What new fruits are you trying this year?

[Kitchen Gardeners International]

Any new types or varieties you're trying for the first time?

[amna mufti]

I have planted louqat tree this year.

[Glenn Fletcher]

Hi Amna
This is a new one on me. Is it common where you are or something a little unusual.

[Adrian Fox]

I've been trying to grow Acca or Feijoa Sellowiana. I've had the tree for a couple of years now and it's supposed to be self-fertile, but although it was covered in flowers this year, which I even tried to hand pollinate, not a single fruit set, not even a fruitlet.
It's about two feet high in a pot at the moment.
Does anyone have success with this or suggest whether I'm likely to get fruit in the future? I'm in a part of France which has hot summers but very cold winters, though I'm keeping the Acca in a conservatory for the worst of the winter.

[Glenn Fletcher]

Hi Adrian
Yours is the second tree today that i have never heard of. I can,t beleive it. I found this site which says they are not self fertile, but the flowers contain male and female parts. I hope the page is useful.

Glenn

[Adrian Fox]

Thanks Glenn. I note that there are some self-fertile varieties but they all do better if given another pollinator. I guess this is what I must try, along with a stiff note to the seed supplier which sold me the tree.
From what some New Zealand visitors said to us, this is a great fruit and should do well in many parts of the USA.

[Maxine Walker]

Had an interesting experience this year. Have a very old plum tree that came with the yard. For the first 5 years had zero plums in spite of lots of blooms. Then last summer they came raining down for three weeks. What had changed?? Then I read somewhere where nettles companion to fruit trees can stimulate production. That is just what I planted that is now just about covering the root area underneath the plum tree. Could this be what changed? Any like experiences out there ?

[Mary Ann]

We have a very old plum tree that came with our yard. It flowers earlier than any of our other fruit trees, including another plum. When we first moved here, we got virtually no plums, despite the fact that our neighbors had bee hives nearby. We cut down some extremely tall incense cedars that are growing in a tight row between the two properties. That seemed to help, the bees could reach the plum earlier in the season, and we got more plums. This year the bees were gone- these neighbors moved- but we still got a lot of plums. A large group of nettles have grown right on the other side of the incense cedar trees, so they're not right below the plum, but very close. I've been grumbling about the nettles; I now have to keep weeding volunteer thistles out of my garden. But perhaps I should be thanking them for my plums, I don't know.

[Kathryn]

If those are stinging nettles you can eat those, they are very healthy and very easy to prepare.

[Maxine Walker]

Yes Kathryn, they are stinging nettles and I harvest them (with long sleeves and gloves on !), use them fresh in stock and dry them for tea and later use in soups and stir-fries in the winter. Loaded with minerals and vitamins A and C and chlorophyll, a way of getting enough "greens" in the off season . Long recommended as a medicinal for various ailments by herbalists.

[Adrian Fox]

I noticed someone was growing Asian pears. Do these need any special soil conditions as I was thinking of buying one this winter? Ordinary pears just curl up and die on our soil which is heavy clay, though apples thrive. Does anyone know if Asian Pears would be more tolerant of heavy soil?

[Mary Ann]

I'm certainly no expert. We have what seems like a heavy clay to me, here in the Willametter Valley in OR, but my previous garden was in a sandy/clay area, so I may not know what you mean by a heavy clay. We have an asian pear, already planted when we bought the place, that bears prodigiously. If I don't thin, the fruit will break branches. We also have an older Bartlett pear right next to it that bears very well, so I know our soil is good for pears.
I just looked up asian pear in my favorite fruit nursery catalog and they specify that asian pears do well in almost any soil. I hope someone with more knowledge weighs in for you.