YOUR PRUNING MONTH Frances Tophill shows you how to boost your plants’ productivity and health with a high-summer cut
PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE; JASON INGRAM LOCATION: WEST DEAN GARDENS, W SUSSEX
In July, although the solstice has passed, it still feels like the summer is building up. Everything is growing so fast and temperatures can be really high. Rainfall is also often low at this time of year, which does mean that our gardens can begin to look like they’re tiring. We often think of a ‘June gap’, but there can also be a ‘July gap’. The early-summer flowers are fading and the late-summer ones are yet to come. But that makes this an easy time of year to get out the secateurs, loppers and shears and give things a bit of a tidy-up. Unruly climbers and shrubs can be snipped back into shape and the high-summer prune can begin for those of us keen to get on. Evergreens can be shaped (after making sure there’s no resident wildlife), giving new growth plenty of time to get ready for the cold of winter. Also – because summer pruning reduces growth rather than encourages it, as in the case of winter pruning – non-fruiting shoots can be removed from trained fruit such as pears.
Birds are still nesting so check plants before you start any work
Frances on TV Catch up with Frances and the rest of the Gardeners’ World team this month at 9.30pm on Fri 1, 9pm on Thurs 7, 8pm on Thurs 21, and 8.30pm on Fri 29 July.
112 GardenersWorld.com
July 2022
