Apricot Abundance

There have been times in the past several years since I planted the apricot tree that I have seriously considered chopping it down. It has produced very few fruit and I did wonder why I gave it space in the garden.  Not this year though.  Last month I had to thin the fruit, so laden were the branches  and now the remaining fruit have swelled and are weighing down the branches with hundreds of glorious golden fruit. As far as possible, I have covere

I wish I could say that our apricot tree provides us with a magnificent crop, but the truth of the matter is that despite the wonderful weather, the couple of pounds of fruit we picked do not really justify the space the tree takes up.  By the time that the blue tits have pecked off half the flowers (apparently they find apricot flowers particularly delicious) and the blackbirds have stabbed at the fruit long before it is fully ripe, I’m amazed that we got even that many.  Still there were a few fine specimens that we ate fresh and we salvaged some of the damaged fruit and stewed them up.  They all tasted wonderful – now I have to decide the tree’s fate – a few delicious fruit in a good year – or more growing space.  The head knows what to do, but the heart may be less rational. .

It’s abundantly clear that, for me, choosing material for a Monday vase is going to get harder from now on – today’s could have been bright and cheery calendula, the first dahlias or any of a number of different roses. Instead, I have cut side shoots of a well-established delphinium, one of the ‘Camelot’ group, probably ‘King Arthur’, and paired them with the antirrhinum I showed yesterday, ‘Liberty Classic White’. I am hoping that cutting the latter will encourage the plants to branch out and become bushier. For greenery, I have included frothy and over-abundant meadow rue, brought in ignorance many years ago from my sister’s garden and for which I have been ruing ever since, as it has proved very difficult to eradicate. Also included are immature seedheads from a herbaceous poppy, just because.

Our largest olive tree is absolutely smothered in flower buds this year – now all we need is some warm weather and maybe we’ll actually get a crop this year.  Our garden is sheltered enough and it is in the sunniest spot.

Apricot Fool Is probably all that this year’s apricot crop will be suitable for. The fruit are a good size but they look rather battered from all the wind and rain. It’s another crop that needs a good long summer. Please!

Apricots (Prunus armeniaca) are grown for their luscious, sweet, and fragrant fruits. You can grow them from cuttings, grafts, and pits as well. Read on the article to find out how to grow apricot from seeds.

The fungus Armillaria can attack all fruit trees, including apricots.Although soil fumigation is sometimes recommended, it typically doesn’t w

Do you live in a cold region where winters are long and summers are short, and still fancy growing apricots, Prunus armeniaca, in your orchard?Well, luckily for you, despite the c

Peach scab is a hideous disease that is also known as black spot or freckles, due to its appearance on the fruit. However, the scab is usually superficial. Fruit that is peeled should be perfectly edible.The fungus that causes scab, Cladosporium carpophilum, is responsible for scab

As a kid, I spent a few summers camping along the Columbia River in Maryhill, Washington – Yakama Nation land – where some of the best stone fruits in the world are grown.When I think of summers there, I picture the wide br