In your fruit garden in October
Apples
Damsons
Water melons
October brings an end to the harvest for the majority of fruit, but this does not mean that your year is finished in the fruit garden as now is the time to order new fruit trees and bushes and prepare the ground for them.
If you want more information on apples come to our annual Apple day at Garden Organic Ryton on 5th October 2008. You can bring along your garden apples for identification, sample apple recipes and watch cookery demonstrations, taste fresh apple juice, cider and hot apple drinks and buy organic apple trees. There are hundreds of apple varieties on display on the day to buy, the apple orchard can be explored and you can even pick up gardening advice from Garden Organic’s expert advisors
Start planting new fruit immediately after leaf fall. Prepare the ground for planting before the trees and bushes arrive, this saves struggling to do it all when your plants are ready to go in.
Garden Organic members can view our factsheets:
Fruit tree/bush suppliers and Planting fruit trees and bushes
Access to factsheets requires members' password. Find out more about Garden Organic membership here.Ordering new fruit trees and bushes
This is a good time to start and order any new fruit trees and bushes for next year so why not try something different. Why not grow some Jostaberries, available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. A hybrid between blackcurrant and gooseberry, the shiny dark fruit has the tang of gooseberries and the sweetness of ripe blackcurrants and is resistant to mildew and big bud. They look like purple gooseberries so it will give your neighbours something to talk about!
- Ordering bare-root trees to plant in the dormant season is a good way to save money.
- Order early to avoid disappointment.
- Make sure you get the right rootstock for your garden and personal
needs.
Garden Organic members can see Bob Sherman's (Garden Organics' Director of Operations) practical advice on rootstock choice.
Access to factsheets requires members' password. Find out more about Garden Organic membership here. - If you have a lot of apples and pears to store overwinter then you'll probably use wooden crates to store them in. These need an annual clean to remove any sheltering pests or diseases.
Citrox, a citrus based disinfectant, is available from The Organic Gardening Catalogue
Click here for information about storing apples and pears-
Strawberry Beds at
Ryton in autumn Tidy up strawberry beds and remove dead and yellowing leaves from perpetual varieties. Mulch with compost or manure. Cover them with fleece or cloches to extend their season. Remove any plants showing signs of disease; these can be replaced in the spring. New plants planted in the spring however, should not be cropped in the first year as they need time to build a good crown for production of subsequent crops. Keep new plants well watered. If they go short of water early on, the plants will not fruit well next year, also plants put under stress through lack of water could make them more susceptible to pest and diseases.
A wide selection of strawberry plants are available in The Organic Gardening Catalogue 2009. This year's wet summer has reminded gardeners of the wisdom of choosing disease resistant varieties especially those with some resistance to botrytis, the early variety 'Honeoye' and the mid-season 'Cambridge Favourite' would both be excellent choices.-
Blackcurrants -
before and after pruning - Prune blackcurrants any time between now and late winter. Aim to remove about one third of the bush each year. Prune on the basis of removing any dead, diseased or crowded wood and then any less productive older branches (over 2 years old). The majority of fruit is formed on the previous years growth and some on two year old wood so any wood older than this should removed. Cut back old branches low down to encourage new shoots from the base of plants. Take cuttings from healthy bushes. See below for instructions on taking hardwood cuttings.
- Prune gooseberries, red- and white-currants at leaf fall (if bird damage is likely, pruning can be left until spring). Take cuttings following instructions for blackcurrants, unless growing to a framework and spur-training.
- Continue to remove mulches from around fruit bushes and trees. This is so that any pests that are overwintering in the soil will be exposed to birds and other predators. Add the material to the compost heap.
- Take any hard wood cuttings of your fruit bushes after leaf fall. To find out more about propagation from cuttings see below or why not join up for our propagation course next year. See our courses section of the website for more information.
- Clear all weeds around fruit bushes and trees. Weeds aren't growing as quickly now, but many are seeding!
- Prune any hybrid berry fruits such as loganberries and tayberries. An easy way to manage the pruning of these fruits is fan training. To achieve a fan trained bush, immediately after harvesting cut out all of this years fruiting canes to the ground. Tie new canes onto wire in a fan shape.
- Lift and divide existing rhubarb sets and replant up until November.
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Pear 'Warden' at Audley End
Cobnuts - Now is the time to gather remaining apples and pears still on the trees before the frost gets them. Test to see if ripe before removing, fruit should come away from the tree with little effort if it is ripe. If not, leave it for a few more days to catch the last of the October sunshine. Pears are a different matter they are best picked before they are ready to eat. Pick the pears when they are hard and ripen undercover. This avoids pears having a brown centre and losing their juicyness.
- Pick any nuts that are ripening. Cobnuts and hazelnuts are ripening when their husks begin to yellow. Store them somewhere dry to ensure a winter feast.
- Remove netting from soft fruit and the fruit cage to attract birds. Let the birds feast on the last of the soft fruit and in return they will act as an excellent pest control as they scratch in the undergrowth. As netting is expensive and can last for many years it is worth taking care of your netting. Spread the netting out over the lawn and check for tears. Use strong thread that will not rot or break to repair the tear. As the netting is off the cage it is a good opportunity to remove leaves and twigs before storing as this avoids ripping the netting further as it snags easily.
Pest & Disease Watch
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Greaseband on tree trunk - Apply greasebands to apple, pear, plum and cherry
trees to prevent wingless female winter moths and March moths crawling up the
tree and hibernating or laying their eggs in cracks and crevice of the branches .
Fix the bands about 30cm (1ft) above ground level, completely encircling the
tree. Cut any long grass or weeds that may reach above the band, you don't
want to provide another route for their upward migration. Also, don't forget to
grease any stakes too as they often an alternative route into the tree for the
pests.
Glue bands and fruit tree grease available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue
- Collect fallen leaves from beneath fruit trees to discourage diseases from returning. Either rake by hand, or mow fallen leaves with a rotary mower after spraying them with liquid seaweed. This helps worms to digest the leaves and destroy any scab spores they may be carrying.
- Prune out canker on apples and pears and disinfect tools.
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Brown rot on apple - Collect all fallen apples and pears that have brown rot. Also
remove any infected fruit still remaining on the tree as this is a possible
vector for infection of next years fruit.
Garden Organic members can find more information in our factsheets: Access to factsheets requires members' password. Find out more about Garden Organic membership here.
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Wasps can be troublesome
if the weather is mild - Wasps 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. Try to tolerate wasps wherever possible. They are an important
part of garden ecology and many of the caterpillars and other insects
preyed upon by wasps are actually pests so in this respect wasps are
beneficial in helping to regulate pest populations.
For more information on dealing with wasps nests, go to www.pan-uk.org
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Inspect apples trees for woolly aphids. Look for a
whitish fluffy coating on bark.
See our Woolly aphid factsheet for control measures
Access to factsheets requires members' password. Find out more about Garden Organic membership here.
Hardwood Cuttings
Hardwood cuttings are taken from mature wood at the end of the growing season, and is a suitable method for propagating currants, gooseberries and raspberries
Method
- Use vigorous shoots from current season's growth, about pencil thickness
- Cut into lengths 20-25cm, remove lower leaves
- Trim lower end just below a bud
- Insert up to half the length in a nursery bed, making slits in soil filled with coarse sand
- Leave for one year, watering and weeding as necessary
- Transplant the following autumn
back to - What to do in your garden now
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