What to do in your fruit garden during January

Pruning a redcurrant

Sucker removal from the whitecurrant variety 'White Versailles'

Things to do at the turn of the year

• 
  Remove all ‘mummified’ fruits left hanging on the trees. These shrivelled fruits will be the main source of brown rot infection in the coming season.
• Thoroughly clean and oil secateurs, loppers, and other hard worked tools so they’re fit for another years toil in the fruit garden. Give them a good scrub with some hot soapy water and leave them to dry thoroughly before wiping over with an oily rag to stop them going rusty.
• If your secateurs are beyond redemption, why not treat yourself to a new pair. And why not buy a sharpening stone at the same time. Sharpen secateurs regularly for best results.
• Complete picking very late-maturing apples, before the hard frosts come.
• Insulate pots of container-grown fruit to protect roots from the worst of the winter weather. Pile straw, wood chips, leaves, or sawdust around the pots and hold in place using horticultural fleece or landscaping fabric.
• Plant new fruit bushes, trees and canes when the soil conditions are suitable. If the soil is too wet and you have bare-rooted plants bundled together, then loosen the bundles and remove the packing material. Next heel (temporarily plant) the plants in at a 45 degree angle. If the soil is frozen, keep the plants in
• Garden organic members can view our organic factsheets online for more information:

  • Planting fruit trees and bushes
  • Rootstocks for tree fruit

  Access to these factsheets requires members' password.
  Find out more about Garden Organic membership.

• Remember never to plant a fruit tree or bush where another of the same type has been taken out. It may fail to grow well, due to a condition known as 'specific replant disease'. Soft fruit can also suffer from various pests and diseases that persist in the soil - so always choose a new site for replanting.
• If you really have no option of planting on a new site, the effects of replant disease can be lessened by backfilling the hole with fresh soil.
  Further protection is offered by mycorrhizal fungi, sold as 'RootGrow'. This product can increase plants' resistance to soil-borne disease and promote root growth, water retention and beneficial organisms. RootGrow is available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.
• 
  Make your cut just above
  the ‘branch collar’  - ie the
  swollen base of the stem (pictured).
  This will heal quickly. Don’t
  cut a branch flush to the stem.
  (click to enlarge)
  Prune bush and standard apples and pears to encourage new fruiting wood and shape the tree. Continue pruning except in hard freezing conditions. Deal with the young trees first, and then the older ones. Collect up healthy prunings and shred them before composting. Alternatively, pile them up in an out-of-the-way corner of the garden and leave the pile to rot for a few years, where it will make a great habitat for all sorts of creatures.
  Click here for pruning hints and tips.
• Inspect apples and pears for canker and prune or pare out lesions on larger branches and trunks.
• If your trees/bushes didn’t produce much fruit this year have a think about your cultural methods.
  1. If they are early flowering varieties, do they need protection from the frost? Some early varieties of cherry as well as peaches and apricots may need a covering of fleece for protection.
  2. Do they need a pollination partner? Even self-fertile varieties will fruit better if they are cross-pollinated. If you are a Garden Organic member and need advice on choosing pollination partners, complete the online enquiry form here.
  3. Are there enough beneficial insects for pollination? Consider planting insect attracting plants to encourage bees, wasps, flies, moths and butterflies. Also consider shelterbelts if your site is particularly windy.
     Garden Organic members can view our factsheet 'Attracting beneficial insects' for more information.
     
     Access to this factsheet requires members' password.
     Find out more about Garden Organic membership.
• Finish pruning blackberries, summer raspberries and other cane fruit if you haven’t already done so. Don’t cut down autumn raspberries until late winter.
• Prune currants and gooseberries. Don’t prune blueberries until late winter

• Have a go at growing blueberries

Blueberry ‘Sunshine Blue’ is
semi-evergreen, and self fertile

Blueberries are a popular fruit these days – so why not try growing some at home. The vital factor in growing blueberries is that they need a very acid soil (pH 4.5-5.5).
Unless your garden soil is naturally acid, they are best grown in pots, using an ericaceous compost. A suitable peat free compost (made from wool and bracken) is available from http://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/. Although blueberries are self fertile, they will produce a better crop if you have at least two plants.
Blueberries are generally pest and disease free.

