Over the summer, don’t pass on the few chores that will lead your orchard and vegetable patch to abundant and high-quality harvests. Just a few hour’s worth of care and your fruit trees will thrive!
In some cases, what you do will spell success or failure even for the following year…
Each fruit asks for something different once the days turn hot. This table gathers the summer tasks described below, so you can see at a glance what your own trees and bushes need.
| Fruit | Summer task | Why it matters | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peach | Thin to one fruit every 4 in (10 cm) and clear shading leaves | Fruits ripen properly in full sun | Before ripening, especially in dry summers |
| Plum | Remove off-shoots and stake bending branches | Off-shoots exhaust resources, young trees most of all | Through summer, as the crop weighs the branches down |
| Cherry | Prune only if needed, then seal wounds with pruning paste | Supports young growth and avoids bacterial canker | Straight after the harvest |
| Raspberry | Cut spent canes short | They will not fruit again; growth goes to new canes | After picking the last summer raspberries |
| Strawberry | Root runners in pots of compost and sand | Free plants to replace older, barren ones | midsummer |
| Kiwi (actinidia) | Tie in to a lattice and thin weak branches | Keeps a prolific vine from tangling; trimmings make cuttings | Summer, or up to early autumn |
| Currants and other soft fruit | Mulch, then water after every hot day | Shallow roots make them vulnerable to dry spells | Every hot day |
Water any tree, large or small, if rain has been a long time coming.
Space out fruits with stones if you haven’t done it yet: remove excess fruits, especially if the current summer is very dry. On peach trees, only retain a single fruit every 4 inches (10 centimeters) and remove leaves that are in the way of the sun’s rays to ensure they ripen properly. Cut sprigs of new growth back to five leaves from the old growth. This will send precious sap to the rest of the tree. Water your trees if it hasn’t rained in a while.
Eliminate off-shoots from your plum trees, they tend to exhaust resources, especially for younger specimens. Stake the branches for support if you see them bending under the weight of the harvest.
Summer, once the harvest is done, is the most auspicious season to prune or trim cherry trees. This step must only be performed if your tree really needs it, for example to get rid of ill-placed branches or eliminating some that didn’t bear fruit. Young growth will thus be supported. Protect wounds with pruning paste to avoid bacterial canker.
Lastly, remember to plant a few nasturtium vines at the foot of your younger trees. As they die off come winter, the web of stems and vines they leave behind will act as protective cover against frost.
Mulch small fruit trees (raspberry bush, blackcurrant, red currant…) and water them after every hot day: their superficial root development makes them vulnerable to dry spells. After harvesting the last of the remaining summer raspberries, cut short whichever canes have born fruits because they won’t bear fruit anymore. Better redirect growth to new upcoming canes.
in midsummer, recover strawberry runners and plant them in nursery pots filled with compost and sand. These will serve to replace older, barren plants in fall.
If you’re fond of growing kiwi in your garden, remember to tie your actinidia to a lattice and thin weaker branches out if they form too much of a tangle. Use the trimmings to prepare cuttings from this prolific vine. You can set this off until early autumn if your schedule is quite full already.
M.-C. H.
