Focus on… Plums and damsons

BE assured that, by growing one of these trees, you’ll not only be keeping your household stocked up with delicious, flavour some fruits, but also those along your entire street! Plums, plus related damsons and gages, are notoriously high yielding.

True plums arise from Prunus domestica, and are oval in shape. Ripening can occur from mid-July (like ‘Herman’) to early October (such as ‘Marjorie’s Seedling’). Gages are also botanically Prunus domestica, but are more spherical. They need time to develop their high sugar levels, so ripening occurs in August or September. Damsons originate from Prunus insititia, and the fruit is generally small and tart. Ripening occurs very slowly, generally in September and October.

“These fruits are notoriously high yielding”

With pruning only necessary if trees become unruly, and unfussy pollination requirements, you can see why they’re so popular. Now is an ideal time to harvest and prune them, so let’s look at