First Kordia Cherry
Here is a funny little success story for you today. I'm growing four cherry trees in my garden alongside my apples, plums, medlars, and hazelnuts. I cram them into our tiny urban garden by pruning them into a columnar style. In other words, straight upwards, just like Nelson's Column.
These trees are still young, so the very first trees to come into fruit are doing so for the very first time this year. When the cherry blossoms bloomed, they were beautiful and raised my spirits after the long winter. Cherries really do flower early.
When little green cherries began developing a few weeks later, I quietly smiled, pleased they were heading in the right direction. Just look at those little emerald gems.
I refused to get my hopes up though. Young trees usually, and rightfully, drop their fruit to focus instead on strong root and shoot development.
My heart quickened when one Kordia cherry, just one fruit, continued to swell and mature from green to red. By the way, this variety originating from a chance seedling in the Czech Republic, is resistant to canker and its fruit are less likely to split in variable wet/dry weather. These are two characteristics we highly prize here in Devon's Celtic rainforest!
I'm sure you can appreciate, with this lone ruby red beauty dangling so enticingly in the sunshine, I began watching the passing blackbirds with increasing suspicion, even panic. Then it struck me, why not wrap it? Just for the week or so until peak ripeness.
I put my hand instantly on the perfect baggy, one of those dreaded not-so-compostable grow bags I described with such disappointment previously.
I tied it around the branch with a rubber band and waited. Inside, the fruit still enjoyed sunlight and air circulation through the breathable non-woven material. It ripened deliciously. Yum, just plain yum.
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