Nigel Colborn’s essential garden tasks for this week
BRING YOUR WINTER PRUNING TO A CLOSURE.
There’s still time to finish any winter pruning tasks that haven’t been completed.
Because woody plants are dormant right now, you can cut them down without harming them.
Thin out overcrowded branches and old fruiting spurs in apples and pears.
Put outdoor grape vines in front of the queue if you haven’t done so yet.
The cut vines may bleed if left too long.
Thin crowded blackcurrant bushes by removing some of the older stems.
Reduce them to the level of the ground.
After that, cut any stems that cross or rub together.
Between now and March, you can prune roses, whether climbers or bush varieties.
Remember that annual flowering varieties have already produced dormant buds.
The flowers will be lost if the branches are pruned.
Summerflowering climbers and wall plants like Japanese honeysuckles and summer jasmine can also be pruned or tidied up now.
During the summer, they will bloom on new growth.
Flowers will be lost if springflowering honeysuckles or winter…
