Introduction to Cherries Growing Cherries

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The fruit we know as cherries is not a berry but a drupe or a fruit with a stone. Cherries basically started out as a wild Cherry in Central Asia, America and Europe. In Japanese myth and culture the cherry refer to cherry trees and cherry blossom.
Cherries have been a part of culinary history in ancient Rome where it was brought by Roman soldiers from Armenia in 72 BC. It came to England with Henry the VIIIth who tasted this fruit in Flanders and wanted it cultivated in England.
Cherries which you eat at the table or cooked are either sweet -Prunus avium- or sour -Prunus cerasus- in taste. The growing of cherries in large quantities for commercial purposes is a challenge because of their vulnerability to harsh elements and the high cost of spraying, irrigation , maintenance of trees and labor costs.

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Cranes and cherry blossom are a common theme in Japanese art and lore.

But the great demand for this fruit globally makes it a profitable commodity and many cherry growers harvest them either by hand or with mechanized shakers so that the fruit are not damaged.
So the next time you enjoy a sour Morello, you can thank some dedicated gardener who protected this fruit against birds and also made sure the trees were planted in the right soil, because they are very particular about the soil in which they grow.

Growing Cherries
Stone fruits like cherries grow well if they are budded, instead of grafted. That means they are going to take better when buds are used.


Budding

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For people who want to know all about budding, this is carried out sometime between the end of July and the beginning of September. In grafting you use a 4 inch length of scion wood [this is one year old wood of a non-variety] which you attach to a healthy stock and allowed to grow.
But the budding procedure is different. Instead of using a 4 inch length of scion wood as you do in grafting, you are going to use just one bud. You must also have a sharp bladed budding knife, some damp raffia and a small bucket or jug of water in which you are going to place the fresh young scions as the work proceeds.
Choose the buds from wood, which is healthy and of the current year’s crop. These buds should be well ripened, but they should not be “plumped up”. Typical has the buds are going to be found on the lateral growth of your particular cherry variety.
The buds are not cut out of these young growth until they are actually used.
This URL is going to give you plenty of information of the actual budding procedure done by gardeners.

Best Varieties of Cherries

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Morello Cherries
Here are some cherry varieties which do very well when fed with organic compost – Kentish Red, Morello, and Late Duke. Apart from these varieties you can find 300 varieties of sweet cherries growing all over the world.
Here are some of the more popular varieties available to you at nearby nurseries – Florence, Gov. Wood, Black Eagle, Emperor Francis A, Bradbourne Black,Noir de Guben, Waterloo, Bigarreau Napoleon, Bigarreau de Schrecken, Rainier, Cristalina, Van, Sweetheart, and Merton Bigarreau.
Royal Ann produces the cherry which we popularly know as the preserved cherry placed in our drinks. We call this preserved cherry the maraschino cherry.

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You can even get Crimson and black cherries. Merton Bounty comes in this category.
The Largest Cherry in the World Is the Merton Glory. This is illustrated with Crimson. It does not crack very easily in wet weather. You can consider it a universal donor as a pollinator. It grows well with Early Rivers, Merton Bounty and Merton Bigarreau. It seasons in mid-June.
Popular pollinators are Bradbourne Black, Early Rivers, Napoleon, Florence, Emperor Francis and Gov. Wood.

This book has introduced you to the magic of cherries. Cherries have long been known as juicy additions to any dish since ancient times. Dried or ripe, these cherries can be found either on their own or in food flavors.
You can also preserve them in the method given in this particular URL. Jacques Pepin is one of the more popular and well-known cookbook authors and chefs in the USA, and he definitely cannot do without cherries, fresh and preserved, being the founder of the American Inst. of Wine and Food!

click here to download the full copy of this book.

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