Let's get fruity

We went out blackberrying this afternoon, one of life's simple pleasures.  We would love to show you all we collected but somehow they'd all gone by the time we got home.

Oohps.
There goes the jam idea.

But we also came across another fruit which we managed to bring home, for a wash.  Here they are....


Greengages.
Yum yum yum.

We would have saved some for Mike but they were too tasty and so we ate them all up.  Until we were left with stones.

And a thought occurred.
We should try to grow our own.
From stone.


These stones.

We have lived here for 11 years and never seen Greengages along this path before, this means that the tree must be in it's first year of fruit.  It certainly isn't tended, it's in an area of scrub; that is our sort of gardening.

A little google research and here's what I've discovered; it's an easy five step process to your own Plums/Greengages.

1. Eat fruit
2. Plant stone in a warm sunny spot
3. Wait for a very cold winter to start germination
4. Watch the tree grow
5. Wait at least five years, maybe seven, for the first fruit.

So by my reckoning; with a lot of luck Rachel might eat her own home grown greengage by her 13th birthday.

I hope it'll be worth waiting for.