Look forward to sharing our daily mix of gardening tips and fun with you through 2021
Here’s a New Year treat: get hold of a copy of our
worm’s eye guide to pruning
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Will you be Pruning over Christmas?
- First remove dead, diseased or dying branches
- Then tie in any new shoots needed to fill supports
- Prune any flowered side shoots back by two thirds of their length
- If the plant is heavily congested, cut out any really old branches from the base to promote new growth
I’ve drawn up some info on pruning, and created a small, humorous guide to pruning. It’s not super-detailed, but shares some silly jokes and tips. Tips like ‘what to prune this winter’ and, perhaps more importantly, ‘what not to prune this winter’. I will be adding to it as I progress so keep coming back to take a look. Click here to go to the Worm’s eye view on pruning page.
Some plants like a good old prune at this time of the year. For other plants it could be the worse thing you could do. So, like me do your research before starting to hack away …
For example, there are 13 pruning groups in which your plants can be categorised, and pruned correctly. Clematis has its own 3 groups, get the pruning group wrong and goodbye clematis. To discover more about groups, and the plants in them, the RHS has a great summary here
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That’s enough from the worms, here’s some tip-top advise from the experts
RHS guide to pruning groups
Great direction, packed full of links and further reading from the RHS. A go to page for amateur pruners, like myself.
Year-round garden pruning guide
Great advice and full of quick and simple tips too, for example … don’t cut into tender plants or evergreens right now as their top growth provides insulation from penetrating cold.