Pruning New Fruit Trees

Formative pruning of new, freestanding fruit trees, starts with either unbranched Maidens, or young Bushes or Half Standards with a further year’s branch development. Pruning A Maiden Fruit Tree “Open Centre” These videos apply equally to new fruit trees containing pips like apples and pears, and those containing stones, like plum and cherry, being grown as “ordinary trees”. There are… Continue reading Pruning New Fruit Trees

How to Plant A Fruit Tree

Fruit Tree Planting Watch our step-by-step video showing you how to plant bush or half-standard sized fruit tree with a small 120cm tree stake.It applies to any bush or half-standard size fruit tree: apple, pear, cherry, plum, quince, etc. All fruit trees have a graft union where the rootstock is fused to the scion: this union point should be above ground level.  VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hello,… Continue reading How to Plant A Fruit Tree

Building Wire Supports To Grow Fruit On Walls, Fences & Posts

How to start training fruit trees on wires These instructions apply to fixing wires to existing fences or walls for training maiden fruit trees into cordon, espalier, fan, and sometimes “step-over” shapes.Some nurseries sell some of those shapes in a starter form, lashed to a bamboo frame, for reasonables. At Ashridge we stick to the core forms:… Continue reading Building Wire Supports To Grow Fruit On Walls, Fences & Posts

Best Cold Hardy Apple Trees For The North & Scotland

Apple Tree Varieties Suitable for Scotland & the North Apple trees are incredibly hardy, however, their flowers can be damaged in freezing weather, which prevents them from cropping that year. The damage happens when frozen flowers defrost too quickly, so a solution for all but the coldest conditions is to plant your fruit trees against a west facing… Continue reading Best Cold Hardy Apple Trees For The North & Scotland

Best Apple Tree Varieties to Grow in the UK

The British climate makes for ideal apple territory. They like well drained, fertile soil including clay, and with shelter can grow inland at altitudes up to about 900 feet / 275 metres!  Apple trees are the largest range of fruit trees we have for sale. Before you buy an apple tree, have a think about which varieties… Continue reading Best Apple Tree Varieties to Grow in the UK

Pear Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Choosing Pollination Partners for Pear Trees  Use our easy pollination checking tool to quickly find pollination partners for a given pear tree, or browse the table below. To make fruit, most pear trees need to be cross-pollinated with another variety that is in flower at the same time; even self-fertile varieties produce better crops with a partner.  Pollination… Continue reading Pear Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Types of Fruit Tree Rootstock

To graft your own fruit trees, you can buy Apple, Pear, Cherry, and Plum rootstocks from us. Grafting is the only way to propagate more of a particular fruit tree variety Grafting is satisfying work, it’s a joy to give a new run to a beloved old, possibly dying tree whose name has been lost.  A named cultivar (cultivated variety), like a ‘Bramley’… Continue reading Types of Fruit Tree Rootstock

Fruit Tree Pollination Group Charts

Two Ways to Find Pollination Partners Cross Pollination Increases Fruit Crop Size The common fruit trees of Europe, whether with pips like apples or with stones like plums, have flowers with male and female parts. For fruit to form, the female part (pistil) must receive pollen from the male part (stamen). A self fertile fruit tree can use… Continue reading Fruit Tree Pollination Group Charts

Cherry Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

We grow a good range of self fertile sweet cherry trees that do not need to be pollinated. However, more than half of our range, including all the earliest cropping cherries, will need a pollination partner to bear fruit. Use our pollination tool to quickly find partners for a given tree.See pollination tables for other fruit trees. Pollination Groups:Pollination groups… Continue reading Cherry Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Apple Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Pollinating your Apple Trees Increases your crop Size  Most apple trees need to be pollinated in order to bear fruit, and even self-fertile varieties still benefit. However, apple and crab apple trees are very common all over the UK, even in the city, so there is a high chance that you have a suitable pollination partner in your area already, in which… Continue reading Apple Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Plum Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Many Plums Are Reliably Self Fertile Most plums are either reliably self fertile or partially self fertile, so pollination is much less of an issue than with most other fruit trees; even “Non-Self Fertile” varieties are more like “Low-Self Fertile”.And there are probably compatible plums already in your neighbourhood. Plum Pollination Use our easy pollination checking tables or pollination… Continue reading Plum Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK

