My Side Yard Garden 05.26.19

So, the Gulf Rose and Gulf Blaze plum trees are having a stellar season. They were being assaulted by the squirrels even before the fruit had any color, and I thought, “I’m not having this! I refuse to share my plums with evil squirrels!” The agricultural netting went onto the trees the next day. As a result I’ve captured all of the windfall plums, the majority of which would have fallen on the ground and been lost. More than 20 pounds to date. Total amazement. Last year I had enough extra plums to make three half-pints of red plum jam. So far this year I’ve made 10 full pints, I have enough plums in the kitchen for another 10 pints, and I’m only about half way through the harvest. Yup, total amazement. Here’s a look at the process: four to five pounds of plums becomes eight cups of pulp after the seeds are removed, then that cooks up to four to five pints.

Windfall Gulf Red Plum Jam