Protect blossom of apricots, peaches and nectarines from frost by covering the trees with fleece. Hand-pollinate the flowers with a fine brush if insects are scarce (a rabbit’s tail is traditionally used).

Begin feeding citrus plants with a proprietary citrus feed, or using a high-nitrogen feed with added trace elements.

Although blackcurrants, blackberries and hybrid berries should have already been fed in January or February, they benefit from a further feed (30g per sq m) with a high nitrogen fertiliser such as sulphate of ammonia or nitrochalk.

Grape vines on sandy, nutrient-poor soils, may benefit from an application of magnesium sulphate (60g per sq m) or a foliar feed of Epsom salts, to prevent magnesium deficiency.

Before the buds break on wall-trained figs, look for any badly placed shoots that are growing into or away from the fence or wall and remove them. Tie in the remaining shoots.

Start pruning trained fruit tree forms (such as espaliers, fans and cordons). These forms are pruned when in active growth, to keep down their size and to encourage fruit bud formation.

It is now safe to prune plum and cherry trees, which are vulnerable to the disease silver leaf if pruned in autumn or winter.

Control weeds. Hoe shallowly around fruit trees and bushes during dry weather.

Plant container-grown outdoor grape vines, once all risk of frost has passed. Vines need deep, well-drained soils with a pH of 6.5-7.

You can still plant container-grown fruit trees and bushes, as long as the ground is not too wet or frozen. Incorporate lots of well-rotted organic matter into the ground before digging the planting hole or trench. Take care to water well in dry weather, as the plants will not have much time to establish before the hot, dry season begins.

Place cloches or fleece over outdoor strawberry plants for an early crop. Make sure to remove the fleece or cloche during the warmest part of the day, to allow pollinating insects to enter. High potassium feeds (such as tomato fertiliser) will also help to encourage flowers and fruit.

Pest & disease watch

Keep temporary shelters in place over peach trees, to protect against peach leaf curl. Nectarines and almonds are also vulnerable.

Net your fruit crops to reduce pigeon damage, and to keep bullfinches off fruit buds (particularly gooseberries). Nets can be removed once flowering starts.

Keep an eye out for early aphid attack, and deal with this appropriately, either by squashing small colonies, or by using pesticide on larger infestations.

American gooseberry mildew can appear as a brown crust over the leaves and fruits of gooseberry bushes. Spraying with fungicides containing sulphur or myclobutanil is usually effective, but you may wish to grow a more resistant cultivar like ‘Invicta’.

Apples and pears may need spraying against scab, where this has got out of hand in previous years. Fungicides containing mancozeb or myclobutanil are suitable choices.

You may need to spray against pear midge, taking care to do so only when the buds are white but still closed. Do not spray once the flowers have opened.

When carrying out any spraying operation, take care to spray early in the morning when fewer pollinating insects are about - you only need to kill the pests, not the beneficial insects.

Blackcurrants are vulnerable to big bud mite (affected buds appear larger than normal). The mites can spread blackcurrant reversion virus. Virus symptoms will be evident once the plant comes into flower, as the flowers look red rather than grey. Affected plants must be dug up and disposed of in the rubbish, or by burning. You may wish to grow resistant cultivars such as ‘Farleigh’, ‘Foxendown’ or ‘Ben Hope’.

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