Page 18 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2023

maturity, sometimes twice a day. Flavour was very fruity, possibly acid drops, texture was melting and sweet. Joan Morgan in her book “The Book of Pears” gives a glowing account of Beurre Superfin, so far, for me it is hardly worth growing, in fact
Josephine de Malines. Small to medium size. Mine is very biennial, tends to make most of its growth in September onwards, what I would call a late developer, pick late October. Flesh can be a very very pale orange, sweet, juicy and melting. The blossom is susceptible to frost damage; one advantage is that it is not bothered by scab. Recommended.
Blickling. Small to medium, pick late October, season January, sometimes February, sweet, juicy and melting. Recommended.
Santa Claus. Not timed for Christmas, more the New Year, mine has been known to reach February. Rather coarse and sweet but not exquisite, passable. Scab resistant. Beurre Rance. An interesting pear as it is supposed to be the latest dessert pear there is, my trials continue to see if it is okay or worthless. Supposedly in season in March,
last year, the few I had went rotten in February, a little nibble confirmed sweetness. I have
more in store this year. Update. End of February/ beginning of March 2022, I have brought some out of the garden store into the warmth of the house. These pears were picked
late October so they have been in store for over four months, after a few days I tried one or two, this is the verdict. The pears were in good condition none of the ones in store had gone rotten, juice was moderate, flavour was not exquisite, the brix reading was 14.5, that’s sweet. Cut up in a veg or fruit salad, they were most welcome as these were the last of the 2021 season’s desert pears. The alternative being of course supermarket pears.
Winter Nelis. I had this variety some years ago, but cropping dropped off, the only fruit set were the ones infected by pear midge, so it had to go. I have a replacement tree ready to plant. Season January, size small to medium, quite a nice pear, very attractive to grey squirrels though.
By the time Spring arrives the only pears I have in store are the cooking pears, i.e. Catillac, Black Worcester and Double de Guerre (two Wars) - don’t ask. The variety Double de Guerre is undoubtedly the best of the cooking pears, more like a cooked dessert pear, all three are scab resistant.
The Rootstocks
The more popular rootstocks for pears are Quince A and Quince C. Quince C is normally used for cordons and Quince A, being more vigorous for Pyramids, fans, bushes and espaliers. Other rootstocks
I grow it because there is a class for it in the above show. In the RHS Autumn Show there are fourteen classes for the European Pear (Pyrus Communis), two of them are collections, the only class I have never entered is Packham’s Triumph. I recently planted one and did just get to taste one pear this season. There were seven pears on the tree; this was gradually whittled down to one due to ‘tit’ damage. This is
the verdict on the 1.11.21. Not very sweet, tasted of tinned Bartlet pears, (One parent is William Bon Chretien, synonym Bartlet), texture, melting and juicy. Hopefully get to taste more specimens next year.
Emile d’ Hevst. First real
crop in 2021, past crops
have gone AWOL. Dense
flesh, slightly lacking in
juice, flavour fruity and
excellent. Still in season
on the 21.12.21.
Charles Ernest. My
specimen is an espalier
against a wall and is
strongly biennial. In the
past I have always re-iterated what Justin Brook said about wall grown peaches (he had never had a decent one with flavour grown against a wall), possibly the same applies to wall grown pears. Anyway the Charles Ernest were not bad at all. Large to very large, smooth skin that turns
yellow when ripe, very sweet, juicy but not excessively so, flavour minimal. As the tree gets more established with more root run, hopefully the flavour will improve. 21.12.21 still bringing them out of store into the warmth.
Thompsons. The first small crop, the pears were very sweet, in fact sickly sweet, a slight vanilla flavour and a very very slight aftertaste of Williams, I thought. Juicy and melting reputed to be one of the best. Season mid October.
Glou Morceau. (Tasty morsel) This year (2021) most fruit were small, I normally pick most of the crop on the last day of October or the first day of November, the season is mid November to mid December, this year they are just ready to eat now (10.12.21),
so they are late; I would normally exhibit this pear in the Late Fruit & Vegetable Competition in the first week of November. This is a first-rate pear for Nov/Dec, a good cropper, although slightly biennial, smooth skin, juicy, sweet and melting- recommended.
Santa Claus. Not timed for Christmas, more the New Year
Triomphe de Vienne
are PYC also known as Pear Seedling Rootstock and Pyro-Dwarf; the former would be used for standard and half standard trees, ie trees in traditional orchards. What is important and is something you never read about is; that fruit on varieties grafted onto QC are significantly smaller than the same variety grafted on to QA. I have several varieties growing on both stocks. Other differences are skin finish and symmetry which can
be better on varieties grafted onto QC rootstocks, as can the colour; these same trees can crop about a week earlier. The differences in fruit size between the two stocks might possibly be rectified in the QC grafted stocks by growing further south or by fertigation. Last year (2020) two varieties on QC were equal to the size of fruit on
QA grafted rootstocks; this was the first time this has happened so I cannot explain it. If you want to exhibit, choose varieties grafted onto QA, providing you have the space. Large fruit are meritorious!
18 Simply Vegetables
Thompson’s pear.