Old apple and pear trees turn up in Hampton back gardens far more often than the age of the houses would suggest, standing in the middle of lawns laid out around them long after the orchards and market grounds they belonged to were built over. A neglected fruit tree is one of the more rewarding things to bring back, and one of the easiest to ruin in an afternoon. The same gardens tend to have room for vegetables and a greenhouse, which makes productive growing a larger part of the work here than in the smaller plots closer to the centre.
Winter pruning an apple that has been left
A tree untouched for fifteen years is congested, tall and fruiting only at the tips. The work is spread over three winters rather than done at once, because removing more than a fifth or so of the canopy in one go triggers a forest of vertical watershoots and no fruit at all. The sequence each winter is the same: dead, damaged and crossing wood out first, then the centre opened so light and air reach the middle, then the height reduced to reachable limbs. Cuts go back to a fork or to the branch collar, never leaving a stub, and the tools are sharp because a bruised cut on fruit wood invites canker. The same three-winter approach suits the older trees in gardens upriver, which are covered by same-day gardening in Teddington.
Stone fruit is different, and the timing is not optional
Plums, damsons, cherries and gages are pruned in late spring or summer while growing strongly, never in winter, because the spores that cause silver leaf disease are about in the cold months and an open winter wound is an invitation. The same logic makes summer the moment to shorten an overgrown plum. Trained forms, whether espalier, fan or cordon, follow yet another timetable: their side growth is shortened in late summer to build fruiting spurs, with only tidying in winter.
Beds that produce something
A vegetable plot on the light, workable soils common around TW12 responds well to being left undug. Compost spread on the surface each winter, beds narrow enough to reach across without standing on them, and a rough rotation that keeps the same family off the same ground in consecutive years will do more than any amount of cultivation. Paths between beds are worth surfacing properly, since a grass path needs mowing at exactly the moment everything else needs attention. A paved path under fruit trees takes a slick of rotted windfall and moss each autumn, and restoring that surface comes under pressure washing specialists in Hampton. Watering is where most crops are won or lost, and it is done at the base, thoroughly and less often, rather than sprinkled daily over the leaves.
Greenhouse discipline
A greenhouse concentrates everything, including problems. Glass is cleaned inside and out over winter because light levels fall away sharply through a season of grime, staging and pots are washed rather than stacked dirty, and the floor is cleared of old compost where pests overwinter. Ventilation is the daily task in summer, and a house that is shut up on a bright March morning will cook.
What else wants the harvest
Squirrels take apples and pears well before they are ripe, birds take soft fruit the day it colours, and windfalls left under a tree draw in everything else. Netting fruit cages properly, picking up drops and keeping compost heaps covered are the horticultural half of the answer. Where a persistent rodent problem has established itself in a shed base, a compost bay or the greenhouse footings, it is dealt with through the pest control team in Hampton rather than by rearranging the garden around it.
Clearing out what has stopped earning its place
Productive gardens accumulate: a collapsed fruit cage, two dead greenhouses worth of glass, a shed with a failed roof, stacks of old pots and years of prunings behind the compost bins. Clearing that is often the first job of a restoration, and glass and treated timber cannot simply go on a bonfire or in a garden bin. A licensed load out, handled by a crew such as waste removal for homes in Brentford, gets it away in a morning.
Planning the productive year
Fruit and vegetable work is seasonal to an unusual degree, so it suits a schedule set out a year ahead rather than called in when something looks untidy: winter pruning and compost spreading, spring bed preparation and sowing, summer training, watering and picking, autumn clearance and mulching. Visits are priced by their duration and the number of people needed. The general seasonal framework is described in how our garden maintenance works.