• Untie laterals on spindle bush apple trees, which have 'set' at the required angle. These lower, longer branches set at nearly horizontal angles receive more sunlight and are more fruitful and less vigorous.
• Check the condition of all stakes, supports, ties and rabbit guards for trees. Look for wind rocking or constriction. If this has happened, replace stakes and renew ties.
• 
  Protection against leaf curl
  
  
  Well-trained grape vine
  
  
  Peach leaf curl
• If your fan trained peaches and nectarines have been attacked by peach leaf curl, why not build a rainproof structure to protect it this spring. It needs to be in place before the buds start to grow; the rain splashes the disease spores that overwinter on the tree, on to the new leaves as they emerge
• Grape vines are dormant now so it is the ideal time to prune.

• Prune all the laterals (side shoots made in one season that have fruited this year) back to two or three buds, leaving long stumpy main stems. Cut these back if they are overgrown.
• Don't be scared to prune hard. Vines do need to be kept in check as they produce a lot of vigorous growth.
• New shoots growing from the stumpy main stems will grow long and bear fruit all in one season next year.

• Take vine cuttings from vine prunings.

• Make each cutting about 3cm (1½ in) long, having one 'eye' or bud.
• On the opposite side to the eye, make a shallow, sloping cut just underneath the bud.
• Lay the cutting horizontally with the bud facing upwards into a small pot of cutting compost, lightly covered.
• Keep in a propagator at 24°C (75°F) until roots have formed.
• After rooting gradually acclimatise the young plant to cooler conditions and plant in the greenhouse or outside in the spring.

• Propagate whitecurrants, redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries by taking hardwood cuttings in December.
  Simply cut just above a bud on the parent plants, about 30cm long. Trim the base and remove top soft growth. Take your spade and cut a slit trench into available ground. Place the cuttings in a line about 20cm down (two-thirds their length) and firm in. They can be transplanted into their permanent positions next autumn or leave for an additional year for further root development. Make sure all plants used for propagation are pest and disease free.

Things to do in January

• 
  Sow alpine strawberry seeds
  
  
• Sow alpine strawberry seeds at 20C (68F). Germination may take a few weeks; keep the compost moist at all times. Transplant the seedlings when large enough to handle. Finally, plant the young strawberry plants in their permanent position in April. The variety called 'Golden Alexandra' is best grown from seed. It provides excellent ground cover and fruits over a long period.
• Enjoy early strawberries by placing cloches over strawberry plants now. Remember to take the covers off on warmer days in spring to allow insects in to pollinate the flowers.
• Renovation of old or neglected fruit trees can be done at this time of year.

• Do not be tempted to prune the stone fruits (Apricots, cherries, damsons greengages, nectarines, peaches and plums) until May when risk of silver leaf infection is passed.

Pest and disease watch

• 
  (click to enlarge)
  Look out for signs of canker and prune out all dead, diseased or dying branches from apple and pear trees. Leave plum and cherry until next summer to reduce the likelihood of contamination by silver leaf disease.
• Check all stored fruit and remove any that are affected by pest and disease problems. If left to fester these will affect the rest of the store. Place mousetraps if you find nibbled fruits. Any unwanted fruits can be left out for the birds.
• Remove all ‘mummified’ fruits left hanging on the trees. These shrivelled fruits will be the main source of brown rot infection in the coming season.
• 
  Apple tree bark gnawed by rabbits

• Check grease bands are still sticky and in place around fruit trees and stakes. If not replace them to give control against winter moth, plum fruit moth and March moth. Also check rabbit guards as rabbits may gnaw at bark when other food sources are scarce.

• Garden Organic members can see our organic factsheets Apple tree pest & disease management and Plum tree pest & disease management for more information.
  
  Access to this factsheet requires members' password.
  Find out more about Garden Organic membership.
• 
  Encourage birds by
  providing winter food
• Protect fruit bushes and canes with fleece or netting if birds are damaging the developing buds.
• Entice birds to feed on aphids and other pests by hanging fat in trees or suspend from bamboo canes set among fruit bushes and canes. Fat balls and seeds high in protein are the best winter warmers for our native winter birds. Remember to keep bird feeders topped up and provide a source of unfrozen water for the birds to drink.

back to - What to do in your garden now

Bookmark this page on:

StumbleUpon | Delicious | Reddit | Digg | Facebook

Top of page | Home | Privacy | Contact | Advertise | Support us

All content © Garden Organic  |  Registered Charity No 298104

Garden Organic is the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA).
We are not responsible for the content of external web sites.

Supported by