YOU don’t have to wait until the first day of Christmas to get a pear tree.

That’s because a green-minded Petersfield group is offering fruit trees at discounted prices ahead of a new festival launch.

The Fruit Tree in Every Garden project run by Petersfield Climate Action Network (PeCAN) has returned for a fourth successive year.

The project encourages people to plant a fruit tree in their garden with PeCAN offering pear, plum, apple and cherry trees at subsidised prices. The group has distributed 950 trees over the last three years but wants to shift an ambitious 1,000 this campaign.

They have also joined forces with The Tree Council to offer free hedging plants to anyone who wants to replace fence with a hedgerow.

It’s a big month for PeCAN as they’ve joined forces with The Tree Council, EHDC and the Petersfield Community Garden to launch the inaugural Petersfield Tree Festival at the latter on November 25.

The event from 10am to 3.30pm will include workshops on how to plant and raise trees, sessions on pruning, grafting and care and plenty of activities for children.

“The Fruit Tree project has been very successful over the last three years and we are really excited to be expanding and launching the Petersfield Tree Festival,” said Amelia Gabriel, programme manager at PeCAN.

“This will be a wonderful opportunity for people to learn more about caring for trees, as well as being a celebration of nature.”

Orders for fruit trees opened yesterday with one-year maiden trees, potted in four-litre pots, and two-year bare root bush trees available for £12.

Collections will take place at the community garden on the 25th while a second round of orders will open on December 1 for collection in February. To order a fruit tree visit petersfieldcan.org/projects/trees or for more details about PeCAN visit https://petersfieldcan.org/