What's new, what's growing, what we're learning. Updates, guides and stories for people who take their garden seriously.
Pears want warmth, flower early and almost always need a pollinator. How to solve the pear puzzle of spot, quince rootstock and a matching second variety.
Planted bare-root in the dormant season, almost any fruit tree establishes better than container stock. How to get spot, planting depth and the planting cut right, step by step.
It is not the variety that sets your fruit tree's size, but the rootstock. What M9, MM106 and seedling mean, and how to choose the right one when buying.
Winter pruning scares many, yet the basics fit on a beer mat. Thin out, deflect, head back, and the rule: steep grows, flat bears.
Variety, rootstock and spot decide the flavour, size and yield of your apple tree. How three questions lead you to the tree that fits your garden.
The apple winter cut follows the same order every year. Five steps from dead wood to fruiting wood, plus the trick against biennial bearing's glut and lean years.
Shortly after flowering, whole shoot tips of the sour cherry wilt and die brown. It looks like late frost but is Monilia blossom blight. How to tell the two apart and why cutting back well into the healthy wood is the key.
Fruit that rots brown on the tree and carries pale spore cushions in rings: brown rot. Why the fungus enters almost only through wounds, why the overwintering mummified fruit is the key, and how to curb the rot without sprays.
In spring the peach leaves blister, curl and turn red: peach leaf curl. Why you can fight it only before leaf-out, how a rain roof protects the tree, and which varieties shrug off the attack better.
