Fruit Trees for my New Allotment

k3vbc6l

I have had my new allotment for just a month and have made some progress digging it over, I'm keen to get some fruit trees, and am kicking myself for not buying the ones that were in Asda in December. I have Rhubarb, Raspberries, Strawberries and Goosberries on the plot, left from the previous owner, they also left a small greenhouse and shed, so I'm well set. I have not really grown any fruit or veg before and am looking forward to reading many threads, and asking many questions on this forum as time goes by!!
My main question for now is this, back to the fruit trees, I've seen an offer in a Sunday Newspaper for a '3 Tree Mini Orchard Collection(1 Apple, 1 Plum and 1 Pear) plus a free Cherry Tree' for £29.99 plus £8.99 Delivery from GardenBargains.com, this seem like excellent value, if anyone could recommend or tell me otherwise, I'd be grateful.

Mojisola

Are you certain that you are going to be renting that particular plot for a good few years to come? If not, I wouldn't plant fruit trees. You pay upfront for years of bounty. If you end up with only one or two years' harvest, it will all be very expensive.

RAS

Hi

If you want a few trees but are not sure how long you will be there, check out Aldi, Lidl, Wilko's etc in the next couple of months. Get there when the trees just get in as they are hopeless at looking after them.

Generally about £4 per tree and as long as you actually want to grow the variety and learn how to establish the pruning regime, they are a good enough investment. Wilko's cost a bit more but do not hack the trees back to 4 foot.

Lidl usually have plum and pear in the big stores as well as apples.

mi_jardin

You need to check the small print on your lease, mine clearly states that I cannot put trees on my plot, I even had to get permission to put a gooseberry plant in!
I have a dwarf apple tree at home though in a BIG pot, and that does give us fruit, about a dozen apples. It would probably be more productive if it was in the ground but we rent our home. I think I paid about £20 for my tree when it was on sale, so depending on the size of the plants you are buying I guess it is good value.

k3vbc6l

Thanks for your replies, all being well I would hope to keep our allotment for a few years, the plot next door has a few fruit trees and there are one or two others dotted around the site, so I guess we will be okay to have a couple. Lidl and Aldi are on my list and I will be visiting both over the coming weeks. I am a regular visitor to Wilkos gardening sections already.

SailorSam

I saw plums and cherries for £5.99 in Poundstretcher yesterday.

ed110220

Definitely check whether you are allowed to plant fruit trees - plenty of allotments allow them, but some have a height restriction to ensure other allotments are not deprived of sunshine.

Yorkie1

The danger with all these fruit trees on sale cheap from supermarkets is that you have no idea of which rootstock they are grown on. I think it's quite selfish to plant a tree on an allotment unless you know it's a dwarfing rootstock - the long term impact on that plot and, more importantly, your plot neighbours is considerable.

The taller a tree, the more shade it will cast. And the more water / nutrients it will take from the ground. And the wider the area which you can't cultivate underneath it.

grandmaster00

i can give you a good idea
they are usually on vigorous or semi vigorous root stocks
if they are trained and pruned correctly or even cordoned then they shouldnt pose any problem really

Yorkie1

grandmaster00 wrote: »

i can give you a good idea
they are usually on vigorous or semi vigorous root stocks
if they are trained and pruned correctly or even cordoned then they shouldnt pose any problem really

The initial owners of a plot may well take appropriate care. But the information is never passed down about the rootstocks when the plot is given up, and following owners often don't prune properly.

In fact, on my site, of the 150 plots, I would say that less than 10% of those with fruit trees prune at all.

If someone didn't bother to plant dwarfing rootstocks at the outset, that's a lot of big trees in 20 years' time. One pear tree is 60' tall and ruining completely the growing conditions of the plot next to it.