The Great British Plum

The humble plum has been part of Britain’s heritage for many thousands of years with the earliest recorded cultivation of the fruit during the Roman age. When the Tudor ship the Mary Rose sank in 1545 it was found to be carrying over 5,000 of them.

The British climate is ideal for plum growing, they thrive on our mild and moist seasons, this gives British plums a unique flavour. Around 12,500 tonnes are grown in the UK, with more than 80% picked in orchards mainly in the Midlands and Kent.

Growing News spoke to Mick Morton at the start of the season. Mick is one of Evesham’s oldest plum farmers. At 73, Mick is one of the last traditional British farmers in the region. In 1952 when Mick first got into farming, Plums were a huge business in the Vale of Evesham and orchards stretches over many hundreds of acres. Sadly Mick’s 10 acres are all that remains of the sprawling orchard.

Originally Mick grew varieties specifically for processing, (such as Yellow Egg & Purple Plum), as the jam factories closed down Mick started to grow more dessert varieties. As supermarkets became the dominant force in retailing, Mick pulled out some less popular varieties and replaces them with varieties that were in demand by supermarkets. In the mid 90’s Mick started supplying ASDA via Hillers Farm and he has successfully been doing so ever since.

Mick currently has about 1000 plum trees on 4 ha. Each mature tree averages about 100 pounds of fruit, he grows commercially viable varieties such as Hermon, from early July, to Opals, Swans, Heron, Excalibur, Victoria and Marjorie Seedling, which finishes in Mid September. For sentimental reasons he has also kept a few sample trees of other varieties that he has had over the years. “Anyone else would have pulled these up already” he says pointing to his Old English Greengage plums. Despite looking like an unripe cherry tomato it is one of the nicest plums available. Unfortunately, its appearances means it will never be a supermarket choice.

Plum growers have had a hard time protecting their crop from the elements and rabbits have become a real problem in winter when food is scarce. Rabbits aren’t all that Mick has to contend with. In springtime there are flocks of bullfinches which arrive in their hundreds to eat the fresh young plum buds. The buds they miss have in the past been killed by late spring frosts. Fruit that does not come forth is then exposed to icy winds and hail stones both of which scar the skin making the plum worthless.

Late frosts in the spring are the stuff of a farmer’s nightmare. “We had a particularly bad time in the 90’s with three bad spring frosts over three years that almost caused a crop failure”. For this reason Mick likes to balance out his varieties with early & late flowering varieties. Mick acknowledges British plums to be the best in the world. “Maybe it’s the varieties that grow here or maybe it’s a long cold winter, but whatever it is, imported plums don’t come close to what I can offer. Those imported varieties just don’t have the taste”.

Peak harvesting is from the last two weeks of August to the first week of September. Fortunately this falls over a school holiday that allows him to pull in the labour resources of his entire family. “Harvesting is strictly a family affair and we don’t bring in any external help. I’ve got my wife and children and now even four grandchildren to help; what we don’t have time to pick is not going to get picked” he says as he cracks the proverbial whip, sending his eldest grandson up the ladder again with yet another empty basket.

Due to consistent quality from growers the ASDA UK plum season was extended an extra week based on 2004 season ending 1st October, this season ended 7th October, with improved sales seen due to end pod positioning in all ASDA stores for three weeks and aggressive retail strategy.

November 2005