Which variety of plum?

[Trevor_D]

OH's latest project is to turn the unlovely bottom end of our plot into a lovely orchard. (Guess which one of us is doing the mental work and which one the manual work??)

She - actually, we - fancy plums (who doesn't?) but having trawled through catalogues and the internet we've still not quite decided on the varieties. We think Early Transparent Gage and Victoria. But there are several others on our short list.

Any plum growers on A4A? What do you think?

[Trevor_D]

[grannyjanny]

I haven't got one but Czar in lovely.

[Spudbash]

I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations from people who grow plums and get to taste them at their very best. I'd just say, consider pollination - you may find it worthwhile planting two in the same pollination group, but with different harvest times and different flavours. Maybe go for ones on a dwarfing rootstock, for efficient use of space and ease of pruning and harvesting?

One more thing - avoid varieties that are ripe when you take your annual holiday; alternatively, change the time when you go on holiday!  :)

I love damsons, gages, and cooking and eating plums alike. I guess I would suggest varieties that you can't easily obtain in the shops - Denniston's Superb, Jefferson, Merryweather damson or even Belle de Louvain (a cooking plum that has a tart, almond-flavour skin).

I've just harvested the first three apricots from my young tree and found them delicious - just a thought to complicate your decision-making process!  ;D

[grawrc]

Trevor, I have a Victoria plum which is great. It's an elderly tree but continues to bear heavy crops of luscious plums. The problems are: biennial bearing and brown rot if you don't get the pruning right. Not problem for you two I imagine! Oh and wasps which can totally ruin the crop. Since I'm allergic the wasps often win.Self-pollinating too.

I also have a mirabelle and a damson on my allotment but they are too young to comment.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Cambridge Gage is small but flavoursome.

[goodlife]

My absolute favourite is Herman..really sweet and the stone comes loose from flesh..so easy to eat and to cook with too ;)
It is very early one,,fruit start to ripen in mid-July here in Midlands and so normally wasp leaves it alone as they are not interested much with sweet things that time of the year..nomally the autumn varieties get attacted.
It is classic purple fruiting variety..shape and size like hens egg.

[dtw]

I've got Victoria plums, they make a nice crumble.  :D

[artichoke]

I have planted Opal, which is supposed to taste like Victoria but to be a more reliable annual cropper. Herman sounds interesting, though.

[goodlife]

Yes I 've got Opal too... ;D..it is couple weeks earlier than Victoria..
So if you have room for few trees you can stager the crops from end of July to end of September quite easily and have plums almost non stop ;D..that's if you've got stocmach enough ;)

[calendula]

me too on the Opal - early, heavy cropper, fantastic flavour, can't give it enough praise - also Oullins and Cambridge - if you have room for more than one than go for early and later - love plums, they signal the best time of year for me  :)

[lolabelle]

for me has to be Warwickshire drooper, yellow plum nice eater, nice cooked good for Jam and chutney too

[galina]

Cambridge Gage is very yummy, as is Mirabelle.  We also have Victoria, which is nice enough and Merryweather Damson, which is strong tasting.

If I could choose again, I'd swap Merryweather for Opal.

[saddad]

I'd recommend Oullin's Golden Gage and Cambridge gage...  Oullin's has larger fruit. There are loads of plums/gages to choose from...  :)

[Trevor_D]

Many thanks for your input.

We'd thought about Opal as well: they have them at our local PYO and I've just made a batch of jam and a lovely plum cake!

We'd dismissed Csar as it always seems a bit sharp for eating raw. We hadn't even looked at Herman - back to the drawing board. (And Cambridge Gage - lots of votes for that one.)

We also fancied a damson - Merryweather, it is, then!

(Suppose I'd better start clearing the ground soon....)

[saddad]

The Oullin's is about a fortnight before Cambridge here and then just before the Victoria..  which from three Minarette types means fresh "plums" through all August and September...  :)

[cjb02]

I have planted Opal, which is supposed to taste like Victoria but to be a more reliable annual cropper. Herman sounds interesting, though.

I have opal and it is a very nice plum indeed. crops a little earlier than victoria but very nice.