Ķiršplūme Prunus cerasifera, potēta

• Type: fruit tree, grafted
• Botanical name: Prunus cerasifera (syn. Prunus divaricata)
• Height and spread: height 2.5–3 m, spread 1.5–3 m
• Fruit: small, yellow or red, tart; ripen in August
• Light: sun
• Soil: almost any, prefers well-drained
• Hardiness: very good (zone 4–5)
• Use: jam, juice, compotes, baking, fresh eating
• Size: potted plant (grafted tree)

Planting. Plant in a sunny, sheltered spot, ideally in the warmest part of the garden. The soil should be fertile, well-drained and neutral; lime acidic soil. Keep the graft union above soil level and stake the tree.

Watering and feeding. Water a young tree generously in dry spells, especially while the fruit is swelling. Give a balanced fertiliser in spring and a potassium-rich feed in the second half of summer; avoid nitrogen after July.

Care. Plums are pruned in spring after the hard frosts or straight after harvest. Remove crossing, diseased and inward-growing branches. In heavy-cropping years support the branches and thin the fruit.

Gardener's tip. Plums do best in a warm spot protected by a building or hedge. Even a self-fertile variety crops more heavily when another plum that flowers at the same time grows nearby.