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Description
Hill House started life in the 1870’s as the woodsmen’s cottages serving the once extensive Braydon Forest, which is said to include some of the 7 oldest stands of oaks in England. Most of the ongoing project of developing the gardens in the 12-acre property started around 20 years ago. The orchard that we will be pruning also started being planted around this time, so there are both mature and younger trees that we will be pruning, with a focus on the apples, pears, medlars and quinces. The orchard also includes figs, plums, gages and mirabelles. The garden owner will happily show you around the rest of the garden, which includes a large greenhouse and raised bed vegetable gardens, as well as a number of plants hinting at his New Zealand roots: various varieties of kiwifruit as well as feijoas, tamarillos and Reinga Reinga (Matapouri Bay) lilies raised in the garden from seed. After arrival to tea and coffee, the day will begin with a session on how to properly sharpen and sterilise tools ready for pruning.
Your tutor is Andrew Tolman who is now in his 42nd year as Professional Gardener having working in both the public & private sectors, including 11 years as a Senior Gardener at Highgrove. He has spent the last 12 years self employed working in various gardens & on projects mainly in the Cotswolds, North Wiltshire, Devon, Somerset & Shropshire areas. Andrew is highly skilled at Pruning & Training trees, and is recognised in the industry for his Renovation Pruning techniques, whereby he can bring back plants into full fruit production. The Garden Owner James is the treasurer for the WFGA and a keen self-taught gardener, having brought his own gardens back to life over the last 20 years.
Andrew will discuss all elements of annual winter pruning of orchard fruit, mainly concentrating on Apples and Pears, Quince and Meddlar. This will include when to prune, why we prune, pruning pitfalls, when not to prune, tools, limitations of pruning, and requirements of different types of fruit trees. After a break for lunch, provided by our host James, we will head back out into the orchard and put all of our new skills into practice. Questions are welcomed throughout. It is sure to be a great learning experience and a really enjoyable day in the orchard.
Attendees need to bring gardening gloves, suitable clothing and footwear, secateurs and small folding pruning saw if you have one, loppers if you have them. Tea/Coffee and cake will be provided as will a light lunch.
The cost of the day is £70.00 for WFGA members and £90 for non-members. Places are limited.
