Fruit Corner

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Whether it's top or soft fruit; heritage or modern varieties, this is the spot for you

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Latest Activity: Jan 16

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Anyone else wassailing this year?

Started by VP. Last reply by Jan Willetts Jan 16. 1 Reply 0 Likes

Bakestraw Garden has commented she'll be a-wassailing, so I wondered if anyone else going wassailing this year or indeed doing the same for their own apple tree(s).Her comment brought back memories…Continue

A Fruity Christmas Question...

Started by VP. Last reply by VP Dec 5, 2011. 4 Replies 0 Likes

... which fruit do you add to your Christmas cake and pudding? Is it all traditional, or do you use something a bit more unusual to give your Christmas fare a unique flavour?Continue

Redcurrant bush not producing fruit for 2nd year... ideas?

Started by Rachel Morgan May 3, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes

My redcurrant bush has not produced any fruit for the 2nd year now and wondering if anyone can offer an explanation?Its a very healthy looking but not produced any flowers again this year. It was…Continue

A living fence of fruit?

Started by Louisa @ The Really Good Life. Last reply by elaine rickett Apr 27, 2011. 5 Replies 0 Likes

Hi guys,I've not really grown any fruit before but have big plans for 2011 (don't we all?).As well as getting some (currently on order) trees in and containers of soft berries etc, I've had an idea…Continue

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Comment by Jan Willetts on September 25, 2010 at 12:53: At last, a fruit group! I grow apples, pears,plums,blackcurrants,redcurrants, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb(not strictly a fruit but a stem). Also a kiwi which has yet to bear fruit(self-fertile variety called jenny). I recently grubbed up my blackberries to make way for more veg- I live in the country and can pick wild ones just round the corner. Also dispatched the gooseberries after 20 years of the family groaning every time i produced anything gooseberry related, still have the chutney though! I want to replace my strawberries this autumn, let me know your favourite varieties for a june crop.

Comment by Jan Willetts on October 4, 2010 at 10:03: I have had a good crop of pears this year. My 10 year old conference pear has a good healthy crop in spite of some nasty black spots spoiling the leaves. There has been some earwig damage to the necks of some fruit, but not enough to worry about. Its difficult to know when to pick them as they only ripen up fully when off the tree. A few windfalls on the grass indicated they were ready! A three year old Comice grown as a double-U cordon is also providing a few pears this year- they are huge and very juicy- well worth waiting for.

Comment by VP on October 4, 2010 at 10:22: Jan - I grow pears too and picked the first few on Saturday. Sadly one of the branches has split owing to the amount of fruit. Note to self - must do better at thinning fruits next year. I grow Concorde which is a Conference x Comice. It has the lusciousness of Comice with the keeping properties of Conference. A 'good doer' as they say :)

Comment by Jan Willetts on October 4, 2010 at 23:13: Concorde pears sound wonderful- wish I had room for more fruit! My wishlist includes quince, cherry, peach and apricot, possibly damson too. Mulberry would be too messy and medlar sounds revolting!

Comment by Rob Duffin on October 8, 2010 at 14:35: I can recommend Chelsea Pensioner from Ken Muir for strawberries. They are stunning flavour and a good size and shape. I also have Gariguette, which to be honest just shade the taste but crop less heavily and are far more delicate - i.e. get bruised between taken them from the plot to home.

I quite fancy a honey berry, but don't know anything about looking after them, so if anyone's got any tips...

Comment by VP on October 8, 2010 at 20:26: Hi Rob and Una - thanks for joining us in the Fruit Corner :)

Rob - I'm about to put in an order for honeyberries, so I'll let you know how I get on...

Comment by Una Bee on October 8, 2010 at 21:09: Hi everyone, I recently bought an apple tree (Discovery) and have been trying to decide how to train it. The label says to plant it at an angle of 45 degrees if I want to train it as a cordon, but I keep umming and ahhing and putting the planting off. Any suggestions what to do if I don't want it to grow too big? We've only got a small garden.

Comment by Jan Willetts on October 9, 2010 at 22:35: Just been reading about honeyberries in Mark Diacono's new book " A taste of the unexpected". Says they are not self-fertile and you need more than one variety. he recommends: Blue Belle, Kamchatka, Blue Velvet and Berry blue, but also says he hasn't come across a variety that isn't good! Kamchatka being particularly hardy as its from Siberia.They sound easy to grow and come in before the first strawberries, filling a gap in the fruit cycle. Wonder if I have enough room.....

Comment by VP on October 10, 2010 at 10:31: Una - you can also grow as an 'upright cordon' which is a version Ken Muir sells and is how I'm growing my plums, cherries, gages and damsons up at the plot. I'll see if I can find any instructions on how to do this.

Do you know what the rootstock is for your tree? This will determine its eventual height. It will also determine the best options for the way to grow and train your tree...

Comment by Una Bee on October 12, 2010 at 12:27: Hi VP, mine's a semi-dwarf rootstock. Cordons look gorgeous and I've got a book with a big section about training fruit trees, but I just can't decide what's the best thing to do and worried I'll get it all wrong. :(

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