One can get trapped in the details; but the ‘fix it now’ policy when gardening or doing maintenance is always a good one.  Not to be confused with the ‘rush around madly without setting up’ approach, however.  There is always time to get the right tools.

This thought wandered through my brain yesterday when I was busy removing the last of the hemlock trunk, rolling it over to the road fence for a bit more sound dampening.*  I noted that one of the young corner spruces looked wrong: the last two feet of its leader was bare with an odd little top knot.  On closer inspection, a beech branch had grown long enough during the summer to interfere. It had yet to damage next year’s buds too badly, but was on its way.   The damage was several months in the making, but wasn’t visible until the leaves were off. The obvious solution was to walk back to the house, get the pole saw, go back out and trim the beech properly so as to avoid the issue for another two or three years.  A matter of five minutes solved what might otherwise lead to the injury and resulting deformity of the tree.  Ten minutes of pruning reduced other interference with a shadblow and the surrounding trees.  Its easier to prune when they are small…

*Does it actually work, I don’t know; does it pyschologically appear to? yes.