THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



Young Gooseberry bushes are formed by cutting 



about three times in 

 successive years, as in 

 the case of other trees. 

 The annual pruning 

 of developed bushes 

 concerns itself princi- 

 pally with the summer 

 shoots, as the Goose- 

 berry is mainly a spur 

 bearer. These shoots 

 are best dealt with by 

 summer pruning, fol- 

 lowed by late winter 

 or spring pruning. 

 Whether or not the 

 shoots have been half- 

 pruned in summer, they 

 should be reduced to 

 short stumps in winter, 

 as it is difficult and 

 painful to gather the 

 fruit from Gooseberry 

 bushes which are full of young shoots. 



Pruning Peaches and Nectarines. — This is partly sum- 

 mer and partly winter or spring work, but the system 

 is reversed, the summer pruning dealing with the old 

 shoots which have borne fruit (these are cut quite out), 

 and the winter or spring pruning with disbudding the 

 young shoots which are to fruit in the ensuing summer. 

 It will be gathered from this that the Peach is not a 

 spur bearer, but a young wood fruiter. The trees are 

 generally trained fan-shape for tying to walls or wire 

 trellises. They are, in a word, flat, not bush trees. 

 36 



ir^ 



Fig. 16.— Pruning Gooseberry. 



a. Branches to be cut off. 



b. Branches to be cut out of the centre. 



c. If cut here, overcrowding would occur. 



d. How to prune so that a bud 



e. Points upward, and the new shoot grows 



denoted by the dotted line. 



