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. 

Asian pear: Shinsui

Quite a lot of the fruitlets were damaged by caterpillars, but the grazed surfaces have mostly healed over and should be edible, showing just a bit of coarse russeting. It will be interesting to see if the good weather so far this year has any effect on the flavour, as I've found this variety very variable in the past. 

more squirrel damage

Having had to spend so much time in Wales as my father is so ill, I haven't got round to removing any squirrels yet, and they are beginning to be a nuisance again. Quite a lot of fruit has been ruined on this Worcester Pearmain. Rot has already set in, and all damaged fruit will be useless.