My front garden apple tree project

[mikedigitales]

I have a very empty front garden that I would like to make more useful with some apple trees. I've done quite well this year growing other fruit and veg in raised beds in the back garden, but would very much appreciate advice on this new project.

- The area is 24 foot long by about 12 foot wide, all lawn currently with an old concrete path along the edge.

- I'm in the middle of Sussex, so Weald Clay, which is nuteral pH, a heavy/dense 'soil', so very wet in the winter, can be very dry in a decent summer. This is the type of clay they make bricks out of, there are two old brick works within 5 miles of me

- I'm looking at cookers or eaters, I was thinking of placing them in a row towards the path edge of the garden.

- I was thinking of maybe 3 trees, but I don't have my heart set on that.

I've been lurking on here for a while now, and reading/googling for tips. Would M9 rootstock be a good choice for my dificult soil? Which other rootstock would be options, so I have a bit of rootstock diversity in the garden. Also any tips on good apple varieties to look out for, would it be right to say that some varieties are better suited to some areas?

Any advice greatfully recieved

[Mikey]

What is the street like, how many would you lose to passers by?

[mikedigitales]

Well it's face to face with another row of houses mirrored in front of ours with a wide footpath between the two rows of houses. Only tend to see the same few people walking past each day so I'm hopeful of limited scrumping

[veggiechicken]

Would any of the trees block your outlook or stop light coming through your windows?

[Mikey]

In which case, I'm sure there will be some knowledgeable individuals along shortly with some helpful comments, all I'd say is play around with some of the ornamental shapes you can create.

Stepovers possibly as path edges, espaliers or cordens as fence edges and specimen dwarf varieties as standards in the centre. Your mini orchard doesn't have to be any less pretty than the neighbours neatly trimmed lawns.

[mikedigitales]

Not super worried about blocking out light as the front windows are quite small anyway and light isn't that important in our living room which we only use in the evenings That reminds me though - the garden runs east-west, house blocks the sunrise for the garden but gets a good amount of sun from the south and west in the afternoon/evening.

[orangepippin]

A south or south-west aspect should be good.

If you are using dwarf trees, then you may find you can make a useful difference to the soil simply by digging in a good amount of farm manure in the planting area - since dwarf roots do not extend that far, you only need to improve a relatively small area.

I take your point about rootstock diversity, but if you want the trees to have similar proportions it is best to stick to a single rootstock. M9 is probably a good choice in that M9 trees don't generally get that dense (they remain quite spindly) so you will not completely block off the view from / to the street.

[FB.]

M9 (dwarf) rootstock requires deep, fertile, moisture-retentive soil and cannot tolerate any grass or other plants/plant roots nearby.
It also benefits from permanent staking as the roots are small, brittle and break easily. Its tendency to crop very early in life also makes it top-heavy which increases the risk of it falling over, leaning or breaking off at ground level - unless staked, or unless grown as a minarette (upright cordon).
M9 is best used on fertile, clean ground such as allotments, where the tree will not become more than a small bush and won't shade nearby plots.

M26 (semi-dwarf) rootstock is the minimum that I'd recommend for garden use.

The variety you choose to have on a given rootstock will make a big difference. Only today I planted a couple of apple trees on the same rootstock and of the same age - one was Gravenstein and the other was Grenadier. The Gravenstein was around twice the size of the Grenadier.
I would expect that I'd need to go down one or two rootstock sizes for the Gravenstein in order to keep it to the same size/growth rate as the Grenadier.
e.g. Grenadier on M25 (very vigorous) and Gravenstein on MM106 (medium vigour).
or Grenadier on MM111 (vigorous) and Gravenstein on M26 (semi-dwarf).

How big do you want your "trees" to be - and how high above ground do you want the branches to start? The higher the branches, the bigger the roots needed to anchor all that topweight.

[FB.]

If you are using dwarf trees you can make a useful difference to the soil simply by digging in a good amount of farm manure in the planting area

Or forget about dwarfs, forget about staking, feeding, watering, soil improvement, keeping the ground clear; just plant a rugged vigorous rootstock (MM111 or M25 in the case of apples) that'll take care of itself for a hundred years, no matter what mother nature throws at it and with no further attention required.

