Advice on planting up my garden

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Advice on planting up my garden

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Minamoo

Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 1231

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 12:37 pm Post subject: Advice on planting up my garden

Okay....so I know that I am probably jumping the gun a lot since we haven't even exchanged contracts yet, but fingers crossed, everything will go according to plan and this will be our new house in Leeds

The garden is all south facing and what I need advice on is fruit trees. I would like a damson, a greengage, apple, pear, quince and apricot tree. I was thinking that I could put fan-trained fruit trees along the fences and have 2/3 proper sized fruit trees at the bottom of the garden. I wanted to turn the rest of the garden over to veg and soft fruit. The garden is 11mx16m. We also have some space at the front of the house that the current owner has put paving stones over and we could lift them up.

As far as soft fruit goes, i would like a jostaberry, a gooseberry and a blackcurrant.

Do you have any idea on varieties and where I could get the trees from? I would prefer slightly larger trees that will fruit sooner as opposed to little babies.

I would also love to keep chickens but someone told me I would have to keep moving their run around the garden. Is this true or could I get awy with just keeping them in one spot?

Thank you![/img]

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45427
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 12:49 pm Post subject:
You should get at least 6 fruit trees fan trained on that fence (more if you grow apples/pears as cordons), I'd NEVER recommend going for larger trees, they're much more expensive and less likely to do well. There's a sticky at the top of grow your own section about top fruit nurseries.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 12:50 pm Post subject:
Buying larger trees is seldom a short cut. They take longer to establish so you don't get fruit any sooner. Like wot he said.

earthyvirgo

Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 7972
Location: creating prints in the loft, Gerlan

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 12:57 pm Post subject:
I'd recommend thinking as much as you can about the underlying structure of the garden first. It's so easy to rush headlong in and do things piecemeal but a good garden (IMO) needs a good plan. You don't have to do it all at once of course, just have an idea of what will go where, then tackle it bit by bit. EV

Nell Merionwen

Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 16300
Location: Beautiful Derbyshire

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:00 pm Post subject:
It may be wise to find out which one of you owns the fence too. My big pea/bean supporting fence actually belings to my neighbour. #Fortunately they are the nice once and don't mind. the part of the fence I own I covered in jasmine and passion flower and the other neighbours pulled it out...I was very cross...

Minamoo

Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 1231

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:02 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

You should get at least 6 fruit trees fan trained on that fence (more if you grow apples/pears as cordons),

When you say "along that fence"....do you mean around the whole garden? Given my list of dream trees...(greengage, damson, apricot, quince, apple and pear) do they all do well as cordons or trained as fans? I read somewhere than fruits with pips do well and fruits with stones don't. Is that true?

Quote:

I'd NEVER recommend going for larger trees, they're much more expensive and less likely to do well.

Thanks for the tip. So what size/age trees are good? And how soon do they tend to start fruiting? Some nurseries also seem to seel already-been-trained fruit trees. Are they a good idea seeing as I don't have the skills (yet) to train one myself from scratch or will they also not do as well?

Quote:

There's a sticky at the top of grow your own section about top fruit nurseries.

Thanks!

Minamoo

Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 1231

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:05 pm Post subject:

Nell wrote:

It may be wise to find out which one of you owns the fence too. My big pea/bean supporting fence actually belings to my neighbour. #Fortunately they are the nice once and don't mind. the part of the fence I own I covered in jasmine and passion flower and the other neighbours pulled it out...I was very cross...

Erk! I had no idea. The lady who owns the house also owned all the land next to it too that now has one teeny detached and 4 semi-detached houses built on it. SO i assume that she owns the fences. But I shall try and find out.

Nell Merionwen

Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 16300
Location: Beautiful Derbyshire

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:10 pm Post subject:

Minamoo wrote:

Nell wrote:

It tends to be that one side is owned by you and one by your neighbour....
it shouldn't really e a problem but may be a good idea to just let them know your plans. They may decide to change the fence you have trained your fruit to whick would be very inconvenient....

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45427
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:13 pm Post subject:

Apples/pears can be grown as espaliers (single stem with lateral branches) or cordons (single stem at an angle). Stone fruits can be grown as fans. There are also "minarettes" available of lots of different fruits, these are single stemmed trees. With a combination of minarettes/cordons/fans you could probably have 40 odd trees along the fences if you really wanted. Pruning's not too tough, it seems brutal but you eventually get used to it.

I always buy maidens (i.e. 1 yr old trees)

Minamoo

Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 1231

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:34 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

If I buy maidens, how long will it be before they begin to fruit?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45427
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 1:40 pm Post subject:
Depends, apples on M27 can fruit in year 1.

AnneandMike

Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 890
Location: Over the hill and soon to be far away

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 10 7:08 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Depends, apples on M27 can fruit in year 1.

A few, but you are better off taking them off. In the 1st year you want the tree to make a good root system then, on a dwarfing rootstock you will get a nice little crop in the 2nd year.

Have you thought about pollination? Some fruit varieties are self fertile (e.g. conference pear, victoria plum, but many need another variety to cross pollinate with.

Also, have you thought of 'family' trees, usually with 3 varieties (which will cross pollinate) on 1 stem? These are rather expensive (£25 to £35 each) but would allow you to grow a greater range in a limited space.

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