Denniston's (un) Superb

 Yet again this plum has failed to live up to it's name. Despite flowering freely and appearing to set a fair quantity of fruit, I can barely find a handful that have survived the June drop. A shame, as it is a superb gage-like plum with a very rich, sweet flavour.

I think the problem may lie partly with the soil type, as even wild sloes find it difficult to produce fruit here on the thin layer of soil that sits on waterlogged gravel. Interestingly someone from the village once wrote in to GQT to say their plums rarely fruited, and was fobbed off with the usual load of inaccurate nonsense that passes for advice on my least favourite radio problem.

Mulberry: King James

The first fruitlets are appearing on mulberry King James. I cut it back quite brutally last year, as it was so difficult to harvest fruit on the top branches. I had worried whether growing as a bush would inhibit fruit development. 

I planted a plain Morus nigra in my in-law's garden nearly 20 years ago. It eventually cropped well, but the fruit size and quality is not good (small, pale and pithy), and it took many years before cropping adequately. In contrast, the King James mulberry produced large, good-quality, dark, juicy fruit within a couple of years of planting.

March of the toadlets

The annual plague of tiny toadlets has arrived, much to the joy of various predators. Some years they have been so numerous it has been impossible to pick a route down the path or road without squashing them, however carefully you tread.

Pear: Winter Nellis: crop

The somewhat diminutive fruit of Winter Nellis are sparsely distributed over the cordon. I'm not sure it offers the best value for money if space is short, but the quality of the small fruit is excellent and keeps well, maturing over quite a long period in mid-winter.

Cordons: summer

The pear cordons are heavy with fruit, and beginning to lose their shape with an excess of long shoots. Although next years fruiting spurs have formed, I will wait until at least August before doing any summer pruning, although I will remove shoots/leaves where fruit is being unduly shaded. Using fruit to divide vegetable plots has worked very well so far, with neither type of crop appearing unduly compromised by competition with the other.

Medlar: Nottingham

I have two medlar trees, both appear to be 'Nottingham', which is probably the least good cultivar in terms of fruit size, quality and value as a decorative tree. The second one was home grafted, from wood I believed to be Large Dutch (which I hoped would have more attractive foliage, as well as larger fruit). Now it has matured it's clear that the two cultivars are identical.

I never actually intended to eat the fruit fresh, and it is more than adequate for medlar cheese, so I will keep the more mature tree (and very kindly donate the other as a timely present to an unsuspecting relative). But yet again I have been sold a wrong variety from a specialist supplier that should value their reputation.

Quince: Vranja

I've been debating whether to take out my half-standard quince Vranja, as it had never produced any fruit until this year. However, I had been treating it fairly brutally, as the extension growth obscures our view of the lake. This is the first year I've given it it's head, and there is now a good quantity of fruit that looks like it will survive, mostly set on tips.

I still have the dilemma of whether to take it out. I have two others; Meeches Prolific, which is adequate, if untidy, as a cordon, and Sobu as a half-standard which I hope will produce better-quality fruit which will be less woody around the core. There is a limit to the quantity of quinces even the most enthusiastic of us can cope with!

Apple: Pixie

Cordon Pixie is showing a reasonable number of fruit, despite having a very heavy crop last year.

Pear: Conference

The Conference crop looks promising. 

Pear: Dr Jules Guyot

Having been away for a week, I was surprised to see that most of the pears had doubled in size in that time.