Certainly worth planting in twos or threes

THIS is a fairly quiet time of year for most forms of gardening activity but the exception is the management of trees.

Early winter is the best time of year to both plant and fell them.

My enthusiasm for trees has, over the years, led to me planting too many, and some were badly sited and too close together. One of my biggest mistakes was a collection of fruit trees – apple, pear, plum and cherry – surrounding the vegetable plot. They never produced much fruit, partly because they were too close to each other and too close to a tall hedge and partly because I have active and efficient squads of bullfinches which eat the flower buds every spring.