Looking After Fruit Trees

Essential Aftercare & Maintenance for Good Crops Clean Up Leaves & Prunings When the crop is in, and winter is knocking on the door, rake up the fallen leaves and twigs from under your fruit trees. Then burn or bin them: do not compost. More fungal infections overwinter on fallen fruit leaves than anywhere else. When you… Continue reading Looking After Fruit Trees

How To Grow ‘Brown Turkey’ Figs

The most popular fig variety in the UK for getting fruit from is the ‘Brown Turkey’ fig.The instructions for ‘Brown Turkey’ apply to other figs, such as the wild species Ficus carica, but those are more commonly grown as ornamental trees.The dwarf variety, ‘Little Miss Figgy‘, is different: very slow growing and requires little pruning. How… Continue reading How To Grow ‘Brown Turkey’ Figs

Applying Winter Wash Fruit Tree Insecticide

How to Apply Winter Wash to Fruit Trees It’s good to apply winter wash to your fruit and ornamental trees in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees (the spray will scorch leaves, so it is only suitable for winter use). Our winter wash is an organic pesticide that works by attacking the waxy compounds that make up… Continue reading Applying Winter Wash Fruit Tree Insecticide

Apply Fruit Tree Grease Bands to Protect them against Moths

Grease Bands are Convenient on Young Fruit Trees If you apply grease bands to your young fruit trees, it will help prevent winter moths laying their eggs. When these hatch, the caterpillars eat the leaves and fruit. You only use grease bands on younger fruit trees with smooth bark, older trees need to be painted with grease. VIDEO… Continue reading Apply Fruit Tree Grease Bands to Protect them against Moths

Apply Grease to Fruit Trees to Protect them against Moths

Applying fruit tree grease from November onwards is used to trap a wide variety of winter moths before they can lay their eggs and preventing caterpillars eating the leaves and fruit. In the video below, we show you how to apply the grease to protect your fruit trees. You will need an old paint brush to apply the… Continue reading Apply Grease to Fruit Trees to Protect them against Moths

How to Grow Raspberry Bushes

Intro to Raspberry Growing These point apply to almost all our raspberry plants: Raspberries are either Bareroot Raspberry Planting  A raspberry bed needs thorough preparation. How to plant bareroot raspberry canes Heavy clay is already fertile and water retentive, and can turn really soggy if you try to improve a relatively small area with organic matter, so… Continue reading How to Grow Raspberry Bushes

How to Pot Up Bareroot Strawberry Plants

When you order bareroot strawberry plants from us, you can either plant them straight outside in your strawberry beds and planters, or you can pot them up as shown in the video below. You will need your strawberry plants, 9cm pots, compost and water. Video TRANSCRIPT At Ashridge Nurseries we’ve got bareroot strawberries for sale. We’re just… Continue reading How to Pot Up Bareroot Strawberry Plants

Growing Rhubarb

Rhubarb plants are perfect for beginners & low-maintenance lovers. For best results, we recommend that you dig your patch over at least a month before planting, improving it with lots of well rotted compost and/or manure. Where to grow Rhubarb When to Plant Rhubarb Winter is the best time to plant out bareroot rhubarb crowns. Spacing… Continue reading Growing Rhubarb

Growing Redcurrants & Whitecurrants 

Currants are some of the most easily grown, and also pretty, little soft fruit bushes.  Red & whitecurrants are grown differently from blackcurrants. Redcurrants, and whitecurrants (which are more really-really-pale yellow-pink) are both Ribes rubrum, and are cared for the same way.They are hardier than blackcurrants and grow better in cold Northern locations. If you are growing on poorer ground on a scale where… Continue reading Growing Redcurrants & Whitecurrants 

How to Grow Blackcurrant Bushes

How to Grow Blackcurrants Bushes Blackcurrants are simple to grow, and the pruning regime is a bit different from pruning Red & Whitecurrants. Currants are one of the few soft fruit bushes to like damp soil next to water, and they respond to dappled shade by making smaller crops rather than inferior fruit. Along with their close relatives gooseberries,… Continue reading How to Grow Blackcurrant Bushes

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