Mother's column – learn from the pear tree

To be able to harvest as many berries as possible, we did not touch the plant with pruning shears anymore. The tactic worked. Next summer we could even pick fruits on the outside of the fence.

It does not always go that smooth though. An old package of seeds which I received in the supermarket for free resulted in 1.5 green beans. The year after, we sowed two beans out of precaution. One of the plants was destroyed prematurely by a space hopper lying around. But from the second plant, we harvested about eight beans. And from the zucchini plant, we could even eat soup.

Neline is married and the mother of five: Martha (8), Abel (6), Jolijn (5), Reinout (3) and Sifra (0).

Having become enthusiastic, I asked for a pear tree for my birthday. Jan planted it according to all the requirements he could find on the internet. In the spring, the tree blossomed abundantly. A few weeks after, the tree was full of mini pears. My mouth watered already, and I saw myself biking through town with baskets full of pears, that I could give to anyone who wanted.

But on a day in June, I made a terrible discovery. The whole pear tree was empty. All fruits were gone. How was that possible? On an internet forum for garden lovers, I discovered that a pear tree often loses fruits at an early stage because it does not have enough minerals to grow all pears large and ripe. That is okay, of course, but why let all the hundred pears fall at once... We even spoiled the tree with a bucket of horse manure.

But well, it seems to be a common thing. Pear trees often take about seven years to deliver fruits, I read. Seven years! Then Martha and Able will be adolescents already.

You learn a lot from gardening. Learn from the pear tree that you sometimes have to invest for years while getting little back. The art is not to give up but to enjoy the promising blossom and patiently wait for the fruit. I need to remember this. For when I am a mom of adolescents.