It's pruning time - here's how and when to do it

GETTING back out into the garden after too much eating and drinking over the last few weeks can be a daunting task!

The weather can be a deterrent, soil conditions are pretty saturated, and most plants are hibernating - or are they in the really mild weather that we have had over the Christmas period?

The garden does somehow feel different in the new year, like we have turned a little corner.

We begin looking for noticeable differences in day length, sowing seeds of onions, sweet peas, peppers and even perhaps tomatoes.

The reality is that there are a few weeks of winter remaining and the weather can throw some curved balls at this time of the year, so best not to get too ahead of ourselves.

Plenty of armchair gardening to be done yet this winter!

Confession time... my bulb haul did not get planted into the soil until December 30 this winter. I am inclined to stockpile small amounts of different daffodil, crocus, iris and tulip bulbs during September to December, and then, when my purchases are completed, they get planted on the same day in various locations around the garden.

This way, I do not choose the same spot twice for my spring displays, and in so doing, dig up an earlier planting of bulbs.

There are particular spots in the garden that I begin checking early for early flowering bulbs, the corners of paths, raised beds, under deciduous trees or shrubs where some shelter is provided.

Every year, one of my biggest regrets is not planting more as they are champions at encouraging us out into different parts of the garden to check on progress early in the year.

The beauty with a lot of spring flowering bulbs is that they will reappear and naturalise in the garden, so each year the display improves and there is more to look out for at ground level.

One of the most important jobs to consider over the winter months is pruning. Many of the larger woody elements in the garden such as trees and shrubs will benefit from winter pruning at least every few years to keep things in check, and most are best pruned in winter.

Apple and pear trees should ideally be pruned annually and trees and shrubs such as hazel, some dogwoods and willow coppiced every other year.

Undertaking this type of pruning on a regular basis helps to decongest the garden, keeps growth healthy, and keeps the garden looking good and under control.

We often over-plant our gardens at the outset in an attempt to get things established more quickly, and as a result we may need to make some choices about what to keep and what to cut out as the years progress.

If growing herbaceous plants is a priority to bring summer colour into the garden, then some winter pruning of shrubs becoming too large may be timely now also, to make room and give light for plants that require full sun.

Raising the crown on trees or larger shrubs can help to create some space and change the circulation in the garden.

Before undertaking any major pruning in the garden, it is best to know what the plants are, when they flower/fruit and if they are to be retained.

Cheery trees or any stone fruit like apricot, plums and peaches are best pruned in warmer weather as the fungal disease silver leaf can enter through wounds if winter pruning is carried out.

As a general rule of thumb is that pruning is best undertaken after flowering as this will enable a shrub to put on new growth before next years flowering.

If a shrub like Forsythia or Weigela were pruned severely now, for example, there would potentially be no flowers produced for two years as these are both early spring and summer flowering shrubs and we would be pruning off flowering buds which it would take two years to replace as these shrubs flower on year old wood.

The essential tools for winter pruning are secateurs, loppers and pruning saw, all well edged and oiled before beginning the job.

Trees are best pruned during the dormant winter months and, depending on the size and scale for the tree, professional help may be required as it can be dangerous.

Plant of the Week

It can be slim pickings at this time of the year and my aim for January is to get out into the garden and find one thing in flower each week, bringing a little of it back indoors for display and perhaps scent.

Maybe it will not be something in flower either, perhaps it is a bare branch of alder with fat rounded buds, a beech twig with dead leaves still attached, or the bare branch of hazel with tiny red flowers appearing.

We get a chance to look at the detail in the winter, to admire the beauty in nature stripped back compared to the blouseyness of summer.

This week, walking around the garden, a random Leucojum or summer snowflake took me by surprise. I believe it to be Leucojum aestivum, which usually flowers later in the spring, but perhaps the milder weather of late has encouraged it above ground early.

There is also the earlier flowering Leucojum vernum, which as yellow markings on the petals and is usually not as tall.

It was only a solitary flower so I resisted bringing it indoors, photograping it instead!

Happy winter foraging for flowers in your garden this week!

Why not send in photographs of what is appearing in your garden this January to gardening@theecho.ie