The summer of plums

Several years ago, I noticed some beautiful spring blossoms appear above our fence. A year or two later, we noticed a tree on our property that seemed to be growing some kind of fruit. What was it? And how did it get there? Neither of us have very green thumbs. Should we have been looking after it?

It seems that Mother Nature or one of her helpers had self-seeded a #SurprisePlumTree in our front yard and it was preparing to bear fruit! We culled some lavender bushes underneath that were stifling its growth and wondered what to do with this strangely shaped tree. We were delighted when the first season yielded a few dozen dark purple plums (not sure which type). I took some advice from a keen gardener and had a go at gently pruning the tree, cutting the long branches back one third each year to finally shape it into something that might actually produce fruit - and this year we were rewarded with a bumper crop!

In mid-December, the tree looked like this. Things looked promising.

A hint of colour

Shortly after Christmas, the fruit started to colour ...

Steady progress

... and then last week the neighbourhood birds announced that the plums were ready! After a frantic day tying and re-tying netting around the branches to beat the birds at their game, recovering plums that had already fallen to the ground and rescuing slightly pecked fruit, we started collecting beautifully ripe plums. And then some more. And then even more. Yum!

Two days' pickings with more to come

It's lucky that we like summer fruit and plums as they now accompany every meal. Bags have been shared with neighbours, family and friends. Plums get added to fruit smoothies and also contribute to the compost bin. I've experimented with recipes and already baked sooooo many things with plums with more planned for next week, including:

• plum shortcake (just add an extra teaspoon of mixed spice to the fruit)
• simple summer plum cake using half plums and nectarines for the topping
• plum compote for pancakes and waffles
• mini plum clafoutis for dessert.

I'm not at the sauce, chutney, stewing or jam-making stages yet as we don't really eat these, but ask me again next week and I might change my mind. In the meantime, I'll keep searching for more yummy plum recipes.

We're enjoying our summer of plums and are thankful to whatever planted and cared for our #SurprisePlumTree until we were able to look after it ourselves.