Lift and pot up rooted strawberry runners.

Prepare new strawberry beds for next year if not yet done.

Cut out fruited canes of summer raspberries and tie in new canes to fruit next year. Select strong, healthy canes and cut out weak, forked or misplaced ones (such as those growing out into the paths).

Tie in new growth on blackberries and hybrid berries.

Start picking apples and blackberries for use in pies and desserts.

Support heavily laden branches on plums to prevent breakage.

Complete summer pruning of restricted fruit trees such as cordon and espalier apples and pears.

Prune out dead and fruited wood after cropping of fan-trained plums and cherries, and tie in replacement shoots.

Break in half the strongest young shoots on cobnuts and filberts this month to encourage a heavier crop of nuts. This technique is known as 'brutting'.

Pest & disease watch

Remove apples, pears and plums affected with brown rot to prevent the disease from spreading.

Gather scabby leaves from diseased apples and pears. Do not compost but instead consign to the dustbin.

Spray apples with hydrated calcium nitrate if apple bitter pit has been a problem.

If bacterial canker has a been a problem on stone fruit trees, then prune out affected smaller branches, wait until harvest is complete, and spray with fungicide.

Continue to treat American gooseberry mildew and fungal leaf spotting on currants after harvesting.

Treat strawberries with fungicide if powdery mildew is serious.

January February March April May June July August September October November December