A few more pointers for planting trees

The best time of the year to plant trees is autumn or spring. If you plant trees near a lawn, be careful to keep the grass a fair distance from the tree, as the grass roots will be stronger than the young roots of the tree and may strangle them.

Once your tree is well established, you can prune it to direct its growth. Identify the dominant branch and then cut back (but don't cut off) any competing branches by a third of their length.

Our thanks to Stodels Nurseries for information supplied.