Andrew Oldham writes about Pig Row, which is three gardens over a quarter of an acre in Scouthead. Visit their website at www.lifeonpigrow.co.uk
LATER THIS month we will slide coldly, blustery and wetly into the arms of winter.
Fair weather growers will have already retreated to their seed catalogues but there is something you can do this month.
If you have apple or pear trees in your garden you can get to grips with them now. There are two rules about pruning: pruning in winter stimulates growth in spring and pruning in late summer maintains the shape of a tree but does not stimulate growth.
Any fruit with a stone, like a plum or cherry, should be pruned in spring as the leaves develop. Pruning them now could lead to silver leaf or bacterial canker.
Pruning apple or pear trees in winter requires you to have a sharp clean pair of secateurs, loppers and pruning saw.
Look at the tree and remove any damaged, crossing, rubbing, weak, diseased and dying branches. You’re looking to create goblet shape but retain that lollipop-like roundness we all associate with fruit trees.
The goblet shape allows air to pass through the tree, minimising disease in a wet spring or summer.
Large branches that need removing should be done so with a pruning saw by making an inch deep cut on the underside of the branch as close to the trunk or branch you are cutting back to and then cut down from above.
Making that cut beneath the branch avoids the final cut from splitting away from the tree, taking bark and you with it.
You can also reduce any vigorous branches by half, cutting to a bud facing the way you want the tree to grow.
If you want to try your hand at pruning attend a course or visit the RHS website and learn about this wonderful, invigorating December past time.
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