Extending our house without extending ourselves beyond our means

savingholmes

You can grow apple trees in pots. You can get dwarf / espalier type varieties that grow sideways on trellis even

PurpleFairy26

hugglemonster said:

Ooh I would love some fruit trees, I wonder if they grow in pots? Had an email that my strawberries are on there way - it's a start.

Hope all ok, H x

My fruit trees are currently in pots. We don’t have the biggest garden but bought dwarf ones so they only grow to about 1m but in theory the should bear the same fruit. I haven’t had much at all off them in 2 years however, the year I bought them we had an unexpected snow fall the day they arrived and then it was super low temperatures for about a month. So I’m surprised they survived at all. 

Now our build is finished I’m going to plant a couple our but leave a couple in pots. 

Fortune_Smiles

When I was binge watching 'Gr0w Y0ur 0wn at H0me' the other day  🙄 they were showing Stepover Fruit Trees.  They look ideal for a small garden.

Fortune x

missymoo81

Oooh now I’m thinking of getting fruit trees in pots! That would be amazing! 

PurpleFairy26

Fortune_Smiles said:

When I was binge watching 'Gr0w Y0ur 0wn at H0me' the other day  🙄 they were showing Stepover Fruit Trees.  They look ideal for a small garden.

Fortune x

I saw these too fortune they look fab! At the moment I don’t have an ‘edge’ to put them in. Will see how the garden re-design goes if I have enough room! 

brizzlegirl

We have an apple tree in a pot, neighbour has a pear. Good option. Xxx

debtfreeoneday

oooh fruit trees now you’ve got me thinking. 

brizzlegirl

A friend got a lemon tree.. sounds pricey but fun?!! 

DawnW

If you want to grow fruit trees in pots it is important to ensure that they are grafted onto dwarfing root stocks (the step-over types are, but you can get them in other shapes too). These are more expensive than the fruit trees that Lidl, Poundstretcher and such places sell, which will grow very big. There is a great explanation at https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/choosing-a-fruit-tree-rootstock/

I have dwarf (but not the very small ones mentioned in the article) apple, pear, cherry and quince trees in my little garden, which started off in pots but are now planted in the earth. The apples, pear and cherry are at the back of a large raised bed, with various veg, flowers etc all jumbled up in front of them, and alpine strawberries growing underneath. Various daffodils, hyacinths etc appear among the strawberries in the spring, I have had the trees for several years, and the apples, cherry and pear are getting quite big but not ridiculously so, about 6 feet tall. They wouldn't be happy in pots now, (though they won't get much taller), so if you want to keep them in pots permanently, look into the very dwarf rootstocks mentioned in the article. I grow the apples, pear and cherry as minarets, which are like cordons but upright. They are not perfect in shape as my pruning skills still need improvement. Pruning is important for cordons / minarets / step overs, as you need to prune them to encourage the development of fruiting spurs. The quince tree grows as a bush shape, (like a traditional tree shape) and needs very little pruning at all. We took this one out of its pot about a year ago, planting it in its own small raised bed, again with various veg, herbs and flowers.

I get fruit off of all of them, though one of the apples and the cherry only produced a few this year. There are loads of quinces, but that tree is several years older than the others.  I love them, especially when they are in blossom in the spring.

NB you can get now lots of different fruit varieties grafted onto dwarfing stocks, but availability will be more limited than for the traditional large fruit trees, and you are likely to have to buy them from specialist nurseries (including online) as opposed to supermarkets etc. You also need to consider what varieties you need to plant together to pollinate each other, or whether they are self pollinating (my quince, cherry and pear are self pollinating, with the apples I have 2 different ones which flower at the same time and thereby pollinate each other with the help of insects obviously). Nurseries often provide this information, but a bit of research beforehand is useful, starting with https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/apple-pollination-groups-choosing-compatible-trees/ perhaps.  Or if you only want or have room for one tree, you can get what are called 'family' trees where 2 or more compatible varieties are grafted onto one root stock, so the resulting tree grows 2 types of apples which pollinate each other. 

Hope this makes sense!

missymoo81

Thank you so much DawnW, that is so super helpful!

Hope you’re ok Purps, haven’t heard from you in a while.