Pick a pear Grow these crisp, aromatic fruits for a juicy autumn harvest. Here’s how to train them
Grow these crisp, aromatic fruits for a juicy autumn harvest. Helen Billiald explains how to fan train them against a sunny wall
Pear trees in spring are a glorious sight. Can anything beat a blue-sky day when every branch is tipped in white, there’s a background hum of bees, and the garden is a picture of optimism for the growing year ahead?
Then there’s the autumn fruit. Picked at the right moment, a fat, well-grown pear has sweet perfumed flesh and so much juice it’s impossible to eat in polite company! It’s a far cry from some bland and gritty travesties you may encounter at the shops. Grow your own and you’ll have access to cultivars that never make it to the supermarket, from the divine ‘Doyenné du Comice’ to the rarely seen ‘Humbug’, striped like a carnival tent. Pears adore sunshine, so growing them against a south-facing wall brings the sweetest, most aromatic fruit. Free standing trees also thrive in a sunny site on fertile, rich but well-drained soil. Shelter them from strong winds and avoid frost pockets. In more northerly gardens, choose extrareliable ‘Concorde’ or ‘Beth’, or use the added protection of a south- or west-facing wall. Pears aren’t self-fertile; to set fruit they require another cultivar nearby that flowers at the same time. To help you select the right pollination partner, pears are divided into pollination groups according to their flowering time. Most fruit tree nurseries have handy lists online where you can check potential partners, and if you’re short on space, single-stemmed cordons can be grown against a wall or fence, allowing you to grow a mini orchard in a tiny area.
Like apples, pears are grafted onto different rootstocks depending on the size of tree you’re after. The most common are Quince A and Quince C. Semi-vigorous Quince A rootstock is ideal for a 3-4m (10-13ft) high tree or a large fan/espalier. Slightly smaller, Quince C reaches 2.5-3m (8ft-10ft); a good choice for a small bush, fan or espalier of around 2m (6½ft). Quince Eline rootstock is similar in size to Quince C but with better cold hardiness. If you hanker after a free-standing half-standard tree, pick the larger Pyrodwarf rootstock, producing trees around 4.5m (15ft). ➤