Gardening / Cuttings: Weekend work

JUNE pruning can be completed quite quickly, though apricots and figs will need attention if they are grown as fans against a wall. Pinch back lateral shoots of fan-trained apricots, leaving about 3in of each shoot in place. (Lateral shoots spring from the main branches of the fan.) If there are sub-laterals growing from the laterals, pinch these back so that only one leaf remains in place. Cut out entirely any branches that are crossing each other.

Surplus shoots on fig trees can be cut out completely now. The fruit is borne on the young growth, so the fruit-bearing shoots should be stopped at four leaves by nipping off the ends.

Bay trees grown as standards or pyramids need clipping into shape once or twice during the summer. Remove any suckers that spring up from the base of standard bays.

Pyracanthas grown as free-standing bushes need no regular pruning, though you may need to contain their spread by occasionally taking out an entire branch. Wall-trained specimens will need thinning now. Some of the early brooms, such as the gorgeous, lemon-flowered Cytisus praecox, need trimming as soon as they have finished flowering. Use shears, but do not cut back into the old, buff-coloured wood. Genista can be treated in the same way.

Prune leggy mahonias by cutting back one or two of the tallest stems by half.