Lots of people have said their damsons failed this year, but I had my best crop ever. It isn't that I didn't have the late frosts: my normal-type plum and my pears all failed with the sharp radiational frosts in April (the air temp wasn't that low). But it seems the damsons were alread well set before then, and survived the frost.

Of course many things grown as damsons aren't, they are "damson plums", ie plums that are damson-like. My mother's Merryweather (the most common variety), for instance is probably a "damson plum", and she got none this year like most other people. But mine are Farleigh, a true damson raised from a wild seedling: the fruits are sloe-sized, smaller than cherries, and my total yield off a small, slow-growing tree, totally smothered in fruit was only about 2kg. A lot better than the 400g I got last year, or 800g the year before. But it only took 1kg to make as much jam as I need, and I'll have some crumbles during the year.