Make your PEARS pearls

IF YOU HAVE ROOM FOR ONLY ONE FRUIT TREE MAKE A PEAR YOUR PLAN!

beautiful blossoms in spring, blissful shade under their drip-tipped leaves in summer and a bounty of sweet juice from the golden teardrop-like fruit in autumn. That’s a pear tree for you! Or the fruit can be a gorgeous green, ruby red or mellow yellow. One of the easiest fruit trees to grow in your backyard, you can also train it up a wall or include it in your pocket orchard in a tiny space.

PLANTING

• Bare-rooted pear trees are much cheaper than buying in a pot. Plant in winter when the roots are dormant and as soon as you pick it up so the roots don’t dry out.

• Soak in water while you dig a hole twice as wide as the roots, add organic matter and build a mound in the hole so the start of the tree stem sits level with the ground.

• Spread roots over the mound and gently backfill. Water in well, then prune back to about 5 or 6 buds.

• When planting from a pot, dig a hole twice as wide and the same depth as the root ball. Remove tree from pot and tease out roots. Trim back circling or tangled roots. Put in the hole and backfill with soil, firming down gently. Water in well and keep watering daily for several weeks.

PESTS AND DISEASES

Mulch soil in spring to CODLING MOTH prevent adults emerging from the soil to lay their eggs on the foliage. Or, wrap the trunk with a band of hessian to distract female egg-laying moths from leaves – keep wrapped for a few weeks, put in rubbish bin and then replace.

Hang pheromone-based FRUIT FLY traps to attract and kill male fruit flies. Collect and destroy any rotten fruit.

PEAR AND CHERRY SLUG The larvae of the sawfly can skeletonise the foliage in a bad outbreak. Throw garden lime or wood ash over the foliage to dry out and kill the slug or spray your foliage with diluted dishwashing liquid. Repeat across the hot months.

POLLINATION

Most pear trees are dioecious, so you need another pear tree near by that flowers at the same time for pollination – and therefore fruit – to occur. Some of the more modern breeds now self-pollinate. Before you buy, check with your nursery as to which trees need a companion and which ones can go it alone.

HARVEST

Pears are best picked when slightly under-ripe and still firm. Keep them in the fridge for a couple of weeks, then allow to ripen in a bowl before eating.

Once picked, keep pears in a bowl for a week to develop their juicy sweetness

ORNAMENTAL PEARS

Some pear trees are destined to be just pretty, such as the hardy, drought-resistant callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) and the weeping pear

(P. salicifolia). The callery produces a flurry of flu„y spring blossoms and their leaves turn from bright, luscious lime green in spring to deep, rich maroon in autumn. The weeping has silvery grey willow-like leaves that become glossy green as they mature. Both fruits are small and hard, so make sure you leave them for the wildlife!

GROWING IN CONTAINERS

Put a pear tree on your sunny porch or patio, cultivate a mini orchard in your courtyard or bring bounty to your balcony with Trixzie! It’s been especially bred for growing in containers in cool, temperate climates. Amid its dense, bright green foliage it bears full-sized, round green fruit while taking up minimum space – just 1.5m high and wide. Plus, it’s self-pollinating, so you only need one, if that’s all you have room for.

GOING ALL PEAR SHAPED When the green skin of the Williams pear turns golden yellow, while keeping its dainty li le freckles , you know it’s ripe for picking.

YOUR GARDEN AWAKES The bright spring-flowering bulbs will fade, but that old pear tree at the back of your garden will keep producing fruit for up to 20 years!

BEURRE BOSC

SILVERY SPECIALS A narrow garden bed is no place for big trees, however the weeping pear with its single trunk and mop top adds graceful colour and texture.

POTTED PEARS Water dwarf pears in pots more oen than garden trees as the growing medium dries out.

TRICKY TRIXZIE Put the small but bountiful Trixzie pear tree in a sunny corner of your balcony.

DESIGNER CHIC! Use your espaliered pear as a garden room divider. Since it changes with each season, there’s no need to renovate!

GREEN AND GOLD Pair your po ed pears with marigolds and creeping jenny (Lysimachia sp).