Blossom time!

The weather conditions are just right for the fruit blossom.

Sometimes at this time of year we get strong winds and heavy rain, and perhaps frost too, all of which can be serious threats, but not this year. In the last few days the blossoms on my Minarette apple and pear trees have opened out fully, and hopefully the bees will have been taking full advantage of this. With a bit of luck this will be a good year for fruit.





Pear - "Conference"

  The three Minarettes are growing near the fence on the North-West side of my garden, and thus get the sun from the South. In theory, this is a good position for them. The trouble is that the soil is very poor and I have to be very careful not to let the trees suffer from lack of water. They are planted about three feet apart from each other, which is well within the tolerances for Minarettes, which are deliberately kept small and slim, but in retrospect I think it might have been wiser to put them a bit further apart. At the time when I planted them I had currant bushes along that fence and I had to just squeeze them in wherever I could. The currants went a couple of years ago, to be replaced by raspberries. You can see these at the foot of the fence panels in the next picture.

The Apple tree has been the best of the trio, though I have to admit that it has not been a roaring success. Nevertheless, it is very satisfying to be able to eat fruit from your own trees, however small the harvest. The pear has been OK: last year it only had five fruit, but they were very nice indeed. The Victoria plum tree has been disappointing so far (only 2 fruit last year), but I'm not giving up just yet. Fellow-blogger Sue from Green Lane Allotments has kindly sourced me some valuable advice about how to give it a wake-up call, so maybe it will come good in the end. But I am thinking of changing Victoria's name to Cinderella. Her minimalist ball-gown is certainly not on a par with those of her siblings!


Plum - "Victoria"