Weekly jobs

●●Water, water, water! That’s your main job over the summer as we, and the plants, hopefully sizzle in glorious sunshine and keep fruit bushes well-watered in dry spells as well giving the fruit a chance to swell.

●●Plums, pears and apples can be thinned out this month.

This happens naturally as well – it’s called June drop – but if you want bigger fruit, remove some of the smaller fruitlets.

●●Check brassicas (cabbages, broccoli, turnips, brussels sprouts) for butterflies laying their eggs – often you will find them on the underside of leaves.

Remove them, as when hatched caterpillars will feed voraciously and could completely exfoliate your plant.

●●Move citrus fruit outdoors for the summer. Continue successional sowing of salads and sow outdoors cucumber, sweetcorn, squash, French, runner and broad beans.

●●Prune springflowering deciduous shrubs, such as kerria, philadelphus, forsythia, ribes and weigela as soon as they are finished flowering.