Some plums can be dried and served as prunes. METHOD To sterilise your jars, wash and rinse them, place in the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C, then take out to cool. There's nothing like eating freshly picked fruit from the garden. Damson plums are ready for harvest when the color changes and the flesh softens. Plums, gages and damsons are all stone fruits that thrive in sheltered, warm gardens. Rainfall and high humidity during the growing season can cause the fruit to crack.Thinning is not necessary for Damson plums. The trees can reach 20 feet in height, with mature trees ready for harvest between late spring and late summer. Although they all bear the same basic type of fruit, their taste varies from tart and spicy, to sweet and perfumed. If it's still hard to the touch, you'll need to wait a bit longer. The tree performs best in deep, loamy, well drained soil. The fruit is nutritious and tasty, and … It is cold hardy and tolerates strong winds. For the best results, harvest top fruit and soft fruit with care at the correct time. Vikki Rimmer investigates the humble purple fruit with the Kentish kings of the harvest at Watts Farms. The plums will be deep blue, purple or black in color and have a powdery look. Planting Damson Plum Trees: Choose a spot where your tree will receive at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day. Try it and never settle for other plum preserves! The California plums start to ripen usually in late May. They ship plums all over the country, so there is a good chance you are finding California plums in your grocery store. The season goes until around the start of September. The first plums of the season are ready for harvest in mid-summer and the last plums of the season are harvested nearly at the beginning of autumn. The advice below explains how to gauge the timing and about some of the problems that may be encountered. Plant the seed directly into the ground and water deeply. Harvest now. All these have their uses, so the final choice is usually a personal one. The easiest way to tell when your plums are ripe is to lightly press the skin with your finger. Store ripe plums in the refrigerator. Once established, the damson plum tree requires very little care. Fruit: harvesting. Smaller than your regular plum, the tiny purple damson is a quirky pocket-rocket of a fruit. Plum trees begin bearing fruit about 4 years after planting, producing yields of three or more bushels each year. ... Our first time growing fruit trees and I wanted a tree that was going to be fruitful and easy to grow. Wash the damson plums and pull off any stalks and leaves. Damson Plum Tree Care: We like the dwarf size for easy harvesting. California is the number 1 producer of plums in the United States. Store by freezing them, bottling them, preserving them in alcohol or making Damson Cheese. Plums can be poached or baked like pears and peaches. 450-500g fresh or frozen damson plums 50-200g sugar (depending on how sweet a tooth you have) 350ml gin or vodka. Plenty of recipes for this on web, great with a Strong Cheddar. There are more than 2,000 varieties of plums, some are purebred, the majority are hybrids. This Damson Plum tree bears consistently heavy crops of heirloom plums – best for homemade jams and jellies. Damsons are easy to grow and wonderfully tasty. Test the plums for ripeness. If you make a slight indentation, the plum is probably ripe. If your finger punctures the plum's skin at the merest touch, the process has gone a bit too far. The tree adapts to wide range of soil types but requires moist soil. Jennifer H on Apr 4, 2020 California Plums. The sweet fruits were introduced by the Romans and became incredibly popular in Victorian times. Some of the problems that May be encountered 8 hours of sunlight per day humidity! 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