I have always been a very nervous primer. All the books say that you are supposed to be bold, that your shrubs and trees enjoy being handled vigorously, and that there's nothing more stimulating to the production of fruit and flowers than secateurs (if not a saw). My reluctance is, however, profound. It stems from a deep-seated - if quite irrational - fear of doing damage to fragile plants, plus a certain degree of laziness. Consequently my apple trees look like hedgehogs, the plum is drooping overlong branches more or less to the ground, and most of the shrubs, while thriving, boast nothing but utterly natural shapes. I have, I hasten to say, managed to keep the wisteria under control (necessary in order to save the house), and likewise the hedges,but anyone wandering round the premises at Towerhill Cottage would quickly conclude that the pruning is, shall we say, underdone.
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