Beginners Guide to Fruit Tree Care for Health & Harvest

Fruit trees, during this time of climate change need careful attention to maintain their health and to achieve good harvests.

In this session we’ll name the various parts of a tree, understand the role of rootstocks, and discuss how to cope with various climate extremes and how that affects the yearly cycle of tree care.

We’ll also be looking at the sorts of tools you’ll need to work on smaller and trained tree shapes, like bush, espalier and cordons, which are well suited to domestic-scale growing.

Finally we’ll consider tool care and the PPE you need for safe working – with special emphasis on getting the best from secateurs.

Trainer bio:

Paul Richens has been an organic gardener and worm-botherer since his farming parents gave him his own plot at the age of three. He worked for many years as a scientific photographer at the Natural History Museum, which informed his understanding and love of natural history; then as a video producer/director in the United States before he set up his own horticultural training company, Blue Dome Synergies, in 2008. He was Gardens Manager for Global Generation at the Skip Garden at King’s Cross for ten years while also running workshops for Capital Growth and supporting other London community gardening projects. Now semi-retired, he is still passionate about growing organic vegetables in any small space and advocates working with nature, using a ‘no kill’ policy. Among other subjects, soil organisms and their interaction with plant life fascinate him.