Good enough to eat

●● Thinning fruit

Fruit trees including apples, pears and plums tend to produce a lot of fruit.

If you leave all the little fruitlets on the trees, it will result in a harvest of smaller, misshapen fruits because the tree can’t give them enough nutrients to flourish.

So, at this time of year you need to thin them - in addition to those which naturally fall off, known as the June drop.

Reduce the number of dessert apples and pears until each fruit is at least 10-15cm apart, while plums can be thinned to 8-10cm apart.