help wanted to identify small plum/damson

[simonx]

Hi, we have a fruit tree in our new garden with what looks like small damsons, but too small to be damsons I think; I'd say they are about the size of a plump gooseberry.

It is laden with ripening fruit at the moment, a few ripe ones already falling off, and the flesh is a yellowy green and the taste is sharp but pleasant.

Attached is a picture, with an AA battery to help for scale.

Any help in identifying much appreciated :-)

[Odsox]

I would say they ARE damsons.
Damsons are about the size of gooseberries or about 3/4 inch or so ... at least all the ones I've grown have been less that an inch in diameter.
The only other possibility that I can think of is a sloe, and you wouldn't describe the taste of that as "pleasant"

[Millymollymandy]

Was the photo taken a while ago though? Mine are dark purple now but not yet ripe - they won't be ripe for several weeks or more yet. If they are damsons and only just starting to turn colour then they would be hard and unripe. Look like the right size though.

[simonx]

thanks .... photo was Monday this week (Aug 3rd), most not quite ripe yet, but not far off I'd say.

I'm thinking you;re right and they are damsons, but a smaller variety than I have had before.

Not sure they are pointed at the stalk end though - maybe that comes when they are plumper?

[Peggy Sue]

Don't forget MMM you are in France so may be a few weeks ahead of us here.

There's a line of plum trees down near our allotment and some are almost over, some about ripe and some not there yet and since they ripen around the same time as damsons thats probably about right?

[Millymollymandy]

Well actually I'm in Brittany so I am probably well behind! We were a lot behind the UK in April when I visited. My plums and peaches don't ripen until September whilst other parts of France are already eating their peaches!

[Peggy Sue]

Its just my holiday memories of Brittany were lovely and warm.. but then again we have had warm summers here....1976 wasn't it?

[Millymollymandy]

It was last warm here in, um, 2006! No I tell a lie, we did reach 30.2C one day this year!!! Then it was cold, grey and drizzly for the next 3 weeks. London has had hotter weather than us this year I think!

But it suits me fine as I don't like constant hot dry sunny weather and with my ridiculously free draining sandy soil people on the forum might have noticed how I every time we get some rain!

[Peggy Sue]

:London has had hotter weather than us this year I think!

:

A few weeks unusually hot weather gets great press- it's rained every day here since the beginning of July....and E Anglia is supposed to be dry. They forecast a hot dry summer for us just to make us all the more dissappointed I think

Trying to dry those poor onions..... and I see black clouds on the horizon, still it hasn't rained for almost 5 hours now...

[Odsox]

but then again we have had warm summers here....1976 wasn't it?

Ah yes, I remember it well .... shrivelled plants all over my garden
I also remember the opposite, the winter of 1962/3, with snow on the ground in Kent from Boxing day till mid March.

[Millymollymandy]

Oh THAT winter , well I was living in Fiji then. Didn't have a clue what snow was!

It was hot in England in 2003 because when my in-laws were with us during the horrible heatwave here in France, they went back home to even hotter weather - though I don't think the heatwave lasted as long in the UK. I remember watching that series about Kew Gardens and the grass was completely brown like it was in France and they were having to water some of the big old trees. Or that could have been another more recent year, well whatever, it does get hot and dry sometimes in England! I have many memories of sweltering in summer whilst living in London.

[Peggy Sue]

It was hot in England in 2003 because when my in-laws were with us during the horrible heatwave here in France, they went back home to even hotter weather - though I don't think the heatwave lasted as long in the UK. I remember watching that series about Kew Gardens and the grass was completely brown like it was in France and they were having to water some of the big old trees. Or that could have been another more recent year, well whatever, it does get hot and dry sometimes in England! I have many memories of sweltering in summer whilst living in London.

That was when they declared global warming meant we would all bask in hot sunshine forever more.....or for a about a month til global warming meant wet winters followed by wet summers! Oh to be a scientist