Prune and tie in young stone fruits
USED to describe fruits that have a stone within them, such as peaches, cherries and plums, these deliciously sweet fruits shouldn’t be pruned in winter. Instead, spring and summer are the key pruning times – so what should you be doing now that spring is definitely here?
Free-standing trees can be left to their own devices. Frequently, however, stone fruits are trained as fans against a sunny south or west-facing wall or fence, and if young, they’ll benefit from shaping now. So if you’re growing a fan-trained cherry, greengage or apricot, cut off any shoots growing away from the wall or fence. Congested areas should be thinned out, and you should tie in new shoots to fill in any gaps while you are at it. Job done!