getting things done outside: sudden sunshine, then snow, frost and rain. A lot of rain! So it has been quite difficult to complete the task of pruning apple and pear trees in Portmoak Community Orchard.

The trees have been planted in the big gully in Kilmagad Wood which is one of the most sheltered spots on the hill. But that doesn’t protect it from the rain and the slopes get very slippery. Unfortunately, there are some tasks you can’t postpone and pruning  apples and pears is one of them if you want healthy growth in the spring and summer.

So, we give the them a fairly severe ‘haircut’ to encourage lots of fruiting buds on the lower branches.

This project began at the start of the month and couldn't be finished until nearly the end of it, as frozen slush on the ground made the slopes too slidy.

It's a bit of a challenge, weilding loppers, saws and secateurs to prune back overhead branches, while also trying to stay upright!

We are not great experts but our simple aims are to cut out disease, let in plenty of light and make sure the trees don’t get so tall that we can’t reach the fruit. 

It’s hard to imagine we shall get another bumper crop like last year’s but as long as the blossoms are not hit by late frosts and we have a half decent summer, we should have enough fruit for our annual community apple day in the autumn. We enjoyed that prospect as we stopped, in surprisingly warm sunshine, to take a tea break.

That is a long way off and in the meantime we have plenty to do, getting our heads round the Woodland Trust Scotland’s plans for tree felling and peatland restoration in Portmoak Moss.  Members of the community talk to us all the time and we are well aware that everyone who goes to the Moss loves the place for a whole variety of reasons.

In early March, there is to be a workshop involving experts and invited participants, to look at all the issues. This will be followed by a public meeting, with a date tbc.

In the Moss, the business of pulling out birch saplings continues and also in March we are looking forward to welcoming employees from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, who are allocated volunteering days, to help with projects like this. Removing the birch helps to protect the peat from drying out and allows the growth of sphagnum mosses. 

Our regular meetings continue, on every third Tuesday of the month, in The Well Inn and now start at the earlier time of 6.30pm for 6.45pm.