Cherry harvest

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My partner loves cherries, and was hankering after a cherry tree or two, although we don’t have the best space for them really – all the best, sunny spots are already taken. But then last autumn I came across a special offer of three trees (different varieties) for £30, with free delivery – a real bargain! So I placed the order and in November our pack of three bare-root trees duly arrived. The problem then was when would we get around to planting them? As usual we had not done any preparation in advance – we seem to be good at leaving everything to the last minute – and we were having endless wet weather, making our heavy clay soil unworkable. I put the trees in a big bucket in the garage with a bag of compost covering their roots to keep them from drying out. As they had no leaves, being in the dark didn’t matter. Over the course of the next few months we did eventually manage to plant them, one by one. Digging out a big hole, mixing home-made compost with the clay soil, and planting the trees firmly. By the time we came to the last one it was February or March and I was convinced the poor thing was nothing but a dead stick. But plants are amazing – in due course a few shoots appeared. So by early summer the first tree had just about doubled in height, the second had a tuft of shoots, and the third was steadily strengthening. I wasn’t expecting anything from them this year, as the trees would need time to concentrate their strength on growing good roots and branches, but a few flowers did appear, and the first tree managed to produce our first cherry harvest – a single cherry! We ceremoniously shared it, and look forward to more next year! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2025.