He said: “If in doubt about any of this – don’t cut. Wait. You will never do harm by not pruning and patience in a garden is a great virtue.
“If you prune an apple tree hard each winter it will make a mass of new growth but no flowers – and therefore no fruit.”
To receive the most fruit, it is best to lay off from pruning too much.
Monty added: “This cycle is often perpetuated by even harder pruning the following year – to get rid of all that new, fruitless growth, which, having lots of lovely succulent sap, will attract aphids and fungal disease.