Apricots – it’s been worth the wait

There have been times in the past several years since I planted the apricot tree that I have seriously considered chopping it down. It has produced very few fruit and I did wonder why I gave it space in the garden.  Not this year though.  Last month I had to thin the fruit, so laden were the branches  and now the remaining fruit have swelled and are weighing down the branches with hundreds of glorious golden fruit. As far as possible, I have covered the most laden branches with Tendamesh (a very fine net) to keep the birds and squirrels at bay and so far it seems to be working.  As the fruit turns a deep shade of apricot (how appropriate), we are picking them and either making compote, freezing them in halves (perfect for tarts later in the year) or spreading them out to ripen fully indoors. If we leave them, they tend to drop off the tree and get bruised or munched before we get to them.  We may need to spread an old blanket on the ground for those that we can’t reach. I’ve started pruning the fruited branches and will shape the tree once all the fruit has been harvested in the hope that future crops will be easier to pick.  Of course, the tree may now rest for several more years, but I think it is safe from the axe. I can’t remember whether it is Flavorcot or Tomcot, but it definitely is one of the Canadian bred varieties that flowers later to miss the frosts.