Get more from young trees

We planted them in nursery rows and if they weren’t sent out after a year or so, we would carefully dig them up for transplanting into a different part of the nursery.

- Anne Swithinbank

Q We have grown a number of trees from seed, including Christmas trees, maples, and oaks. Some are now in pots and some in the ground. Do you have any tips on how to grow them and find final homes for them?

Sarah Bonham, Ashbourne, Derbyshire

A My first proper job as a gardener (prior to training at Kew) was on a council nursery where, among other things, we grew trees destined for parks and verges. Some were seed-raised and others arrived as bundles of whips or young, unbranched, bare-rooted trees.

This discouraged the development of deep taproots, encouraged a branching root system, and gave them more space. When requested for their final destination, they were easier to lift and took better. This can be replicated at home if you can spare space for a nursery bed.