Secrets of fine fruit

•  Rake-it-up pine-tree mulch

Money doesn’t grow on trees. But if you grow blueberries, free mulch does — if you have any pine trees in your garden. Naturally acidic pine needles will not only leach the acid blueberries crave into the soil but will also help to protect the plants’ shallow roots. Just rake up the pine needles and spread them beneath the blueberry plants to a height of about 5cm.

•  Aluminium bird-pest prevention

If you grow productive fruit trees, don’t throw away the aluminium pie dishes that come with shop-bought pies. Use them to scare away blackbirds, starlings and other fruit-loving birds. Poke a hole in the rim of each plate, thread a 60-cm piece of dental floss, fishing line or string through the hole and triple-knot it tightly. Hang a couple of plates onto the branches of each fruit tree and the job’s done. Old CDs also work well as reflective bird scarers. Shiny reflective objects that swing in the wind are far better at discouraging birds than stationary plastic or metal cats and scarecrows.

•  Make your own invisible net

You don’t always have to buy netting at a garden centre in order to protect ripening cherries and other tree fruit from birds. Just buy two or three spools of black thread. Stand beside the tree, grab the loose end of the thread and toss the spool over the tree to a helper — it’s a fun job to do with kids. Continue tossing the spool back and forth until it is empty. The invisible thread won’t seal birds off from the tree, but once they run into it a few times they may look for their ripe fruit lunch somewhere else.

•  Ant stick-ups

Ants won’t be able to climb your fruit trees and munch on ripe fruit if you wrap the trunks with one of these sticky materials:

1.  Contact paper, folded in half with the sticky-side out.
2.  Two-sided clear tape, wrapped around the trunk in a 7cm-deep band.
3.  Sheets of cardboard secured with masking tape and sprayed with an adhesive insect spray.
4. A cardboard sleeve taped shut and smeared with petroleum jelly.