How to prune your deciduous fruit trees

Winter is the ideal time to prune your apples, peaches, plums and other deciduous fruit trees! Working with the trees rather than against them, the goal is to shape them to fit within nets or enclosures, to be covered in fruit during summer or autumn.

Join James Robertson in his enclosed orchard run following permaculture principles, to learn the fundamentals of how to prune fruit trees.

You will learn:

• key insights on how fruit trees grow

• difference between "heading" cuts and "thinning" cuts

• pruning to work within height constraints

• "establishment" pruning of young trees and "renovation" pruning of old trees

• special considerations for trees such as peaches, apricots and mulberries

This practical workshop will give you the knowledge and confidence to tackle your own fruit trees.

The 1.5 hour workshop will end with tea and cake, and a chance for a further chat.

(Note that espalier requires a whole workshop of its own, and will be covered another time.)