Trees to plant now

Fruit and nut trees take centre stage now, says Bob, so find time to plant more in preparation for future bounty

- Bob Flowerdew

NOW’S the time to plant more fruit and nut trees. The soil’s still warm, which means that those put in during the next month or so will be well established by next spring. Indeed, many may crop in summer (which you really ought not to let happen by de-fruiting them that first year) or, more surely, the summer after that.

Of course, you may think you’ve not enough space. Well, modern trees do not need to be anywhere near as large as they used to be. Most fruit trees, particularly apples and pears, are now available on dwarfing roots, which means their tops never grow big, as they used to. Consequently, these make neat, small trees, or can be left unpruned as bushes, or trained as single stems (called cordons).