YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 49, 31 May 1940, Page 41

YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

By

Ann Earncliff

Brown

(No. 32)

PRUNING TIME

WY ‘orters, you have a formal or just decide to do a bit of snipping at bush fruits and a fruit tree here and there in your garden, you need stout gloves, a pair of roll-edge secateurs, and in your mind a very definite objective. Pruning is quite a simple operation, but if shapely trees and bushes are to carry their full crops of fruit, there are a few rules to be observed. Before you begin to snip, be quite sure that you understand the way in which the particular bush or tree bears its fruit. Gooseberries The gooseberry is perhaps the most accommodating of bush subjects. It bears fruit well in its very immature stages, and that fruit is useful even from its green stage. Though not a good subject for tropical or even sub-tropical climates, the gooseberry thrives under most garden conditions and in all sorts of situations. Pruning of the gooseberry is practically fool proof, as fruit comes on both old and new wood. However, the best fruit comes on the young wood, so no ‘woody tangle should be allowed to grow in the centre of the bush. In general gooseberries can be allowed to grow fairly freely within their allotted garden space (say 6ft. by 6ft., or 8ft. by 8ft.). All awkwardly placed or dead and decaying branches should be cut right out. A cutting back of lateral growths in autumn or winter near to the old wood, and a shortening of young shoots is desirable. All shortening should be done to a bud which points in the direction you desire new growth to take, Currants Black currants differ from red and white varieties by fruiting on the young wood of the previous season’s growth. Prune very lightly, merely thin out weak growths and snip soft tips from

branches. Whole branches, when too woody, should be cut out, young suckers from the base being aliowed to take their place. Red and white currants, on the other hand, fruit on spurs on the old wood, and the bushes are built up like apple trees, each season extending the fruiting branch by new growth by about nine or twelve inches. Cuttings of currant and gooseberry bushes root readily, and diseased or neglected bushes can easily be replaced. Apples And Pears The apple bears fruit on little spurs distributed along the old branches, Young trees are built up gradually, care being taken to keep the hollow cup formation. In pruning, laterals or side branches are cut back about half an inch from the old wood, the fruiting. branch being extended each year by a length of young wood, according to the length of the tree and the length desired. Always prune to a bud pointing in the direction you wish growth to follow. Pears can be treated in gardens as ornamental specimen trees, grown in cordons along a wall, or pruned like the apple in strict orchard style. Plums And Cherries Plums need only to be kept shapely. Branches should be thinned out and all dead or diseased wood removed. The plum can be pruned to a bush style if desired. It fruits on spurs formed both on the previous year’s growth and on the old wood. Quince trees fruit freely, and need very litle attention. For convenience, branches that tend to grow inward should be checked and a general shortening of branches to limit the trees to their environment is necessary. The cherry fruits are like the apple, and should be shaped and pruned in the same way. Nectarines and peaches should not be pruned at present.