Pruning: fruit trees
Get out into February's fickle weather for some last-chance pruning before spring arrives says Frances Tophill
February always brings more than a glimmer of hope; with the first signs of nature’s promise in the form of bulbs, peeping through the crumbs of cold soil and in some cases, crocus and snowdrops being the most notable, they are even flowering.
In recent years February has also been a notoriously unpredictable month. ‘Beasts from Easts’, sunbathing on occasion and all-too-often sinking in the sludge after relentless downpours. So, February is a time that brings variety and unpredictability.
In February, the garden is at its most dormant and the sap is not yet rising, making it our last chance for winter pruning of trees and shrubs. And if you haven’t yet pruned your grape vines time is running out. Although many trees need little pruning, you can sensitively remove any dead, diseased or crossing branches now. Fruit trees like apples and coppice trees, such as chestnut, willow and hazel, respond really well to a prune. Late fruiting shrubs like cotoneaster, and Euonymous europeaus, and E. elatus can be tidied up, and winter heathers can be pruned now to remove old seed heads. Finally, now is the ideal time to cut back any herbaceous perennials.