Little twigs, big trees!

Ruth explains the simple brilliance of bare root planting

- Ruth Hayes

WHEN thoughts turn to adding some plants to the garden, we generally think of spring and autumn, when the soil is damp and warming up or retaining heat from summer.

However, as long as the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged you can increase your stocks of trees, shrubs, fruit canes and bushes and roses from late autumn through to late winter, just before trees start to green up again.

You do it by bare root planting, using young trees, shrubs etc that are lifted when they are dormant and replanted as soon as possible where you want them to grow. They don’t usually look anything special (they are called ‘whips’ thanks to their slender form) but once they break dormancy they will grow fast.