Bergeval®

Bergeval is a modern commercial "bi-coloured" apricot, developed from the well-known Bergeron (the variety you will most often see in French markets).

It has an attractive orange-red colour, and a rich sweet orange flesh. You should find the fruit to be much juicier when home-grown than shop-bought.

Bergeval is an early-season apricot, ripening in July in southern UK conditions.

Growing and Training

Like all apricots Bergeval needs warmth, shelter, and should be planted in full sun. If you can provide this situation you should have a reasonable chance of success. In any other situation it is not worth trying.

Perhaps surprisingly, Bergeval is very cold-hardy. In the UK winter cold is unlikely to be a problem, and the greatest danger is winters that are too warm (particularly in December / January).

Apricots can take a few years to start producing, but as you might expect from a commercial variety, Bergeval is fairly precocious and you may get some apricots within 2 years of planting.

Bergeval is considered a regular cropper in its natural home - commercial orchards in the Rhone valley of France. In the UK production will be variable depending on the weather.

You do not need a pollinator as Bergeval is self-fertile, but planting another apricot of a different variety nearby will help fruit set. It flowers relatively late in the apricot blossom season, which is often helpful in UK conditions.

History

Bergeval was developed by the French fruit research station, Inra (Institut national de la recherce agonomique). It is essentially an improvement on the traditional French Bergeron variety, and was intended to fill a gap in the market for an earlier-ripening apricot.

The first trees were planted in 2006 in orchards in the Rhone valley, an area with an ideal climate for apricots.

Bergeval characteristics

• Gardening skillExperienced
• Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
• Self-fertile?Self-fertile
• Pollinating othersAverage
• Pick seasonEarly
• Picking monthJuly
• Picking periodmid-July
• Keeping1-3 days
• Food usesEating freshCulinary
• PruningDo not prune
• Country of originFrance
• Period of origin1950 - 1999
• Fruit colourOrange / Red

More about apricot trees

Frankly, apricot trees are not that easy to grow in the UK. Our summers are not always hot enough, our spring weather is often too wet, and our winters are not cold enough. However with luck and care they make a really interesting addition to the home orchard.

For best results plant apricot trees in a sheltered spot in full sun, or train them as fans against a south-facing wall or fence. Well-drained soil is best, avoid areas where water pools over the winter. Avoid pruning apricot trees if you can, but promptly cut back and remove any signs of dieback on branches.

It's then just a matter of hoping for a nice sunny spring and a hot dry summer, followed by a nice cold winter! All apricots are self-fertile so you only need to plant one (although planting several different ones together will improve the crop). If you find there are lots of fruitlets after the blossom has finished, be ruthless in thinning them out - you will get a better crop and better flavours as a result.

Apricots also have excellent nutritional and medicinal properties, and contain more concentrations of beneficial compounds than most other fruit. They are one of the best natural sources of Vitamin A.