In your fruit garden in August 2011
This year many fruit growers are seeing the earliest apple harvest ever recorded in Britain. The freezing winter temperatures, followed by the heatwave in April, meant trees flowered early and set a good crop.
If you would like to have your apples identified, or just enjoy all things ‘appley’ don’t miss Apple Weekend at Ryton Gardens in October.
So don’t rely on your calendar to set your harvest dates, go and check the trees! You may need to ask a friend to pick the fruit while you are on holiday.
A glut of plums? Why not try Pauline’s half-baked plums for a mouthwatering treat.
Things to do in the fruit garden this month
- Water fruit trees and bushes in dry weathe. Large established trees shouldn’t need any extra water – but fruit on a
very dwarfing rootstock, and trained fruit, particularly when trained against a
wall, may well do.
- If your fruit trees and bushes are not already mulched, mulch it after a really good soak. Use grass mowings, leaf mould, rough compost or whatever else you have to hand. This will help retain moisture and suppress weeds.
- Don’t forget that container grown fruit
relies on you for nearly all of its water supply. Water daily, even when it rains,
as rain can bounce off leaves of a canopy, rather than soaking the soil. If you are going to be
away for a few days, move containers into the shade, if practical, to reduce water
loss.
- Harvest early apples and pears. A reliable way of telling if a fruit is ripe or not is to cup the fruit in you hand and twist it gently. If it is ripe the fruit will fall into your hand. If not leave on the tree to ripen further. Early crops of apples and pears do not store for long so are best enjoyed not long after picking.
-
Prune peaches
after fruiting
- Prune wall-trained peaches and nectarines
immediately they have fruited. Cut out the shoots that have borne fruit, and any
dead wood. Tie in replacement shoots.
- Prune plum and damson trees after fruiting. Cut
out any material that is dead or diseased. Pruning plums at the correct time of
year will minimise the risk of infection by the fungal disease Silver Leaf.
Vigorous growth in the summer reduces the chances of spores of this disease gaining
entry through pruning cuts
- Continue training new canes of blackberries and
hybrids. Watch out for thorns!
Train the young shoots to wires against a fence or wall in one direction and the older fruiting canes in the opposite direction. Tie in with twine. This method makes picking and pruning simple.
- Prune blackcurrants any time between now and late winter. Remove up to one third of the stems each year, cutting out the darkest, oldest wood in favour of young growth, which will bear most fruit next year. Start with low growing shoots to prevent next year's fruit from dragging on the ground. Overall, aim to maintain an upright shape and open habit in the centre.
- Continue pruning summer fruiting raspberries. Cut out the canes that have borne fruit this summer and tie in the canes that have grown this year. Any new canes that are weak should be cut out, rather than tied in, as it is unlikely that they will bear much fruit.
- Summer prune trained fruit trees. Cordon apple and pear trees need to have side growths from the main stem cut back to 8cm. The shoots that were cut in the same way last year will have produced side shoots. Prune these back to 2.5cm. Summer pruning encourages fruit bearing spurs for next year. Prune espalier and fan-trained trees in the same way.
-
Finish off summer pruning of cordon and fan trained gooseberries and redcurrants.
A cordon apple tree -
Take soft wood cuttings from healthy parent plants. At this time of year blueberries, blackberries, hybrid berries (eg loganberry) and vines can be easily propagated. Take 10-15cm long cuttings, severing them just above a leaf joint of the parent plants current season’s growth. Place the cuttings in a plastic bag and store in the fridge if they are not going to be dealt with immediately. Using a sharp clean knife trim the cutting to just below a leaf joint; this is where there is a concentration of hormones to stimulate root production. Remove the cuttings lower leaves. Insert into a pot containing 1:1 mix of coarse sand and coir so the first leaf is just above the level of the rooting medium. Blueberries must be potted up into a lime free growing media.
Ideally place under a mist unit or in a closed propagating case with bottom heat. Covering with a plastic bag and placing somewhere warm will suffice if no other equipment is available.
Cuttings prefer somewhere in good light but not direct, scorching sunlight. Covering with fleece will help diffuse bright sunlight.
Weed watch
- Ensure good weed control, hoe regularly and mulch trees
and bushes with grass clippings. Leave a gap around the stem or trunk to
allow air flow.
- Hoe off any young weeds as pests and disease can
lurk in undergrowth.
- If there is less than 1 square metre of bare/ mulched soil around individual fruit trees on dwarfing and semidwarfing rootstocks, clear the ground now. Grass, in particular, can really compete with fruit for food and water.
Pest & disease watch
- Take time to make a weekly inspection as things
can get out of balance very quickly.
-
Wasps can be troublesome
at this time of year
Aphids on the back of a
blackcurrant leaf
Knobbly swellings,
the result of woolly aphid
Codling moth
damage to an appleWasps can be troublesome at this time of year. They like to eat ripe fruit. Hang sticky juice in jars in the trees to trap them. You can protect choice fruit waiting to ripen by tying a paper bag around each one.
There are no 'organic' ways to remove wasps nests – if one is causing problems, call a local pest control company or your local council's Environmental Health department. If possible, leave the nest alone and avoid the area – they will not return to it next year.
- Peaches and nectarines need protection from wasps
and birds. To protect wall or fence trained fruit drape fleece or fine mesh over
the tree. Secure it to a supporting structure, ensuring no gaps. Free standing
trees can also be draped with fleece, if you can secure it at ground level.
- Check all fruit trees and bushes regularly for aphids.
-
Inspect apples shoots, stems and trunks for woolly aphids. Look for
distorted growth and a whitish fluffy coating on bark.
See our Aphid factsheet for more information
See our Woolly aphid factsheet for control measures
(Online access to factsheets requires members' password - find out about becoming a member here)
-
Cut out apple twigs and leaves infected with powdery
mildew. Put infected material straight into a bag to prevent the fungal
spores from spreading as you prune.
See our Powdery mildew factsheet for more information
-
Glasshouse red spider mite can attack peaches,
nectarines and strawberries. Keep a look out for faded, speckled leaves with a
fine webbing on the surface in hot weather. Indoor fruits are particularly
susceptible in the hot, dry conditions that favour this pest, so keep moisture
levels higher to increase humidity.
See our Glasshouse red spider mite factsheet for more information
-
Take down codling moth traps by the end of the
month unless August is very hot. There is a chance that late larvae may become
adults and lay eggs, resulting in a second infestation during August and
September.
See our Codling moth factsheet for more information
(Online access to factsheets requires members' password - find out about becoming a member here)
Half baked plums
Pauline’s half baked plums
This method intensifies the flavour of plums and makes a wonderful tasty juice too.
It uses the residual heat left in the oven after you have cooked something else, and turned the oven off. In my gas oven, 30 minutes at 200C leaves enough heat to half-bake the plums.
Half baked plums are delicious eaten alone, or with yoghurt or ice cream. They freeze well too.
Method
Cut plums in half and remove the stones. Lay out, cut side up, on a metal tray. Put in the hot oven (turned off). Leave overnight.
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