May Fruit Calendar

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General

Do not spray any plants with insecticides whilst flowering as this could harm pollinating insects leading to a poor fruit yield later in the year.

Keep weeds under control

Pruning & training  fruit in May

Lightly prune over-zealous apple, pear, plum and cherry trees if necessary to keep them compact

Prune figs if not done last month

Start de-shooting wall trained  trees paying particular attention to shoots which are pointing towards or away from the the wall

Harvesting

Start harvesting small gooseberries which can be used for cooking making sure you leave some on the bush to mature

Start harvesting protected strawberries

Continue harvesting Rhubarb picking 1 or 2 sticks from each plant at any one time

Care and Protecting Fruit in May

Continue to ventilate protected strawberries on sunny days

Net early fruit to protect from birds

Open one side of fruit cages to allow easier access to pollinating insects

Continue to protect blossoms on trees a double layer of netting or fleece if very late frosts are expected however uncover as soon as possible to ensure pollination is not hampered

Continue to spray pears and apples against scab

Remove suckers and runners from between raspberry and strawberry rows if present 

Spray raspberry and blackberry canes against spur blight if it is a known problem 

Spray fruit trees and bushes against pests such as aphids, mites, caterpillars and other pests once the blossoms have faded

Keep all fruit trees and bushes watered in dry spells especially container and wall grown specimens