March 5th, 2023Glen, about the house…

Apologies if you have been so absorbed in the holiday mood or just so tired that, apart from the watering. you’ve hardly got around to doing much else in the garden but I’d like to point out a few seemingly unimportant tasks that would make an enormous difference to your plants.

Summer hygiene
For a start, don’t leave fallen fruit lying about the trees, it will breed pests and diseases by supplying a base for their complicated breeding cycle. Many of the fungal diseases such as brown rot etc., mature and disperse their spores from this fruit. The dried fruit beetle is one that breeds there, and so does fruit fly and a whole raft of other nasties.

Garden hygiene is the first step in controlling these pests by eliminating their breeding grounds. Collection of fallen fruit should be a continuous practice through the ripening season. Destroy the fruit or place it in a 60cm or more deep hole, covering each batch with at least 10cm of soil.
Summer pruning, or green pruning, is also an important maintenance program at about this time, especially in this high rainfall year. Surplus growth, mainly watershoots, should be removed just before they become a burden to the tree by overtaxing its reserves, causing overcrowding.
The main purpose of the removal is to save all nourishment, concentrate on that part of the tree where it is most needed and serves the best purpose at the time of fruit bearing. To let the useless watershoots and overgrowth develop and then have to cut it off at the winter time of pruning makes little or no sense.
All this nourishment can be diverted into and saved in the tree at this time, increasing the cropping ability of the tree. The removal can be done in stages or at one time. Besides getting rid of competing growth, limit most of the other young shoots by cutting them back to a strong, healthy growth bud at their end.
You should also keep an eye on young developing trees. They need every bit of foliage at this stage, so instead of cutting off any badly shaped or misdirected branches, tie them up into the proper position. Use either a wooden stake to hold them in place, or soft cord to tie them up. Don’t cut off all the trunk spurs – shorten them by only two or three leaves.
Feeding of fruit trees is very important. The formation of next year’s fruit or flower buds usually takes place at about this time. If the tree gets enough nutrients and water, just after the crop has ripened, a lot more of the ordinary developing leaf buds will turn into fruiting buds in the next few months.
Organic, animal manures or any general fertilisers, especially containing potash and phosphorous in particular, will play a big part in this transformation. So feed your trees and provide sufficient water in the hot weather so they can get the best use out of it. Contrary to some misguided belief deciduous trees don’t need a rest in the middle of the growing season. They get plenty of that in winter.
Trim roses
While you’re wielding your secateurs…at this time of year as soon as the spring burst of flowers has ended, it can be a good idea to give them a light trim to remove the remnants of the last flowers and tidy them up in readiness for good autumn flush of bloom. It doesn’t need to be excessive, just remove anything that’s untidy or looking as though it’s at an end.
When trimming back, make sure you cut just above a pair of leaves, and remove any which are obviously no longer functioning. You can leave the heavy pruning for winter.
One of the joys of having a fully organic, chemical-free garden is the amazing number of wildlife, both avian and and microscopic. Insect pestilence is almost nil because many of the inhabitants are carnivorous and tend to keep the sap-suckers down.
The latest arrival last week was this pinup girl Ms Austracantha Minax, commonly called the Christmas or jewel spider. I know it’s female because at 12mm across, the females trump their 5mm mates.
Absolutely harmless, these members of the orb webset sit at the centre of their massive tangled web and feast on all the flying insects that don’t pass by.
Got a gardening query? Email glenzgarden@fermigiohousegmail-com