ORCHARD : The morning opens on a fruit note — a brief window before the sign change that suits the orchard well. Run your eye over cherry tree and plum tree branches for any signs of bacterial canker or gummosis; scrape away any oozing patches and paint the wound with a natural sealant. Check raspberry canes too: remove any that show signs of wilting at the tips, cutting cleanly to healthy wood.
VEGETABLE PATCH : Once the day shifts to a root type after the morning sign change, the rising Waxing Crescent moon adds real momentum for root crops — a combination worth making the most of. Sow carrot 1 cm deep, seeds 2 cm apart, in rows 25 cm wide; a light sandy soil suits them best, so work in some sharp sand if your ground is heavy. Radish follows the same depth at 1 cm, seeds 2 cm apart, rows 15 cm — they’ll be ready to harvest in three to four weeks. Parsnip is worth adding now: sow 1 cm deep, seeds 3 cm apart, rows 30 cm, and be patient — germination is slow but the roots are magnificent come autumn. Black salsify is an underrated choice for a root day: sow 2 cm deep, seeds 3 cm apart, rows 30 cm. If you have seedlings of beetroot already thinned, thin them now to 10 cm apart in rows 30 cm wide to give each root room to swell. In Mediterranean gardens, turnip can go in now before summer heat arrives: sow 1 cm deep, seeds 3 cm apart, rows 25 cm.