Choosing fruit for a small garden
Finding the right spot, the easiest fruit to start with, small trained trees, and pollination partners.
Key points
Summary
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where? | Sunny, sheltered, not a frost pocket, well drained |
| What first? | Strawberries, autumn raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries |
| Small trees? | Dwarfing rootstock; cordon, espalier, fan or step-over |
| One tree only? | A self-fertile variety |
Quick check
Why avoid a frost pocket for fruit?
- Fruit trees grow too fast there in summer
- Frost on spring nights kills the blossom
- The soil there is always far too dry
- Bees nest in frost pockets and sting
Which fruit copes best with some shade?
- Gooseberries
- Sweet cherries on a south wall
- Strawberries in a hanging basket
- Dessert apples on a dwarfing rootstock
You have room for one apple tree and no apples nearby. What should you choose?
- Any variety from the supermarket
- A triploid such as 'Bramley's Seedling'
- A self-fertile variety
- Two cordons of the same variety
In your garden
- Find your sunniest wall or fence and measure it.
- Look out for low, frosty spots on cold mornings.
- Write a shortlist of three fruits your household eats most.
Video transcript
You don't need an orchard to grow your own fruit. A sunny fence, a patio or a corner of a border is enough. In this lesson: finding the right spot, what to grow first, and why some fruit trees need a partner.
Most fruit gives the biggest crops and the sweetest taste in full sun. Shelter matters too, because cold wind keeps pollinating insects away from the blossom. Avoid frost pockets, low spots where cold air collects on spring nights and kills the flowers. And give fruit fertile, well-drained soil: few fruit plants survive sitting in water.
Some fruit is much easier than others. Strawberries fruit in their first summer. Autumn raspberries need just one cut a year. Blueberries are ideal in pots, where you can give them the acid compost they need. And gooseberries and redcurrants cope with some shade, even on a north-facing wall.
Fruit trees can be kept small in two ways. The first is the rootstock, the roots a tree is grafted onto, which sets its final size. The second is training. A cordon is a single stem, often planted at an angle against a fence. An espalier has pairs of branches trained flat along wires. A fan spreads out against a sunny wall. And a step-over is a tiny espalier, knee high, that can edge a path.
Fruit trees set fruit when pollen moves between flowers, usually carried by bees. Self-fertile varieties crop on their own, like plum 'Victoria' and cherry 'Stella', and some apples, such as 'Sunset' and 'Greensleeves', are at least partly self-fertile. Most other apples and pears need a partner: a different variety nearby that flowers at the same time. Nurseries list each apple's pollination group, so choose partners from the same group or the next one. A neighbour's apple or crab apple can do the job.
This is one of 10 lessons in Fruit in a small garden
The full course adds sorting drills, flashcards and a printable summary sheet for every lesson.