I love fruit trees, I love the blossom, the shapes, the smell of the wood and, of course, the fruit. Most gardens are big enough for a fruit tree. I’m lucky we’ve about two dozen. Some are in the garden as part of the borders and about half are in a ‘dedicated’ orchard. Really it’s more like a lawn with trees. Generous spacing between the trees leaves loads of room for underplanting and a good run for playing ball with the dog. So I don’t see it as using space, just making the most of what we’ve got.
And that’s the key – making the most of what you’ve got. If you live in a town, nearby gardens will have fruit trees and you can rely (or hope) they are close enough to pollinate yours. If you live in the back of beyond then you need a bit more thought. We planted wild fruit in the hedges (plum, crab apple, pear) to help pollination and we picked trees that can cross pollinate each other and/or self pollinate.
You also need to think of weather. I use apple trees (for example) in three adjacent pollination groups – they work well together, and flower and fruit at the right time for the weather where I live. It’s worth doing the research and/or going to a good garden centre who will stock whats right for where you are.
Extend the season
One other really important thing – if you have more than one fruit tree of the same type (apple, pear etc) think about whether you want to use the fruit at the same time or extend your harvesting. I have early, mid and late eating apples, same for pears, and two types of plum to extend the season so I have fresh fruit longer and less overload at one time.
That’s not the case for brewing fruit – cider apples and perry pears – I want those all together so I can batch process them into cider and vinegar.
There is also more to think on variety – different fruits such as plums and apples also ripen at different times, so having this added depth also extends the season. We’re eating fresh fruit from May to December, and that’s without any fancy storage.
Size isn’t everything
The great thing about modern cultivation is that you can get dwarf trees or massive great whoppers – our orchard is half standards because they are tall enough for us to walk underneath, some trees in the borders are smaller to fit with the shrubs and flowers. We’ve even got an apple tree in a pot and it’s very happy.
Traditional and unusual
One great advantage of growing your own is the types of fruit you can grow. I have a Medlar tree – it’s beautiful, productive and you can’t buy the fruit in shops. Similarly I found damsons hard to source, and quince even more difficult. Mulberries are another. So look a little wider than just an apple tree and see what takes your fancy.
What we have (the short version)
Medlar – fruit and ornamental November fruit
Eating apples – a few types August to December
Cooking apple – one type September
Eating pears – a few types August to November
Cider and Perry – about half a dozen all September
Quince – two types, August to October
Plum – two types, July to September
Damson – one type October
Cherry – one type August
Fig – one type July to September
Mulberry – waiting for the first fruit…
That’s a lot of variety, and several that are hard to buy – I haven’t seen a fresh fig in a local supermarket since we moved here…
You’ll see that these trees are picked from July to December – covering half the year. Our soft fruits like strawberry start earlier, but raspberries, blueberry, current and elder all overlap with these.
So if like me you try to grow as much of your own fruit as you can the final thought is storage. Some varieties are excellent for this, some not so good. but they all preserve well.
