I'm planting some fruit trees (cordon and single trees)

[Mark Lottie]

Hi guys

Thanks for all your excellent advice about planting these trees.

In the end, I didnt plant the cordons but did plant 2 of the regular trees as the ground was either water logged or (lightly) frozen overnight. It's a bad idea to dig holes in advance, and the ground around the cordons and two of the trees is very compacted, it's probably never been dug in at least 30 years. I will have to dig the area and improve drainage; this area is right next to two massive beds I dug that already drain freely and are slightly downhill so the whole area should drain a lot better once that's done.

So until march the trees have been heeled in.

This shows the area where the cordons are, the patch slopes slightly to the right (south) where I have dug beds last year. I started pulling up some of the turf just to get it out the way. Not perfect as some water will pool there but it should be gone once we have a week or so without rain and i can dig the whole area



Next image shows the cordon area covered with tarp just to keep weeds down. I also put a load of hay under there for some reason. I think I did it to soak up the water. Not sure. You can see the heeled in trees on the left



Here are the heeled in trees. I dug a bit out of the trench, no water at bottom, laid the trees about 4 per row in the hole parrallel to the trenches, and covered the roots with soil, firming them properly and shaking to get rid of air pockets. Then on top of the soil on the roots i put hay for insulation, and also put hay under the stems to keep them away from the earth to stop them layering. I then covered them in horticultural fleece and a whole rockery round the edges to keep it down. 48 hours later the fleece is still there. Fingers crossed.




You can also see my trademark "balancing rope thin paths" where every step risks falling over and you have no chance of kneeling between rows.

Grateful for any advice or criticism! I've done my research but am no expert.

[Mark Lottie]

Next I planted the one pot tree I had, a Sunset Apple for my sister

1. Put crocks in bottom of pot, added some polstyrene bean bag balls for water retention, mixed in john innes 3 compost, sat the root in the pot (making sure root is kept dry and not in air to dry out for more than 2 minutes), put compost around it, shook tree to spread the compost, added a rudimentary cane that will be changed next year with a deeper pot.



2. Added rest of soil, made sure that the soil level is right (the union/knobbly bit should be above soil so the grafted variety doesn root), then tied the tree with a rubber tie, filled rest of soil in, orientated it so wind blows tree away from stake, added hay on top for mulch and finally put on some bricks to help drainage.



Then gave it a good water

Next I planted a single tree normally. This is a Cherry Stella

1. Dug about 60cmx60cm hole. Sized the hole by putting the tree in there. I dug about 20cm too low so chucked in the turf for future nutrition. The pole is there to make sure the tree is planted at the right level (nobbly bit above it).



2. First I put the cane in, on the south side so the wind blows the tree away from it and at an angle because it is a pot plant and you cant wrap the roots around the stake. Then i added a handful of bonemeal to the top soil and covered the root of the tree in mycorrhizal fungi. I filled in the top soil first, then the sub soil on top (says so in a book!). Shook the tree to make sure of no air gaps and I gently firmed down the soil with my foot. Once it was level I put a woven weed mesh over the top



3. Finally I tied the plant, put some compost on top of the mulch, then some hay (leaving a small circle around the root), then some wire racks to keep foxes off, a few bricks to keep the racks on, and then some hazel sticks to completely scare off the foxes (hopefully). This is overkill really but I have a bit of a fox problem at moment.

wont let me embed another image, but its the final one attached

Then gave it a good watering

[Mark Lottie]

Hi guys

Another question

I've got a couple of old apple and pear trees in the garden. I've been carefully pruning the last year to get rid of diseased branches and cross branches as well as some water sprouts.

I'm considering top working them. Am I able to use the pruned leaders from my cordons as scion wood?

My understanding is it's best to cut back to a third the current season's growth on the new trees after planting in the cordon and I wondered if the wood I cut is good for using as scions for grafting?

cheers