As the days start to lengthen in January, it is a key month to start preparing your garden for the rest of the year and ensure plants are well protected in the cold weather
UK green thumbs with beech or hazel features in their gardens are being told to get busy this January as experts underline it’s prime time for a vital gardening chore.
As the winter marches on and days begin to stretch out, it’s essential for plant-lovers to start prepping their beloved green space for the year ahead, ensuring their flora remains fighting fit against the chill. The key tasks for gardeners during this period focus mostly on cutting back and tidying up – which makes it the ideal moment for some prudent pruning action.
Gardening gurus are advising that those proud of their beech or hazel trees and hedges give them a good trim this month, reports the Express. The rationale? These varieties are snoozing in their dormant state now, meaning a snip won’t lead to oozing sap – a magnet for insects hauling harmful spores and diseases that could damage the trees.
Watch out though, if you spot any bark looking sullen and sloughed off, or leaves speckled with brown signs of distress, you could be staring at bacterial canker symptoms, a malignant affliction ravaging stems and leaves that usually make their unwanted debut in mid-spring.
Before you commence cutting, ensure these warning markers aren’t there, or else it might be wisest to postpone your pruning to protect the tree’s health. Jamie Shipley, garden expert and managing director at Hedges Direct, cautioned: “Winter is usually the best time to prune as the plants are dormant and there is little activity within their system.
“Pruning cuts can cause ‘bleeding’ – when sap leaks from a pruning cut – but tending to your plants when they are less active can minimise this damage. Just avoid pruning your plants in extreme cold conditions. It’s best to leave evergreens and tender plants alone as they’re vulnerable to silver leaf disease if pruned in the winter. Some species to pay attention to at this time of year are Fagus (Beech) and Corylus (Hazel).”