August
In The Fruit Garden This August
Harvest your fruit trees – cherries, plums, peaches, nectaines and apricots should all be ripe now! Early varieties of apple trees will be ready towards the end of the month.
If you have plants fruiting in containers, make sure you give them a high potash liquid feed to keep them healthy and productive.
Plant out any rooted runners of strawberries for a good crop next year.
Keep birds and squirrels off your berries with netting.
Prune the fruited stems of your blackcurrent bushes after harvesting.
If you have a glut of aumtumn raspberries, blackberries or loganberries, freeze them on trays for a couple of house and then bag them up to use over winter.
Tidy up strawberry plants and remove and old straw from around the plants to improve ventilation and reduce risk of pests and diseases.
Cut back the fruited canes of your summer raspberries, leaving the new green canes for next year’s crop. Tie in next year’s reaspberry canes to support wires or fencing.
Water fruit and veg plants daily.
Top Tip:
Remember to feed your lemon tree and other citrus fruit trees throughout summer with a special citrus fertiliser.
This Month's Key Tips
- Deadhead flowering plants regularly.
- Keep ponds and water features topped up.
- Watering - particularly containers and new plants, preferably with recycled water or stored rainwater.
- Harvest vegetables regularly as they become ready to promote new growth.
