FRUIT - Vegetable, Fruit and Herb Growing in Small Spaces - page 74

Mirabelles or Cherry Plums - these are very hardy, so worth considering if providing a
warm spot or protection is difficult.
Some varieties are self-fertile, which simplifies growing tremendously, but some will re-
quire a partner to pollinate them. Make sure you know before you buy as finding out you
need a partner some five years down the line when you've had no fruit is frustrating!
For a single plum, consider Blue Tit as it is well flavoured, prolific, hardy and has the RHS
Award of Garden Merit. It is available as a minarette.
If you fancy two varieties but only have room for one, you can get duo-minarettes now
with two types on the same stem.
Plums don't last long. You can keep them for a few days and possibly a day or two longer
by keeping in a fridge but they're very much an eat them or lose them crop. When you're
faced with a glut you can, of course, bottle or make jams but for a plum pie we find just bag-
ging up and freezing can spread the season for a couple of months.
Figs
Figs to me always conjure visions of an oasis in the dessert, a huge moon in a starlit sky,
eating figs in the tent and drinking tiny cups of strong sweet coffee. Back to reality! You can
grow figs anywhere in the UK, even in the north of Scotland with the hardy variety Violetta
that will tolerate temperatures down to -20°C. The most popular variety for the UK is Brown
Turkey which is very reliable and reasonably hardy but Brunswick is said to have a better
flavour. Despite the tree itself being hardy, the tips of the branches where the fruit is formed
can be damaged by a frost and protecting with fleece, etc, is required to safeguard the fruit.
As the fruit matures, protect with netting or you'll find the birds have harvested them for
you.
The fruit is produced by the fig as its method of reproduction and if treated really well the
plant sees no need to reproduce and will not fruit. So when growing in a border, you need to
restrict the root growth by walling in a 2 foot (60cm) cube with slabs, etc. Even if you have a
border, for this reason, I'd suggest container growing anyway.
Its natural condition is to grow in poor soil so a basic John Innes compost with grit added
at 1 part grit to 4 parts compost by volume will duplicate that. Provide some slow release
general fertilizer at about half the normal rate and liquid feed with a tomato fertilizer monthly
during the summer but, if the tree seems very vigorous and produces a lot of lush foliage, cut
back on the feeding. We want fruit not leaves.
Prune, but not too hard, in the spring and pinch out new growth at five or six leaves in the
summer. The fruit should be ready for harvest in late summer and, after fruiting, the fig will
often produce another flush of fruit. If these survive the winter, then an early crop can be had.
In its natural Mediterranean home it can produce three crops a year but we usually get one.