Pear Tree

We've got 3 pear trees in our garden, one is proper old and the pears rot before they've ripened but the other 2 trees are a lot younger and we get a lovely load of pears off them every year. Ours were in the garden when we moved in but apparently you can grow pear trees from the pip out of a normal eating pear! You have to plant the sapling when it's got a few true leaves on it and then let nature take it's course. In the summer we set the sprinkler up at the bottom of the tree to make sure it gets plenty of water down to the roots but that's all. When all the pears are off the tree you have to prune the branches back so that they grow nice the ...  Read the complete review

Me and pears have a strange relationship, I don't eat much fruit but try to get at least one or two pieces down a day. I am aware of the health benefits of eating a wide range of different coloured fruits, so pears are my contribution towards the 'green' sector as I find apples too difficult to eat now that some of my teeth are unfortunately not my own. The problem with pears, for me, is the fact that I don't particularly like them so they do tend to have to be as near perfect as possible in order for me to eat one. For this reason I have begun to buy the bags of Kids Funsize Pears from Tesco, you get eight or nine small pears and they cost £1.49 which I ...  Read the complete review

It's rather difficult to buy decent pears in a supermarket, mostly because pears need to be very ripe indeed to have any discernible flavour or aroma. If such fruit were on sale, their shelf life would be incredibly short and thus would need to be rather expensive or unprofitable, and we can't have that. I tend to buy these packets of Tesco pears as they are reasonably priced (between 99p and £1.50, depending on time of the year and promotions) and contain pears which ripen very nicely. The dooyoo product photo shows very nice, yellow pears, but in reality they are sold uniformly green and normally need at least 5-6 days in the cupboard (they can ...  Read the complete review

Along with the apple, orange and banana, the pear is one of the most familiar British fruits. Oranges and bananas do not grow naturally in the UK so I have always considered pears to be the second British fruit, after the apple. When I was growing up my Auntie always had an orchard that was full of apple trees and pear trees, and even the odd gooseberry bush. I was always very envious of my Cousins and longed for an orchard of my own, but as my parents explained an orchard in our much smaller garden was not practical. And so my dream of having my very own orchard stayed with me into my adult life. About 4 years ago I decided that I would plant a ...  Read the complete review