Kitchen Garden Simon Courtauld

PEARS

I remember, years ago, my then motherin-law saying that, of all the varieties of pear, Doyenne du Comice was the best.

From planting, all pear trees need up to four years before producing a good crop of fruit. Having just entered my ninth decade, I am aware that if I am going to grow Doyenne du Comice, or any other pear, I had better get on with it.

Pear trees used to be grown on pear stock; this produced huge, slow-growing trees unsuitable for most gardens.

Nowadays they are usually grafted on to quince rootstock; they will fruit more quickly and their size is more manageable.

Pears probably grow best on trees trained against a south-facing wall or fence. In Edwardian gardens they were often grown as espaliers, forming a screen between the flowers and vegetables, or flanking a path. Paths can now be edged with

low-growing pear trees, like one-tier espaliers, known as stepovers. Since pear trees are shallow-rooted, good soil and drainage are important. So is summer pruning of cordons and espaliers.

Bare-root trees can be planted now and until mid-april, if possible on a site protected from spring frosts, as pear trees will produce their blossom about two weeks earlier than apple trees.

Pomona Fruits offer 14 varieties (the young trees cost about £22), including Comice and one called Onward, which is said to be more reliable than Comice and similar in flavour.

Pollinating pears is slightly tricky. Though a few varieties, such as Conference, are self-fertile, most are divided into flowering groups and should be grown with another variety in the same or an adjacent group. The best thing is to ask a fruit nursery or consult a catalogue. A few cultivars will need two pollinators.

The pears should be picked – lifted and twisted lightly – before they are fully ripe, and then carefully stored until they begin to colour. The Comice that I bought recently were labelled ‘soft, buttery and aromatic’, which does not do justice to their flavour. I prefer Homer’s description of pears as a gift of the gods.