Plums

[finefencer]

I only have a small garden, and my plot is mainly fruit.

I have: raspberry's, gooseberry's, strawberry's, rhubarb, apples, damson, and a kiwi.
I would like to add a plum, but which one?

I like the look of Mirabelle de Nancy....is anyone growing this?
It says it is self fertile on one site, and on another it says it improves with a pollinator. So would my damson work as the pollinator?

[Kirk]

It should be pollinated by the damson, they are all plums.

It appears from one source to be biased towards a cooker rather then a desert plum, just in case you were after a desert variety. Equally others mention it's sweetness, so not 100% sure where it actually falls.

Says "partially self fertile" which would match in with what you have found. In general most (all) self fertile trees do better with another pollinator (damson). It is I guess the difference between 30% successful pollination compared to 80% success.

[Guest]

I think picking time may be critical with mirabelle de nancy. I tried the fruit last year of a tree someone had known for years and only thought it was for cooking. The fruit was fantastic sweet and apricotty - none were cooked (however that is only one tree)

[yummersetter]

I've grown these for years . . our first trees were brought back from Nancy about 15 years ago - my husband used to fly local French farmers in our hot-air balloon at the Montgolfiere meet and they'd show their gratitude in baskets of mirabelles. When the insurance rocketed we had to grow our own and they weren't available here then. They are nice eaten raw but greengages are better in the same season so the mirabelles tend to be used for tarts, chutney, jam and as frozen fruit for the winter. They are a touch sweet and bland when eaten off the tree but cooked with some sugar and lemon juice really come alive. We've always had a lot of fruit from our trees and they've been more reliable and versatile than most plums. Small fruit, the size of a large cherry, and like most sweet plums can be wasp magnets in a hot summer.

[spamvindaloo]

I've just got one of these last month. The nursery told me that the yellow variety of mirabelle de nancy is sweeter than the red one.

[finefencer]

Thanks for your good sense...

[finefencer]

So reading what you have each added, it makes me wonder if I am choosing the right plum.
I have grown The President, and the Golden gauge, but fruiting was poor. I did pick a plum from a farm shop, and all they could tell me was it was I think Early Pershore or something like that.

it was blue, smallish, very early and superb...I never picked enough, but the jam.....excellent I have never tasted anything like it....any ideas?

[boundtothesoil]

I think Early Pershore or something like that.

it was blue, smallish, very early and superb...I never picked enough, but the jam.....excellent I have never tasted anything like it....any ideas?

Could be Purple Pershore which used to be grown commercially fairly widely (i.e. vale of Evesham, Wisbech area), for processing and jam. - but not a good eater off the tree.

[finefencer]

Thanks all for the help.
I think I might give Nancy a try.