Beloved gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh has issued a crucial seasonal alert to UK gardeners, highlighting a common but costly mistake made during the vital winter planting season.
The Pitfalls of Impatience with Bare-Root Plants
In his column for Country Life, the 76-year-old presenter of Love Your Weekend and former Gardeners' World host focused on the traditional technique of bare-root planting. This method, popular throughout the 20th century, involves lifting trees and shrubs from the ground during their dormant winter period and replanting them without soil on their roots.
While acknowledging its major advantage of being more cost-effective than buying pot-grown specimens, Titchmarsh warned of significant "pitfalls" for those who lack patience. "Too often gardeners are impatient," he wrote. "They want a tree that looks mature as soon as possible and, consequently, they will buy as large a specimen as they can afford."
Why Smaller Specimens Establish Better
Titchmarsh explained the simple science behind the problem: a larger tree with many branches requires substantial sustenance from its roots. "If the root system has been reduced in size - as it must be when a tree is transplanted from open ground - then a large tree... will struggle to establish itself and may take many years to get over the shock," he cautioned.
Instead, the gardening guru advocates for choosing younger, smaller bare-root trees, which he describes as "resilient". He likened them to being in a state of sleep during dormancy, noting they "don't mind being moved at that time of year, even when they're dug up" if handled correctly.
The Ideal Time and Suitable Trees for Bare-Root Planting
Backing up Titchmarsh's advice, the Gardeners' World website confirms that the prime window for this activity runs from November through to March. Planting during dormancy allows the roots to establish themselves underground while the top growth appears inactive.
For gardeners wondering what to plant, the site recommends several varieties as particularly suitable for bare-root planting in autumn and winter:
- Hawthorn trees
- Fruit trees
- Ornamental trees
- Birch trees
- Beech trees
In a reflective aside, Titchmarsh also recently shared on the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast how his stable, if sometimes "dull", childhood provided a "good grounding" for his life and career. He contrasted this with his need for solitude amidst his busy public life, stating that being constantly surrounded by an entourage "would drive me nuts".
