Fruit for a NW-facing wall

[ameno]

The front wall of my house faces north-west, and in one corner against the wall I currently have a very sickly blackcurrant, which I shall be digging out and binning this winter.
That being the case, I have come for advice on what to replace it with. I want something perennial and edible (it doesn't necessarily need to be a fruit), and which will grow and crop okay against a NW-facing wall, and which won't grow excessively large.
A replacement blackcurrant is out, partly because I have enough bushes already, anyway, and partly because of risk of transferring whatever diseases it has.
A gooseberry is out because it's too thorny. Other currants are probably not a good idea, anyway, in case they catch whatever the blackcurrant had (and there could be replant disease issues, too).

So, any suggestions?

[ameno]

Morello cherry trained in the wall?

I did consider that, but I feel it's probably too close to the house.

[mrbadexample]

Could it be a gooseberry if it was a thornless variety?

I like a gooseberry, me.

[nickdub]

I did consider that, but I feel it's probably too close to the house.

Too close because you are worried about the roots, or the dryness of the ground or another factor ?

[veggiechicken]

Chaenomeles? Edible fruit, attractive flowers but a few thorns.

[It never rains..it pours]

Planted a fig next to house wall, told roots quite aggressive so its in a slabbed hole, lined with heavy duty damp course sheeting.Fig over 1ft from wall. Left 6 inches from wall to slab and filled with 20mm stone so slab not on wall, wall bell rain dripping doesn't splash on damp course and can easily take stone out to check if roots broken out in a couple of years. Know fig no good on north west but if was planting a less aggressive fruit tree would do the same but leave front of slab box open.

Have a nectarine on another wall, done by a previous owner who planted way too close, trunk only 3 inches off wall, cant say im happy with it at all so close and its being watched

[nickdub]

Have a nectarine on another wall, done by a previous owner who planted way too close, trunk only 3 inches off wall, cant say im happy with it at all so close and its being watched

If it was mine I'd dig the nectarine up now and replant it say 3' away from the wall - virtually impossible to grow a decent tree that close to a wall.

[It never rains..it pours]

Thanks for the reply and your probably right nickdub. But think you live in a different pardigm to me as regards garden size, 3ft would be in the asparagus bed. In fairness it produced 40 fruit last year but only 2 made it to eating due to the poor summer (they were in different world to shop ones though). Think previous owner must have just returned from a Spanish holiday and then had a drink before going to garden centre to buy it. If it comes out, a pear or plum would make more sense there, but suppose its a global warming hedge

[nickdub]

No worries - we each have to work with what we have - more room in my case but also more animals - bloody deer keep eating whatever they fancy they can get their teeth into - for example the only roses I can grow are ones with will flower at least 6' or more off the grown - anything lower down gets eaten back to a stump, and don't talk to me about the squirrels ...

As another suggestion for your nectarine - perhaps some sort of semi-permanent watering system with a rainwater butt and a soaker hose, to be used when the fruit was forming and swelling would prove more suitable for you to mitigate the dry conditions close to the wall ?

[veggiechicken]

I've been forking out hazelnut seedlings today - they are everywhere - even in pots in the green house!

Mini-oak trees here - buried in the GH.

[It never rains..it pours]

As another suggestion for your nectarine - perhaps some sort of semi-permanent watering system with a rainwater butt and a soaker hose, to be used when the fruit was forming and swelling would prove more suitable for you to mitigate the dry conditions close to the wall ?

Thanks for help but generally lack of water isn't an issue here and unfortunately wasn't last summer. Summer 2018 was a good one and did water a little then but it only had 4 fruit, most made it to eating. Problem that year was being new to this game, I didn't realise it needs hand pollinating, so was pleased when hand pollination set 40 in 2019 but another decent summer didn't arrive so most went mouldy before ripe. I have debated making or adapting something like this to roughly 2.5m x2.5m x0.5m to cover it
https://www.aosom.co.uk/item/outsunn...m~845-304.html
On plus side no deer's or squirrels here and freezer was full with Raspberries and Currants that loved the damp. Win some.....loose some

[ameno]

Too close because you are worried about the roots, or the dryness of the ground or another factor ?

Roots, but not the roots causing direct damage, per se, but rather the water uptake causing soil shrinkage and issues to the house that way. I hear these problems are worst on clay soil, and the soil in most of the front garden is very heavy clay (it's well improves in the corner bed where I would be planting, but that bed is quite small, so tree roots would definitely spread out into the surrounding clay).

Also, I suspect there wouldn't be enough wall space to properly train a tree, anyway. There's a window about 4 ft above the ground, and the gap between the edge of the window and the property boundary is only about 3 ft wide, so there wouldn't be enough height to train a tree below the window, and not enough width to train it in the gap between the window and next door.

Chaenomeles? Edible fruit, attractive flowers but a few thorns.

I do already have one in the back garden, but it's a double variety, so hardly ever bears fruit (no pollen, you see).
I hear they don't actually taste of much, though? Obviously you need to cook them up and make them into jelly or puree or something, but even then I hear they are pretty bland.
Does anyone have any actual experience of cooking and eating them, and can they say whether they are actually worth eating?

[ameno]

Okay, having looked into it further it seems Japanese quince fruit actually are quite tasty when made into a jelly or jam, so I think that might be a good option.

Just one thing: can anyone tell me whether the hybrid variety Chaenomeles x superba reliably bears fruit, or whether I would be best off with one of the species (speciosa or japonica)? I know some hybrids end up sterile, and so obviously won't produce fruit, but then again some are fertile (like hybrid berries and currants), so I want to be sure this one is fertile if I get a Chaenomeles x superba.

[It never rains..it pours]

This looks like our one , didn't realise what it was till last year when advised on here. Not sure would class as highly desirable
https://www.gardenia.net/plant/chaen...apanese-quince
Has lots nice white bloom. Fruit was golf ball size but fertilised it when as said advised what it was and got a few bigger this year ie tennis ball as well as the golf ball ones, imagine I should thin it post flowering. Not eaten them yet , they still in storage
Think if it was on south or west wall it would be long gone but on east wall it scraps its place depending on what can make with the fruit when get time

[nickdub]

On your soil type and with limited space I think I'd put in a loganberry, but then not everyone likes their taste - an ornamental quince would be OK but the fruit are very small so not worth growing for those imo.