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 Fruit Plants
25 January 2009
The thought of walking out into the garden and picking a apple from your own tree sounds very appealing especially when you are able to control the environment in which it has been grown i.e. whether or not chemicals have been sprayed etc. The reality is that it is not as straightforward as you might like it to be however with a little bit of careful planning the possibilities are endless.
The choice of fruit suitable for our climate is vast and the best way of organizing them is to put it into two main categories; Tree Fruit & Soft Fruit.
Tree fruit consists of apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, figs, mulberries and quinces.
Soft fruits consist of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, loganberries, gooseberries, heathland berries, grapes, kiwi fruit, black, red and white currants.
In an ideal world a designated area solely to growing fruit would be great however in reality not all of us have half an acre just lying around. This may mean that we would perhaps be better of integrating fruit into our existing garden or vegetable plot.
Once you have chosen the type of fruit you whish to grow the next step is to choose the correct location. There are more suitable aspects for different types of fruit i.e. sheltered south facing walls for peaches however as a general rule as sunny position sheltered from the wind is ideal. There are some exceptions such as acid cherries, which can be grown on a north or east-facing wall. The soil needs to be rich, deep and well drained. Fine sandy soils with poor moisture retention will lead to poor fruiting and avoid alkaline soils.
If the site is in an open aspect the wind can be a problem with damaging the blossom and deterring the pollinating insects. Avoid using solid fences or walls to provide a screen as a turbulence will be created on the other side of the fence, a natural wind break in the form of a hedge or a plastic wind break through which the air can pass and therefore reducing the wind speed is much better.
Bear in mind when choosing fruit trees that some may need pollinating by another tree and the correct cross-pollinator must be chosen (I will cover this in more detail later). Think about how much space you have, it will determine what fruit can be planted. The soft fruit takes a lot less space than the tree fruit, however dwarfing root stocks can be chosen so the growth is restricted and trees can range from 5ft up to 25ft depending on the rootstock used.
Because the choice of fruit is so vast I will cover each variety in more detail over the next few weeks. If you have any queries you can write to Lymefield Garden Centre, Broadbottom, Hyde, Cheshire, SK14 6AG
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