My 2 nectarines were lovely. From a tree purchased in May and said to be self fertile, it arrived with little fruitlets already attached so I can't really claim much of a part in its success. More fruitlets were lying on the surface of the soil in the pot – thanks courier company for taking so much care and not throwing the box around en route... But at least I have hope that if I can look after it over the winter, then it will produce more than 2 fruits next year.
I have mentioned before that we have alpine strawberries rambling all over the suburban veg plot. These hardy plants have runners like steel wire that seek out any little space or gap to set up shop. Mistakenly I tried to create a small strawberry border using these plants at one stage – they multiplied like rabbits and ended up looking a horrible tangled mess and producing very few fruits. Needless to say, that border has now been 'de-strawberried'. So now I have them just about under control bordering a few raised beds where they seem happy and I can keep pulling out any new plants they try to throw out. The fruits are real crowd-pleasers around here – the husband, the chickens, my best friend's toddler – they all love these tiny fruit straight from the plant. I pick a few each morning to throw onto my muesli along with fresh blueberries. And as for deciding whether I'll grow them next year? Well, I don't think I have much choice in that.
Your very own nectarines - how exciting!I'm sure that you will really savour your crop. Like the idea of sprinklings of alpine strawberries with muesli.
ReplyDeleteThey were beautiful. I came close to losing one before it ripened when the aforementioned toddler became very keen on touching/pulling one of them but thankfully they held on!
DeleteThat is really strange as our alpines don't send out runners although they do self seed which means they create a thick border. Some of ours need replacing now.
ReplyDeleteWhat variety is your nectarine - we bought one this year but it has no fruit - but this is maybe as we kept it in the greenhouse when it first arrived so there wasn't much chance of it being pollinated.
It's a Big Top variety. I ordered it late in the season so it already had small fruitlets on it when it first arrived. I guess it's a balance between keeping it protected from the weather and allowing pollinators access. This spring certainly would have been a challenge!
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