PEARS

ALL fruits eaten in season are lovely, but a good pear is the best of all, impossibly juicy and sweet. However, they do not last long once they are ripe. Pears will tolerate slightly colder, damper growing conditions than apples although the fruits need more sun to ripen. If you have a large garden, they can become magnificent, long-lived trees, but for most of us they are best trained to fit into the available space. They are ideal to grow against a sunny wall or fenc espaliers (see panel right), which they easily respond to. With all training of fruit trees, reducing vertical growth and training horizontally encourages fruit, but results in less vigorous growth. Like apples, you must have more than one pear to cross-pollinate, although ‘e’, a good old-fashioned pear which is great for cooking as well as eating raw,is self-fertile so can be grown as a solitary specimen. OTHER VARIETIES:‘Doyenne Du Comice’, ‘Williams’ Bon Chretien’ and ‘Beth’.