Top tips

1 The first rule of pruning is to cut out any branches that are dead, damaged or diseased, back to healthy wood.

2 Over time trees can become crowded with thin, weak growth, so cut out this growth to open up the canopy.

3 Long shoots produced last year, especially vertical ones, can be shortened to a sideshoot or fruiting buds.

4 If you need more room to mow under the tree, cut some lower branches back to the main trunk.