The Fruit Garden in July

Thanks to Blackmoor Nurseries for their ‘Things to do in the fruit garden this month’ newsletter.

July is the month that the fruit garden comes into its own, plants laden with ripening fruit and many a tasty berry being harvested. July may have heavy rain showers – but don’t rely on these to water your fruit garden. In between the rain showers don’t forget to make time for weekly inspections as things can get out of balance very quickly at this time of year.

Thin out apple and pear fruitlets As the naturally occurring ‘June Drop’ should be over, check your trees and remove any small, damaged or diseased fruits that remain. To get apples and pears to a good size leave one fruit every 10cm apart on the branch. It may seem disappointing to remove a lot of fruit, but the crop in the autumn should be far superior than if all the fruitlets were left on the tree.

Irrigate tree, bush and cane fruit if the weather has been dry for a week or more. Water stress can cause fruit to drop. Newly planted, and wall trained, fruit will especially need water. Apply up to 25 litres/sq m (4.5gall/sq yd) every ten days in dry periods. Water at the base of the plant.

Look after Strawberries. Once fruiting has finished give your strawberry plants a haircut! Old leaves are of little use to the plants, and may be diseased. Trim off the leaves with a pair of shears, aiming to leave just a few leaves around the crown. New foliage will develop within a few weeks. Remove the straw mulch, clear away all debris from the crown, and weed and gently fork over the soil. Put old leaves and straw on the compost heap.

Prepare ground for new strawberry plants. After three years of cropping, yield declines and plants are more likely to become infected with viruses. Our Strawberries can now be pre booked for next season from our store. All varieties are £6.00 per 10 crowns or the collection of 30 crowns that will spread the season at £15.00 saving £3.00. Choose a new patch of ground and incorporate well rotted organic matter.

Blackcurrant bushes can be partially pruned A time-efficient way of pruning is to prune as you harvest! This way you can take some whole branches in to the kitchen and pick the currants at your leisure and with ease. Remove about one third of the bush each year, pruning low down to encourage new shoots from the base of plants. You’ll find it’s a bit of a compromise between cutting out old wood and leaving enough new wood for fruiting the following year.

Continue training new canes of blackberries and hybrids Watch out for thorns! We have a number of thornless berries available for this season. 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. See our fruit growers handbook section on our website for more details.

Harvest red and white currants by pulling or snipping the strig (the long fruit cluster). Use a kitchen fork to remove the berries from each cluster.

Continue training fan trained fruits Remove any unwanted shoots out of the fan shape, also shoots facing the wall or fence. Young shoots growing at the base of this year’s fruiting shoots need to be kept and tied in. These will be replacements for the current year’s shoots when they’re pruned out after fruiting (and will fruit next year).

Summer prune red and white currants and gooseberries. Trim back all sideshoots to 3 or 4 buds from their point of growth. Cut out crossing shoots in the middle of the bush. Summer pruning allows more air circulation, lets light in to ripen the fruit and reduces disease. It also encourages fruit bud formation for next year.

Prune summer fruiting raspberries after all the fruit has been picked. The canes that have just borne fruit should be cut to ground level. The old fruiting canes should be easy to identify – the ones tied to the wires. If they weren’t tied in look for the browner wood with the remains of old fruit clusters still hanging. The leaves might also look a bit tatty. The younger canes (produced this summer) will be fresh and green.

After the old canes have been cut, tie in new canes, spacing them about 4in (10cm) apart. Only tie in strong looking canes and prune out any that look weak. Any canes growing away from the row should be dug or pulled up, as they will continue to creep.

Pest & disease watch

Make time to make a weekly inspection of fruit as things can get out of balance very quickly at this time of year.

White or yellow streaking on strawberry leaves is caused by June Yellows. It looks similar to variegation but is caused by a virus-like, non-infectious disorder of genetic origin. Replace affected plants as the condition will get progressively worse year on year.

Control grey mould, especially on strawberries. Spells of wet weather encourage grey mould (botrytis). Inspect fruits frequently and remove infected ones. If you have not put mulch under your strawberries yet, time is of the essence, as this will help reduce an outbreak of botrytis.

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.

Raspberry Rust is a common, but rarely a serious fungal disease – but it can cause early leaf drop and reduced vigour. The control measures, if practicable, are to pick off and destroy infected leaves. Rake up and remove all fallen leaves too.

Alternatively, consider re-planting in a new site with a variety that has a degree of rust resistance, such as the Variety Glen Prosen. All varieties of raspberries are priced at £10.50 per 10 Canes or the collection of 2 varieties (Autumn Bliss and Glen Prosen £18.50 saving £2.50

Continue to carry out a weekly inspection of gooseberries, concentrating on the centre of the bush for larvae of gooseberry sawfly. Pick off and destroy.

Inspect apples for woolly aphids. Look for distorted growth and a whitish fluffy coating on bark.

Cut out apple twigs and leaves infected with powdery mildew.

Look on apples and plums for faded, speckled leaves with a fine webbing on the surface. This indicates fruit tree red spider mite. Pick off and destroy the leaves if there are only a few. There are numerous predatory mites and insects in the garden that control these mites.

Hang up pheromone traps for codling moth in apple trees. Codling moth larvae tunnel into small fruits and may invade the core, spoiling a lot of the flesh. The sticky traps lure the male moths so disrupt their mating cycle. Available in the sundry section

Capsid bugs are tiny elusive insects that can cause small ragged holes in leaves. Apple fruits develop raised bumps and scabby patches. To avoid an influx of capsid bugs next season think ahead by encouraging predators that feed on the pest. Birds can be encouraged to feed near apple, pear, plum and hawthorn trees in winter by hanging fat and bags of nuts from branches. Grow wildflowers and annual flowering plants around trees providing a habitat for predators.

Tidy up over winter, raking out leaf litter and clearing away any plant debris. Cultivation around plants also helps to disturb and expose these pests to predators.

Happy Gardening

Jon Munday