Pruning is counterintuitive. Destroying, cutting back and killing in order to promote growth and help a plant.
It looks painful. And brutal. Pruned plants can look almost dead. I struggle with the whole concept of pruning, whatever Monty Don* says about it. Sadly, my tomatoes are suffering as a result. There are loads of them – hooray! – but it seems like they may never actually turn red.
I did some research, and the issue is that I have just allowed the plant to get out of hand, grow all over the place, and as a result the fruit may never actually ripen and come good. But it looks so healthy! Why should a gardener cut off shoots and branches that might potentially grow more fruit? Shouldn’t we just let plants do what they would do naturally anyway?
No, the experts say. Without pruning and training, tomato plants become a mess of tangled stems that can easily develop disease and put all their energy into just growing any which way without actually maturing their fruit. Pruning encourages them to put their energy into the business of actually making ripe fruit, which is, after all, what I, the novice gardener, want!
As much as I don’t want to admit it, some pruning takes place through the hard stuff of life: challenges, setbacks, failure
But I also wonder if pruning might signify simplifying life, saying no sometimes. If I need to cut off some of the growth on my tomatoes to help them bear fruit, could this involve us focusing on the things that are really important and saying no to other opportunities? I wonder what this might look like? Some of my coaching friends often ask “If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?” We have a limited amount of time and energy, perhaps some thoughtful pruning could lead to red, juicy, fruitful tomato growth.
Right, I’m off to get the secateurs; time to practice some pruning.
*The undisputed Don of all gardeners, surely. Also the superstar of ‘Gardeners World’, the only programme on TV where the pulse-raising highlights are still shots of flowers gently swaying in the breeze to a soundtrack of birdsong or bees, sorry, pollinators.