Fruit
January
Protect soft fruit blossom
Action time: 04/01 - 06/01
Peach and nectarine trees flower extremely early in the year, so to prevent blooms being damaged by frost, move potted trees under cover from now until late April.
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Apply winter tree washes
Action time: 07/01 - 07/01
Keep your fruit trees healthy by applying a plant oil-based winter wash to kill off any overwintering pests.
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Top prune raspberries
Action time: 15/01 - 16/01
Ensure your plants are strong and healthy by trimming back any lanky top growth so that the canes are about 15cm (6 in) above the top wire.
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Choose new fruit bushes
Action time: 16/01 - 16/01
Plant new fruit bushes for the coming year. Our guide to unusual fruit will give you plenty of new ideas.
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Prune dormant fruit trees
Action time: 19/01 - 26/01
Free-standing fruit trees should be pruned now. Remove the dead, dying and diseased branches, then look for branches that are crossing over each other and remove them.
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February
Prune autumn raspberries
Action time: 05/02 - 12/02
Prune your autumn fruiting raspberries now, cutting all stems back to ground level.
Read morePrune free-standing fruit trees
Action time: 12/02 - 19/02
While they're still dormant, prune large apple and pear trees to remove dead, dying and diseased branches.
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Choose new fruit bushes
Action time: 14/02 - 14/02
Plant new fruit bushes for the coming year. Our guide to unusual fruit will give you plenty of new ideas.
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May
Train fruit trees
Action time: 02/05 - 09/05
Tie in new growth on espalier, cordon and fan-trained apple and pear trees, and remove any shoots growing in the wrong direction.
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Thin out gooseberries
Action time: 23/05 - 30/05
Remove about half of the new fruits from the plant to encourage a longer cropping period and larger fruits later in the season.
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July
Harvest fruit
Action time: 21/07 - 28/07
Harvest early varieties of peaches and nectarines now. Pick fruits when they are fully ripe and eat within a few days.
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Prune espalier apple trees
Action time: 24/07 - 27/07
Prune back shoots growing from the horizontal branches.
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August
Harvest blueberries
Action time: 13/08 - 27/08
Pick individual fruits when they turn a dark blue colour. For a more intense flavour, leave berries on the bush for a few days after they ripen.
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Cut strawberry runners
Action time: 24/08 - 31/08
If you pegged down some strawberry runners last month, they should be ready to cut free from the parent plant and plant out separately.
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September
Propagate strawberry plants
Action time: 04/09 - 11/09
Cut back any straggly strawberry runners, or use them to propagate new plants for next year.
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Prune summer raspberries
Action time: 19/09 - 26/09
Once you've harvested the last berries, cut back the canes that have borne fruit to ground level, and tie in the best new canes.
Read moreHarvest apples
Action time: 21/09 - 28/09
Harvest ripe fruit and store it carefully in a cool, dry place.
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Plant blueberry bushes
Action time: 21/09 - 28/09
Plant this super-food now for an abundant crop of tasty blueberries next summer.
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October
Plant gooseberry bushes
Action time: 02/10 - 16/10
Autumn is the ideal time to plant bare-root gooseberry bushes for a bumper crop next summer.
Read moreHarvest and store fruit
Action time: 10/10 - 24/10
Continue to harvest apples and pears as they ripen and store them carefully in a cool, dry place.
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Prune autumn raspberries
Action time: 15/10 - 29/10
Once autumn raspberries have stopped producing fruit, cut the canes down to ground level.
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Prune currant bushes
Action time: 21/10 - 28/10
If you didn't cut them back in the summer, prune out up to a third of the oldest wood on your currant bushes to stimulate new growth.
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November
Plant gooseberry bushes
Action time: 02/11 - 09/11
There's still time to plant bare-root gooseberry bushes now for a bumper crop next summer.
Read moreStop pests
Action time: 12/11 - 20/11
If your fruit trees have fallen prey to winter moth grubs this year, apply a grease band to your trees now to stop another infestation next year.
Read morePrune blackberries
Action time: 16/11 - 22/11
Cut out the old fruited canes at ground level and tie in the plant's new canes to the support wires to replace them.
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December
Stop fruit tree pests
Action time: 11/12 - 15/12
Protect your fruit trees from winter moth grubs by applying a grease band to your trees now to stop an infestation next year.
Read morePrune gooseberries
Action time: 14/12 - 21/12
Prune out dead or diseased stems, and any crossing in the centre. Shorten new growth by half to maintain an acceptable size.
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Prune fruit trees
Action time: 19/12 - 26/12
Free-standing fruit trees should be pruned now. Remove dead, dying and diseased branches, as well as branches that are crossing over each other.
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Tips calendar
Your gardening year
If you want to see all of our gardening tips for the year, try out our new year planner.
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