Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Fruit tree maintenance Here are a few quick-fire ideas to get the best out of your fruit trees in the future… and it all starts by planting (and some pruning) in the winter!  1) Do your home work – select tree varieties you actually like to eat! (or like the look of – blossom?)  2) Buy good stock from good nurseries and check if they need specific pollinators (ie Plums!!)  3) Dig your holes in the garden and prepare the soil with organic material (compost). If your soil is sometimes too wet, perhaps think about raising the planting area a bit.  4) No need to fertilise until spring truly starts (23 Sept) when the soils warm up and trees start to “function” again.  5) When you plant your trees, either from potted specimens or “bare-rooted” trees, a light prune will help the tree survive the planting shock. Think about the fact that the amount of root mass should be more-or-less the same as the branch mass above the ground. 6) If you plant a new tree, think about how you want that tree to grow in a three-dimensi