Allotment - espalier apple tree maintenance

I managed to take advantage of a few hours down at the allotment, and during some unseasonably mild weather to replace the posts supporting one of my espalier apple trees (variety is Adams Pearmain).

Hopefully as these posts are treated with preservative, they'll last for years, as it's a bit tricky unwiring the trees, and refitting after the posts are renewed. Looking at the condition of the trees in general, I'm very pleased how my 'experiment' to grow these as espaliers has turned out. The crop from all 3 trees last year provided enough apples to supply our needs from September to January.

Now today its raining + getting colder, so I timed that well.

Adams Pearmain - espalier
(grown from a maiden whip some 7 years old)

End of an era

Well, it had to come sooner or later.

Our trusty Nissan Micra, owned from new (1990), finally had to go.

It has served us all very well over the years, with all of the family having driven it, learned to drive in it, taken stuff to the rubbish tip in it, etc...

Richard has his own car now, and the old Micra was surplus to our needs. Sentimentally, I managed to sell on the car to a local person, [the other choice was the local scrap merchant :-( ] so at least it will continue to be useful for some time to come. It'll be strange if I see it on the road - owned and driven by someone else!

Farewell....

Nissan Micra 1990 'G' registered!