How Are Your Plums?

[Nick F]

The plums on my other half's parent's farm must have grown well, as when we visited last weekend, we came back with two jars of plum jam - along with lots of blackberries and some greengages.

[peterf]

Hi there Michael, the reason you probably had a good crop this year and a bad last year was probably more to do with the fact that plum trees seem to fruit well every other year. We found this with ours and that of a friends across the road.

biennial cropping its a common trait with fruit trees,feast one year famine the next

[WBSH]

We have our yearly crop of plums out now, we rarely eat them these days their picked more for "other people".

I've got some piccies anyway

[Somerset Squall]

We had a very good crop this year too, at least 50 plums on a 6ft small tree. They seemed earlier than usual aswell, finished the crop two weeks ago.

[pottyprof]

have to say.. fantastic crop up here..

must be close to 50lbs on mums tree.. not as big as usual but a bumper crop for 1 tree..

ive already run out of jars for the jam..

just filling the freezer with 2lb bags of stewed..

also have 16lb of blackberries in the freezer.. all from the local walk and collected over about 4 hours over 4 days.. are people really that lazy that they cant be bothered to collect/boil a few berries??

[Hairy Celt]

Interesting day yesterday for fruits.

We went to one village, where all the balckberries had finished, and any that werent picked were all dried up.

However, walking where we live (about 10 miles away), there was plentiful stocks of wild blackberries still growing. Nice and sweet too.

interesting. i always browse on blackberries (and whatever else is around!) but have found this year's crop to be rather poor. plenty of them, but rather pallid in taste. odd really, considering that it seems to have been an ideal summer for them.

[Verglas]

quite a few plums (victoria) but the wasps are all around them

The apples are poor this year, I have a 3-on-a-stock (early, liddle and late) and only the late one has a few fruit on, last year it was amass with blossom but this year was poor although the weather was pretty good at blossom time, very puzzling.

(I believe many fruit trees only fruit on 2nd year wood so may be a factor if pruning has/hasn't been done)

Edited September 3, 2006 by Verglas

[kar999]

With the high winds this weekend, I invited the In-Laws round to pick a few damsons before they were blown off the trees.

87 Pounds they picked!! Fortunately there are just as many left on the trees but I need mountaineering gear to reach them as they have taken all the easy pickings.

Edited September 4, 2006 by kar999

[Shiny_Bottom_1]

interesting. i always browse on blackberries (and whatever else is around!) but have found this year's crop to be rather poor. plenty of them, but rather pallid in taste. odd really, considering that it seems to have been an ideal summer for them.

Hi HC. It was the first time I had passed blackberies this summer (although thats to the lack of walking anywhere where there is actual greenery). Although sweet, they were rather small and formed or very few individual berries.

[Hairy Celt]

Hi HC. It was the first time I had passed blackberies this summer (although thats to the lack of walking anywhere where there is actual greenery). Although sweet, they were rather small and formed or very few individual berries.

well, they're just later! went out this afternoon and got 8lb blackberries in no time, good ones too. wow. much better than usual.

[Guest Viking141]

Hi HC. It was the first time I had passed blackberies this summer (although thats to the lack of walking anywhere where there is actual greenery). Although sweet, they were rather small and formed or very few individual berries.

Chris, I should see a doctor if you're "passing" blackberries, that cant be right surely??!!

[Hairy Celt]

back to the plums. by very good chance, i planted three young trees yesterday just before the deluge (42mm) started yesterday. czar, victoria and shrophire (the latter a damson) all out and looking settled already. at three years old now, i guess i should get some fruit in a couple of years. just have to stop the rabbits from shredding them.

[kar999]

Our damsons are Shropshire's... well it stood a good a good chance given our location! The whole village is covered with them and was reknown for its damson trees, drawing many people to see the blossom in the spring. In those days (1800's early 1900's) the fruit was used more for making the purple dye for salt bags rather than for the fruit itself.