One of my favourite fruits is the plum. Picked straight from your own tree, it’s a wonderful late summer gift of sweet juiciness that is never matched by the plastic punneted supermarket version.

Although Victoria plums might seem to be the nation’s favourite, there are many other wonderful varieties, and it’s good to see that these are increasingly available.

A few years back we planted a Marjorie’s seedling, which gives a very good purple plum for eating raw, as well as cooking, and is self-

fertile, so it makes a good choice if you have space for just one tree.

Apparently, it is also quite resistant to plum pests and diseases, particularly plum

bacterial canker.

If I had more room, I would definitely also have a greengage tree. You have to pick greengages when they are fully ripe, otherwise you will never experience the sheer joy of this much overlooked fruit.

They are smaller, firmer and rounder than plums, and have a honeyed, almost

perfumed sweetness.

Again, supermarket fruits are not worth comparison. It has to be absolutely fresh from the tree, or not at all.

Some allotment sites in Bristol have greengage and damson trees growing wild around the edges. Ours has a hedge of wild damsons, but I fervently wish they were greengages instead!

Damsons are a heavier, darker taste, which goes almost spicy when cooked, whereas greengages are light; a Mozart to the Wagner of the damson.

My favourite stone fruit has to be the apricot, and this year, our apricot tree has the best crop yet of blushed orange fruit. The flavour and texture are something special, but seem even more of a treat because of the nurturing they need throughout the year.

Our tree is against a sunny wall, but apricots can be grown in containers, particularly if you can get them under cover during the cold months – I’ll leave you to decide exactly which months those are.

Protection needs to be given to the early blossom, which might otherwise be frost nipped, and our tree needs almost constant light pruning to retain an open and balanced fan shape. This level of care makes the superlative flavour of the fruit taste even better.

I don’t yet see a time when we’ll be making apricot jam, but plum jam is a different matter.

In some years, a good plum tree will produce so much fruit that it can break its own branches as the plums ripen. So, making plum wine and jam are just two ways to deal with a glut.

Many plum jam recipes suggest de-stoning the fruit first. This can be laborious if the plums do not separate easily from their stones. Instead, just cut the fruit and bring it to a fast boil, and remove the stones as they float to the top.

Alternatively, allow them to cool after they’ve stewed, then squash the stones out by hand. This is an experience you will either love or hate, but it makes it more likely that you will get out every one!