Chair’s Chit Chat February 2023 (No 1)
Pruning. That is a word to make your blood run cold.
I have always viewed pruning as the black art of gardening. What to prune? When to prune? How to prune? These are all questions guaranteed to raise the stress levels off the scale.
Take the pruning of apple trees, for example – should I prune in summer or winter or both?
I am the proud owner of the RHS book ‘Fruit Growing’ and its companion tome ‘Pruning’ plus several articles on the subject plucked from magazines, such as ‘Kitchen Garden’ and ‘Garden News’. It turns out that the more information you have the more confused you become. All these excellent publications have illustrations depicting apple trees in years one, two, three and the pruning regime for each year. There are further sketches and notes on how to prune established trees. The pictures show elegant, symmetrical trees like a ballerina’s pose, with arms stretched upwards and outwards in the shape of a goblet. Now, the problem I have is that none of my trees look remotely like that!
My solution to the quandary? In late August and again sometime in January, I stand back, take a deep breath and get the sharpened secateurs snipping away with some gusto, all the while fervently praying to the gardening gods that the tree will survive. I haven’t lost one – yet!