Introduction to Cherries - Growing Cherries

Book excerpt: Table of Contents Introduction to Cherries Introduction Growing Cherries Budding Choosing the Right Plants Best Varieties of Cherries Maintenance of Cherry Trees Pruning Your Cherry Tree Root pruning Sour Cherries Planting Sour Cherries Feeding Sour Cherries Pruning of Sour Cherries Mulch cultivation Rejuvenating Cherries Diseases and Pests Cherries in Cuisine Two-Step Cherry Pudding Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction The fruit we know as cherries is not a berry but a drupe or a fruit with a stone. Cherries basically started out as a wild Cherry in Central Asia, America and Europe. In Japanese myth and culture the cherry refer to cherry trees and cherry blossom. Cherries have been a part of culinary history in ancient Rome where it was brought by Roman soldiers from Armenia in 72 BC. It came to England with Henry the VIIIth who tasted this fruit in Flanders and wanted it cultivated in England. Cherries which you eat at the table or cooked are either sweet -Prunus avium- or sour -Prunus cerasus- in taste. The growing of cherries in large quantities for commercial purposes is a challenge because of their vulnerability to harsh elements and the high cost of spraying, irrigation , maintenance of trees and labor costs.