Fruit for a NW-facing wall

[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.

[nickdub]

Thanks for help 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

You're very welcome just chucking out ideas obviously - hazel cob nuts are one of my favourites and cost an arm and a leg in the shop but despite having loads on my trees I never get to harvest any myself grouch, grouch, grouch, moan. = bloody squirrels


The greenhouse covering at certain times of the year would certainly help in a few ways - the main thing to my mind would be stopping any problems with peach leaf curl - say put it on between March and May for that reason - then it could go on again in the Autumn if you need a few more weeks to ripen fruit or protect it in some way.
Not sure if the cost could really be justified - I'd be inclined more toward buying a roll of horticultural grade polythene and knocking some sort of Heath-Robinson version together myself if I was making the choices - but then I am notoriously mean - different folks, different strokes.

[ameno]

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.

Already got one, and it gives enough fruit.
And even in my sunny back garden, I can never get them to ripen evenly. They remain fully ripe for one day, and then go mouldy the day after, in my experience. Thus, they have been relegated to a cooking fruit. I go out and pick them every 5 days or so during their cropping period, and pick all of the ripe and half-ripe ones, then freeze them. Once I have enough, I make jam from them, and any left over I usually use to make apple and loganberry crumbles.

To be honest, I already pretty much have all the fruit I want. Or at least, I have all the fruit I want that could be grown successfully in a NW-facing position. But since I'm removing a fruit bush, I really want to replace it with something that will also give some sort of crop.
If I get enough quinces to make half a dozen small pots of jam, that will be plenty for me.

[veggiechicken]

I think I had Chaenomeles Japonica - with orange flowers. The fruits ripened to yellow/gold and smelt delicious - enough to keep a bowl of them to scent a room.
I used to make Japonica jelly/jam from them which was good with cheese as well as on toast.

[ameno]

Well, I just ordered one Chaenomeles x superba 'Elly Mossel'.
After looking at multiple sites, I was convinced that the x superba cross is indeed fertile, and will produce fruit (pretty much everywhere mentions the fruit, and some sites even had pictures specifically of the fruit of Chaenomeles x superba).

I went for single flowers because doubles don't produce pollen, so won't fruit, and I chose deep red because the double one in the back garden is peach.

[chrisdb]

I think I had Chaenomeles Japonica - with orange flowers. The fruits ripened to yellow/gold and smelt delicious - enough to keep a bowl of them to scent a room.
I used to make Japonica jelly/jam from them which was good with cheese as well as on toast.

I do the same, and the smell is amazing. Be careful though as some varieties set fruit much better than others. I have several varieties scattered around, and some do better than others.

This winter I actually saved the seeds from my jam making and they're growing away in the greenhouse. I might be naming my own variety the "Chris chaenomeles" soon if any of them do particular well....

[nickdub]

Well, I just ordered one Chaenomeles x superba 'Elly Mossel'.
After looking at multiple sites, I was convinced that the x superba cross is indeed fertile, and will produce fruit (pretty much everywhere mentions the fruit, and some sites even had pictures specifically of the fruit of Chaenomeles x superba).

I went for single flowers because doubles don't produce pollen, so won't fruit, and I chose deep red because the double one in the back garden is peach.

That's very interesting and I hope your new tree produces well for you, but also that you will find the time when you have some fruit to post something about them on here - I am always on the look out for new fruit worth growing myself.

Oddly enough the first seed from a tree or shrub I ever germinated and grew on myself was from a Japonica (as we called them then) which grew against the wall of our house. When I was 7 or 8 I noticed some small apple like fruit on it. I got 1 seed to grow in a pot of earth I think and I definitely planted it in the garden - could be still there I suppose, even though this is almost 60 years ago now but almost certainly not. I did go on to grow other things and grew quite a good selection of ornamental brooms by the time I was about 11 or 12, which flowered for several years in our rather cold and windswept garden in the Forest of Dean

[It never rains..it pours]

Well cooked some of the Japanese Quince tonight. In fairness it was quite nice but after removing skin and centres there wasn't a lot left. And that was the tennis ball size, didn't bother with the golf balls