France in Focus

This year our Mirabelle tree has produced more fruit than ever before, in fact there was so much that the boughs and branches buckled under the weight with some of them even snapping. Compote, Jam and plums in brandy have been and continue to be made. Our neighbours will benefit from bags full over the next week or so as will family and friends. Pies and Clafoutis will be made but my own personal favourite are plums in Armagnac ♥

Posted as add on in another section the other day much the same.
You can only process so many kilos of the lovely plums, as you said, compot,jam clafoutis, we've open frozen loads then bagged up to use in pies etc next winter.
Can't give them away here as all our neighbours are also loaded down with them.
The prune d'Argen will be dried in the pollytunnel, lovely for keeping me regular during winter months.
Now our pears and apples are dropping off so it's the same with them.
My own planted Row of espaliers ( now eight years old) for the first time are all over loaded.
Tomorrow morning before its too hot, its pear and walnut chutney time.
Like others,up to now frosts have taken the blossom off.

Lucky you.
We've 4 plum trees & not a single plum to be seen.
The flowers were got by a late frost, as usual, & we haven't had any plums for at least a couple of years now.
Shed loads of different varieties of apples & peaches though.
Wanna swop

That's unlucky LaF.

Like OBR we have never had so many as this year - which given the main bough blew down six or seven years ago says something for the crop. Most years, like you, frosts have taken their toll, but not this time.

We planted two apple trees five years ago. A Cox and a French variety pollinator and a self polinating green plum. A total of half a dozen apples and no plums in all that time. We tell people that plants come here to die.

It takes 5-10 years for a tree on dwarf stock to establish and start cropping well. Longer on ordinary root stock. Even then our good friend the weather can kybosh everything. We have cherry trees that have produced a good crop perhaps one year in 10. About 10 years ago, one of the village old boys* told us that he used to scrump cherries in his youth some 50 years before. So the trees must be 70 years old at least.

* sadly now departed

My Mirabelle only produced about a dozen plums this year but the Quetche is loaded. Like everyone else I've made jam, compote, frozen lots for crumbles and given away as much as I can. The tree was hard pruned a couple of years ago when a bountiful crop broke branches. It's come back even stronger.

I have a Mirabelle that I planted five years ago as a bare root. Last year it had a handful of fruit, this year it was laden. The fruit was passed onto my neighbour who processed it in record time. Both my apple and pear trees are having a bumper year as well.

Our mirabelle has very little this year, but the apples and walnuts are in abundance. The walnuts are huge- the size of a nectarine

Some neighbours had their walnut tree cut down.
It seems they couldn't put up with the falling leaves, etc.
Anyone noticed how much you have to pay for walnuts these days, even at a boot fair?