We have a plum tree in our backyard. It was here when we moved in. But it wasn't until last summer that we actually gave the tree some attention. We trimmed it a bit (they can grow pretty crazy!) and made sure it got some water.
The other day Ian climbed the tree and harvested a bowl full of plums. All but one have been eaten. They aren't the tastiest, but they are definitely edible. (And very pretty to photograph...;)
Do any of you grow plums?
Do you have any advice for ways to make the fruit sweeter?
Anything I need to add to the soil?
I know nothing about plums, or fruit trees in general, really.
So any advice would be greatly appreciated.
3 comments:
um, slightly...
my friend didn't have enough peaches for her pie so she added a few plums, she said the combination was very pretty and tasty too!
Came over on a reccie post from Mavis on One Hundred Dollers. You would feed your plum tree like you would most of the other stone fruits, a mature 30' tree gets about 1 actual pound of nitrogen per year total if you're measuring it from a mixed-source fertilizer such as 10-10-10 (those numbers on the fertilizer bags are %s). With compost, I've found they're just fine with having a raw open-bottom compost heap running right inside their dripline, and tolerate very heavy wet soil all winter. They do like deep irrigations (like hose sprinkler running for a couple hours) about once a month on my heavy clay. I'm in NorCal also.
They aren't subject to fireblight due to too much N in the way young pear trees are, so you don't have to worry as much about overfeeding them. RE: pruning, as they get older the fruiting branches bend downward, so they tend to grow as a fountain, throwing up watersprouts in the center and fruiting branches drooping outward and growing less productive in five years or so, so those should be taken off now and then.
Post a Comment