I was hungry before but they have me drooling now, can’t beat a good crisp apple straight from the tree (well any fruit straight from the tree). I’ve made spiced apple and pear chutney before (apple is a component in all my chutneys) and mince meat (if I make my own then I know that it is vegan and dairy free for those that need it to be). The other half also does his best to eat his own body weight in fruit at this time of year and it goes in his breakfast smoothies, fruit buns and lunch box with his sandwiches but we still end up with a freezer full to get him through the winter. He also makes a very tasty dutch apple cake.
All this reminds me that I need to track down the man at the allotment with the apple tree - we have a standing agreement about me collecting apples but I always like to double check before raiding the tree.
Sasha
ooooh you’ve reminded me to make my own mincemeat as I’m a veggie so like to make sure about what I’m consuming.
I think I might have to check my red grape vine as well as I will be making my non alcoholic spiced red grape with berries juice drink for Christmas. I make it and freeze it in plastic bottle then when the weather turns cold I take out a bottle and drink it heated. Oh my the smell is amazing. I also do the same with fresh mix of fresh orange juice and cranberry juice heat it together in a pan with cinnamon, and ginger.
Hi Eileen! I’d love to grow pears but I’ve heard they are difficult because they need more than one pollinating partner. Yours look beautiful. Do you have to do anything special to get them to fruit?
I’ve got a self fertile conference pear tree on a dwarfing rootstock (quince A I think), there are several mature pear trees 3 gardens over but it shouldn’t need them. It’s not a very old tree - only went in the garden 2 years ago at most - last year no pears but this year is has about 6 without any effort on my part. Probably would have gotten more if I’d watered it during the really dry spell early on as it did look like it was trying to set more fruit but I was using the rain water to top up the pond and keep my frogs/ tadpoles happy.
Sasha
Had another thought for those apples overnight - beetroot and apple soup with horseradish creme fraiche. Yummy but don’t wear anything pale whilst making/ eating it.
Sasha
I only started with one pear tree a conference pear tree and it fruited fine.
Then I bought two other pears one with 3 different varieties grafted onto the same root stock. They were one year old trees. The next year there was no fruit the tree wasn’t mature enough but every year since then I get more fruit.
Pears are quite easy really and just need to be pruned like apples trees you can either do that after they’ve stopped fruiting about November I usually do mine or if I forget I wait till late feburary. I cut out any dead or damaged wood, make sure none of the branches are rubbing against each other and cut them back.
I don’t water mine but I do add a mulch of from my compost bin thickly around the bottom of the trees.
I have a Victoria plum and a greengage which you shouldn’t prune if you have damp weather as the water can get into the cuts and cause mold. You have to do those when you know you have at least 3 straight days of hot dry weather.
I find pears and apples very easy to grow. We always had a one pear and one apple in my mothers garden she now has 2 of each.
I think I will definitely get a pear and maybe an apple as well. They don’t sound too difficult to look after, and I am usually gardening once or twice a week pruning and watering various things so it should be easy to do. If I put it on the calendar for the right month I will remember when to do it. Greengages are one of my favourite fruits but I think I will avoid them for the time being. Although I’m in the dry southeast the soil is very damp in my area and it seems to cause a lot of humidity when it’s hot, hence grey moulds abound.
Thanks for giving me the confidence to have a try!
wooow, these are soooo healthy looking and juicy. So much better then shop bought fruits. So…where are you living? Would pack my black clothes and sneak in the garden:))
Your fruit looks lovely, Eileen. We’ve had a huge crop of cooking apples too, and I will be making chutney with them in the next week or so - I just managed to get a load of jam jars from someone on our local Freecycle. We also had green and yellow gages, and I have bottled some of those in vodka and sugar. No cooking, it’s extremely easy, and in the past it has worked very well - you have to leave them for at least 2 months (the difficult bit), and the fruit blends beautifully with the vodka and turns a dark colour.
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Would pack my black clothes and sneak in the garden:))