Later, in the middle of summer, high up, where you can’t climb without a ladder, small apricot fruits, soft like velvet, yellow-orange, with red sides, with a special taste and a tempting smell, warmed in the sun in the green foliage.
We waited for the first ripe ones to fall to the ground, we couldn’t wait to taste them. I remember my father carefully cutting them into equal-sized pieces in the yard and my mother cooking apricot jam in the kitchen, which smells like a warm summer evening…
Apricot is an exotic plant that came from Asia and decorates Lithuanian gardens. Many do not dare to grow this decoration in their garden, fearing the complex care – but is this hesitation really justified?
Where did the apricot come from?
As far as is known, the apricot was cultivated already 4000 years ago in China, where it was cultured from the common apricot. Apricot also decorated the hanging gardens of Babylon, its fruits were considered especially valuable in ancient Rome, called eggs of the sun, golden apples.
Cultivated apricot varieties are grown in Transcaucasia, Asia, Northern India, Iran, Afghanistan, North America, North and South Africa, Australia, Southern Europe.
Apricot in Lithuania
Apricot is one of the most beautiful fruit trees grown in the Lithuanian climate. In the spring, it freezes, gets sick, sometimes does not bear fruit.
For several decades, agronomists have been researching various types of apricot, breeding more resistant varieties, but there is still no such apricot that can grow naturally, without artificially created conditions for it.
In Lithuania, the first apricot seedlings were planted in Kaunas Botanical Garden in 1951. A few years later, they yielded the seeds from which the next generation of apricots, already indigenous, were grown in the field.
Seedlings from the apricot harvest of the Kaunas Botanical Garden spread throughout the gardens of Lithuanian gardeners and have been delighting garden enthusiasts with their flowering and exotic fruits ever since.
Today, people grow this sought-after exotic fruit tree from a seed or plant a young shoot received from friends, protect it from frost, and even wait for several years until the first blossoms appear and the expected fruits develop.
At present, there are several types of apricots of normal growth (Latin: Harcot, Soledane), columnar (Latin: Compacta, Prince Mart), dwarf, suitable for growing in pots in the sun (Latin: Aprigold) and hybrid (plum and apricot hybrids).
All varieties are self-pollinating, which means an annual harvest without the need to plant multiple apricots in the garden. Nowadays, it is already possible to choose an apricot according to personal needs, the size of the garden, the time of harvesting, the size or taste of the fruit, the shape of the tree. The purchased tree can be planted from March to November.
Apricot species – each has different characteristics
The “ordinary” apricot (lat. Prunus armeniaca) is a 4-6 meter tall tree of the plum family of the plum family with a round or flat crown.
Blooms in April-May, often suffers from frosts. Fruits are oval, fleshy drupes with fragrant pulp and an easily separated stone. By the way, apricot fruits are not attacked by pests.
Apricot “Soledane” is an early and abundant fruiting (first half of July), self-pollinated, fast-growing fruit tree, grows up to 3-3.5 meters, forms a narrow, conical crown as it grows. Resistant to cold.
Apricot “Triumph of the North” – extremely resistant to cold, diseases and very fertile, self-pollinating. Fruiting begins approximately in the fourth year after planting (end of July – beginning of August). The fruits are large, yellowish-orange, with pink sides, tasty and fragrant, perfect for preparing for the winter. The height of an adult tree can reach 3.5-4 meters.
Aprigold Mini Apricot is a great choice for plant lovers with limited garden space. This tree grows quite slowly, reaching only up to 1.2-1.8 meters, forming a compact canopy, so it is perfect for growing in small gardens or large pots. It is very fertile, it begins to ripen at the end of July.
Dwarf apricot “Goldrich” – compact, reaches only 2 meters in adulthood. Resistant to frost, diseases, abundant harvest, large and tasty fruits ripen in July.
Colony Apricot ‘Compacta’ – this one is for those with limited garden space and can be grown in a large pot. Grows up to 3 meters, width reaches 1.5 meters. The fruits ripen in mid-August.
Prince Mart, a columnar species, is slightly smaller, growing up to 2.5 meters and 1 meter wide. The garden is decorated and pleasing to the eye not only by the harvest of columnar apricots, but also by spring flowering.
Miracose, an apricot-plum hybrid, is rich in fruit and resistant to cold and disease. It is derived from the apricot ‘Harley’ and the plum ‘Herrenhauser’.
This hybrid blooms quite late, so it avoids spring frosts, and bears fruit in September. The fruits have a special taste, they are large, the shape and the skin are similar to plums, and the pulp and stone are like apricots. The fruit tree is compact, grows up to 2.5 meters.
Apricot cultivation and care
Apricot is propagated by seeds or by grafting it onto apricot or Caucasian plum seedlings. Sown apricots are good after 4 years, grafted – after 3. In order to grow apricots successfully, you need to plant them in the sun and in the shade, preferably on the south or southwest side of the garden.
The land must be suitable for cultivation – not acidic, not peat and not sand, fertile and permeable loamy soil is best, the planting site must not have high groundwater levels.
In early spring, the apricot should be sprayed with copper sulfate, the trunk should be protected from the hot sun by bleaching it. Not only the difference in spring day and night temperatures can cause great damage to the tree, but also fungal diseases, and especially cancer, which can quickly destroy the fruit tree.
Apricot grows quite fast, so it is advisable to start pruning it from the fourth to fifth year of life, when it begins to bear fruit.
Pruning is done in early spring and summer, after fruit picking. Annual shoots can be shortened by about a third in June to increase the number of short fruiting branches and produce more fruit.
Benefits of apricots
Apricot is loved for a reason. It is useful to know that its fruits contain vitamin C, A, pectins, carotene, iron, potassium and other trace elements.
Due to their rich composition of trace elements, apricot fruits are recommended for people suffering from cardiovascular, kidney, liver diseases, tuberculosis, anemia. Fruits are eaten fresh, juice is squeezed, which is especially useful for children, desserts are made, jams and compotes are made.
If you don’t have an apricot in your garden yet or you still don’t decide to plant it, give it a chance, the garden will acquire an oriental flavor, and you will be interested in watching the growth and flowering of an exotic fruit tree, waiting for the fruits, tasting them and sharing the growing experience with like-minded people.
Source: derlingas.lt
