Pear necessities:Although it has been a rotten year for growing most things, apples and pears have done exceptionally well. So much so, in fact, that I've had to stake the branches of some of my trees, such is the weight of the fruit.
And it's too late for one limb of an overladen Conference. The Williams pears are almost ready, but there's a need to check every day, lest the fruit ripen fully before being picked. This makes gathering them a bit of a nightmare. Pluck too soon and the fruit stubbornly retains a turnip-like texture until it ends up in the compost bucket. Leave it too late and the flesh is fluffy and horrible.
The trick, apparently, is to watch the skin colour, and when it starts to turn the very faintest shade of yellow you pick it and bring it inside, and within 48 hours you have a pear in peak condition. So far it has worked, and my Williamses are being consumed with slices of blue cheese, ideally a really rich and mature Gorgonzola, if you want something buttery, or ripe Crozier, our very own form of Roquefort, if something sharper is called for.
The greatest pear of all, so they say, is Doyenné du Comice - which means the deanery of Comice, not the doyenne. My crop is looking good, turning a little rosy in the very thin autumn sunlight, but I've no idea how to tell when it will be ready for picking. I may have to resort to the old trick of sticking my thumbnail through the skin and hoping it will yield. And it's not too late to waste a lot of time Googling the question.