Утром под яблоней было тихо, только грабли лежали на траве после работы.

Утром is a very common adverbial form meaning in the morning.

Historically, it is the instrumental case of утро (morning), but in modern Russian learners often just memorize утром as a time expression.

Compare:

• утром = in the morning
• днём = during the day / in the daytime
• вечером = in the evening
• ночью = at night

So in this sentence, Утром sets the time: In the morning...

Because под can take different cases depending on whether there is movement or location.

• под + instrumental = under (location, no movement)
• под + accusative = to under / underneath (direction, movement)

Here the sentence describes where things were: under the apple tree, so Russian uses the instrumental:

• под яблоней = under the apple tree

If there were movement, you could say:

• положить грабли под яблоню = to put the rake(s) under the apple tree

So:

• под яблоней = location
• под яблоню = motion toward that place

Яблоней is the instrumental singular form of яблоня (apple tree).

Basic form:

• яблоня = apple tree

In this sentence:

• под яблоней = under the apple tree

This is a good noun to notice because it is a feminine noun ending in -я, and in the instrumental singular it becomes -ей:

• яблоня → яблоней

This is an impersonal construction. Russian often says things like:

• было тихо = it was quiet
• было холодно = it was cold
• было темно = it was dark

There is no real subject like English it. Russian simply uses the past tense form of быть in the neuter singular:

• было

Then it adds a predicative adverb/state word:

• тихо = quietly / quiet

So было тихо literally works like was quiet, but in natural English we translate it as it was quiet.

Because тихо here is not a normal adjective describing a noun. It is a predicative word meaning quiet as a state or condition.

Compare:

• тихий сад = a quiet garden
  Here тихий is an adjective describing сад.

• в саду было тихо = it was quiet in the garden
  Here тихо describes the overall atmosphere, not a noun.

So in your sentence, тихо means the place/situation was quiet, not that some specific thing was a quiet one.

Good question. Было does not go with грабли here.

The sentence is really in two parts:

1. Утром под яблоней было тихо
   = In the morning it was quiet under the apple tree

2. только грабли лежали на траве после работы
   = only the rake(s) lay on the grass after the work

So:

• было belongs to the impersonal phrase было тихо
• лежали agrees with грабли

That is why you see:

• было тихо
• грабли лежали

Грабли is one of those Russian nouns that are normally used only in the plural. It means rake or rakes, depending on context.

This is called a plural-only noun (pluralia tantum).

So Russian says:

• грабли лежали = the rake was lying / the rakes were lying

Even if English might use a singular noun, Russian still uses the plural form grammatically.

That is why the verb is also plural:

• лежали = plural past tense

A learner should simply memorize грабли as a noun that behaves like a plural word.

Because лежали is the past plural form of лежать (to lie, to be lying), and it agrees with грабли, which is grammatically plural.

• грабли лежали = the rake(s) were lying

Russian often uses different verbs for the position of an object:

• лежать = to lie (be in a horizontal position)
• стоять = to stand
• висеть = to hang

Since a rake left on the grass would naturally be lying flat, лежали is the natural choice.

This is the same location-vs-movement idea as with под.

With на:

• на + prepositional = location (on)
• на + accusative = motion onto something

Here the rakes are already there, so this is location:

• на траве = on the grass

If someone threw them onto the grass, you could say:

• бросили грабли на траву = they threw the rake(s) onto the grass

So:

• лежали на траве = were lying on the grass
• положили на траву = put onto the grass

Траве is the prepositional singular form of трава (grass).

Basic form:

• трава = grass

In the phrase:

• на траве = on the grass

Because на here expresses location, Russian uses the prepositional case.

Yes, только basically means only, but in this sentence it has a slightly more natural English sense like:

• only
• just
• except that

The idea is:

• It was quiet under the apple tree;
• the only thing there was that the rakes were lying on the grass.

So только introduces a small contrast:

• было тихо, только...
  = it was quiet, only / except that...

In natural English, you might translate the whole flow as:

• It was quiet under the apple tree in the morning; only the rakes lay on the grass after the work.
• or more naturally: It was quiet under the apple tree in the morning, with only the rakes lying on the grass after the work.

После работы literally means after work or after the work.

Grammatically:

• после requires the genitive case
• работа → работы

So:

• после работы = after work / after the work was done

In context, it most likely means after the gardening or yard work. The sentence does not specify exactly who did the work. Russian often leaves that kind of detail unstated if the context makes it clear enough.

So the sense is something like:

• the work had been done, and afterward the rakes were left on the grass.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and this sentence is arranged for a natural descriptive flow:

• Утром — time first
• под яблоней — then place
• было тихо — then the main atmospheric statement
• только грабли лежали на траве после работы — then the exception/detail

This order sounds very natural in narrative Russian.

You could rearrange parts, but the emphasis would change. For example:

• Под яблоней утром было тихо...
• Грабли только лежали на траве после работы...

Those are possible in some contexts, but the original sounds smoother and more neutral.

So the sentence’s order helps create a calm scene first, then adds the visual detail of the rakes.

In this sentence, native speakers will most naturally connect после работы with the idea that the rakes were left there after the work.

So the meaning is roughly:

• the rakes were lying on the grass after the work

It does not usually mean that the whole quiet scene happened after work in some broad abstract sense, although context could always influence interpretation. Here the most natural reading is that the work had finished, and the rakes remained on the grass.

Yes. Because грабли is grammatically plural in Russian, translation depends on context.

In English:

• the rake
• the rakes

Both may be possible depending on what the speaker means. If the context shows there was just one rake, English would normally say the rake. If there were several, then the rakes.

Russian itself still uses грабли either way, because that noun is normally plural in form.