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01.08.2023 - 15:39 / theenglishgarden.co.uk / Clare Foggett
Fruit pruning isn’t the easiest thing to explain to anyone, chiefly because no two trees or bushes are ever the same. The line drawings in reference books are helpful, but when you look at your tree or bush, it rarely looks the same as the diagram. Hopefully these simple guidelines will help you make sense of the twigs and branches in front of you. Just take deep breaths and remember the old maxim: Think twice, cut once!
Pruning young apples and pears is really important, as it helps to establish a good framework of branches that will bear fruit. This technique is for free-standing trees. Carry out the pruning when the tree is dormant in winter.
The aim is to build up short ‘spurs’ that will bear fruit, on an open ‘goblet’ shaped tree. Photo: Shutterstock
In Year 2The aim is to create a wine glass shape, so start by selecting four strong branches that are well spaced apart. Cut them back by half to an outward-facing bud. Small, weak or badly-placed branches can be cut off completely as can anything that’s damaged or dead.
In Year 3The following winter, the vigorous shoots that have grown from where you last pruned can also be cut back by half to two thirds. Take out any dead or damaged growth too.
Year 4 and onwardsBy the following winter, your main framework of branches will have begun to take shape. From now on, avoid heavy pruning as this will encourage strong, whippy growth, known as ‘water shoots’. Instead, prune the side-shoots that grow from the main branches back to around 10cm (4in). This is to encourage those stumpy little fruit-bearing branches known as spurs.
Hard pruning encourages water shoots like these, strong upright growths from the top of the tree. Photo: Shutterstock
Cordons, espaliers and fansExactly the
Header image: Brooke Lark/Unsplash
Interior designer Stephanie Hunt’s seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom Park City, Utah, home is a grown-up, glammed-up, sophisticated version of a funhouse—it’s got so many surprises and delights at every turn. And believe it or not, she got the inspiration for the home on a freezing winter trip to Reykjavík, Iceland. “We were there for a quick weekend trip and I was struck by how the simple barn structures—very close together—looked like one unit. Because we’re art collectors I wondered what it would feel like to have each pod or pavilion, if you will, developed in a simple, honest architectural style, connected by halls and glass elements, with the halls serving sort of in-home art galleries,” she explains.
Discover how to summer prune apple trees to get more fruit in this helpful film. Pruning trees often scares people, but we show you how to cut back new growth in a few simple steps. Tamsin Westhorpe, gardener at Stockton Bury Gardens, shows how easy it is. Winter pruning is focused on growth, but summer pruning is done to make sure you get a really great crop of fruit next year.
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