Jobs to do this month

This list isn’t exhaustive. You can get detailed advice from many organisations, especially those listed on this website under Help and Advice

Fruit

Use netting to protect soft fruit from birds.
Start new strawberry plants by pegging down runners from healthy plants in compost-filled pots.
Prune cherry and plum trees.
Thin out young apples.
Prune cordon and espalier apples and pears.
Feed and mulch rhubarb once you’ve stopped harvesting it.
Harvest blackcurrants when they’re ready.

Start harvesting early potatoes. You can sow salad leaves in the resulting space.
Start picking young courgettes.
Plant out leeks.
Tie in cordon-grown tomatoes regularly, and keep on pinching out sideshoots. Start removing the lower leaves once the bottom truss has started forming fruit, to let in more light and air. For outdoor tomatoes, pinch out the main growing tip once a fourth truss has formed.
Look for aphids and whitefly on salad leaves and tomatoes, and wash them off or treat with an organic spray.
There’s still time to sow runner beans.
Once you’ve finished harvesting broad beans, cut the plants down to ground level. They can be chopped up and composted provided they’re free of pests and diseases. Leave the roots in the ground to break down and release nitrogen.
Lift and dry shallots once the leaves have flopped over and turned yellow.
When cauliflowers start to form curds, bend the outer leaves over to prevent the curds from scorching.
Keep sowing leafy salads such as rocket, mizuna, beetroot, radicchio or spinach.
Feed squashes with a high-potash liquid feed.
Harvest annual herbs regularly.
Harvest garlic once the leaves start to die back.