Tree pruning skills with Gavin Hardy

Join the Farm's food forester Gav Hardy on a packed practical day learning how to prune your fruit trees, shrubs and vines with hand tools! 

In the morning we'll take a deep dive into how plants grow and how pruning can enhance their vigor and yields. Guidance on popular varieties will be provided and there will be demonstrations of the 'tools of trade' - snips, secateurs, shears, loppers, raking saws, pole saws, bow saws. Gav will give advice on what to look for when purchasing tools. We'll also practice tool cleaning and sharpening, particularly secateurs and we will learn how to use sharpening tools and stones.  

The afternoon is all about practice, practice and more practice! We'll have a focused but fun time out in the Farm honing our pruning skills on some of our 150 fruit trees and shrubs. You'll get to practice the correct ways of pruning both small and large branches, selecting the right tool for the job-at-hand, and learn how to assess if and when plants need to be pruned.

After the workshop Gav will follow up by sending you his comprehensive resources. 

If you've got a pair of secateurs bring it along and we'll clean and sharpen them up. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided.  Bring you lunch.

Youth offer

This workshop is available for teenagers who attend the workshop with mum, dad or an adult guardian (who also pay for the session).  Tree pruning is a skill particularly suitable to introduce to older teenagers (16- to 18-year-olds)

About the Facilitator

Gav has been growing food at home since he was a child. He helped set up Northey Street City Farm in the 1990's and he is currently the Farm's adult education coordinator and permaculture lead teacher. With a passion for trees, Gav is re-establishing the Farm's food forest, and he undertakes frequent pruning and tree care missions. He currently lives in a one-bedroom unit in inner city Brisbane and grows edibles on the balcony and in the food forest he created in the apartment block's common spaces. In 2022, Gav was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate community food forests and orchards around the world. Gav learnt permaculture with Bill Mollison in 1997, has also skilled-up with David Holmgren and Robin Clayfield, and studied Edible Forest Gardening with Martin Crawford at the Agroforestry Research Trust.