[FB.]

Which other rootstock would be options, so I have a bit of rootstock diversity in the garden.

If you want to go down the 1-2m sized dwarf route (pun intended!) then consider:
M27 for very vigorous varieties (e.g. Bramley and certain other triploids).
M9 for medium vigour varieties (the majority of apples).
M26 for really slow-growing varieties (e.g. Court Pendu Plat, Reverend Wilks).

Or for bushes around 2-4m then go for:
M26 for very vigorous varieties.
MM106, M116 or MM111 for average varieties.
MM111 or M25 for slow-growing varieties.

Or for half-standard trees around 4-5m, with a 1.25m clear trunk:
M116 or MM106 for vigorous varieties.
MM111 for medium-vigour varieties.
M25 for slow-growing varieties.

Or for full size trees around 5-6m with a 1.5m trunk:
MM111 for vigorous varieties.
M25 for average varieties.
Don't bother with slow-growing varieties as they will not make big trees in most soils.

Or for a huge specimen tree around 7-8m with a 1.75m trunk and quite possibly a lifespan of 150 years:
M25 grafted with a very vigorous triploid variety such as Bramley, Blenheim Orange, Gascoyne's Scarlet, Gravenstein etc.

.

[FB.]

M9 trees don't generally get that dense (they remain quite spindly) so you will not completely block off the view from / to the street.

Yes, the dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks such as M27, M9 and M26 tend to be less dense; less branched and less "twiggy". The very vigorous M25 also influences a more open tree structure.

M116, MM106 and MM111 influence a more dense and "twiggy" branching habit. MM106 arguably forms the nicest outline shape of tree when mature, but I'm not a fan of MM106.

The variety grafted also has an influence. Many of the triploids tend to form rather open, long-reaching trees. Varieties noted as "compact" tend to be more twiggy. Green aphid attacks are great for encouraging branching - if the tree is strong enough to fight back.

Rootstock and scion will interact to "average out" their influences on each other.

[orangepippin]

Bearing in mind the space available - 24 foot long by about 12 foot wide - I think M9 trees will be the best fit, or possibly M26 for less vigorous varieties. There is a definite step-change from M9 to M26, the latter has a more dense canopy that will obscure the house from the road to a much greater extent ... which may or may not be desirable.

[FB.]

Bearing in mind the space available - 24 foot long by about 12 foot wide - I think M9 trees will be the best fit, or possibly M26 for less vigorous varieties. There is a definite step-change from M9 to M26, the latter has a more dense canopy that will obscure the house from the road to a much greater extent ... which may or may not be desirable.

Yes, it depends how big "mike" wants them to be. Open dwarf bushes or tree with "walk-under" canopies.
I'd still favour M26 for a bush as it won't need as much care as M27/M9.
If not much cared for - just an annual light sprinkling of compost or manure and maybe one-a-fortnight heavy watering in dry summer weather - an M26 will be slightly dwarfed and will be like a well-loved M27/M9 but without the effort.

Just like in my poor soil I can grow "very vigorous" M25 rootstocks at 8ft spacing (very vigorous rootstocks at semi-dwarf spacing) but without the effort required to manage a "semi-dwarf" bush-tree up to the same size.
Extra vigour in the rootstock means less feeding and watering necessary - and the tree is strong enough to stand its ground against competing plants, pests or disease.
Rather like the "failure-to-establish" of young MM106 trees when planted in grassed-over community orchards in East Anglia which we chatted about the other day, and with the stronger M25 now being recommended instead.

Rather than plant a MM106 and have to keep the ground clear for a 1m radius for the first several years, and keep it well-watered in the summer for its first few years, all that effort would not be required if a M25 was planted. Even with poor soil I have no reservations in planting MM111's or M25's, at about 9ft spacing, straight into grass all the way up to the trunk and then just leaving them to get on with it.

[mikedigitales]

Wow!

Thank you for the wealth of replies! Having a read through I'm thinking maybe a very vigorous variety on an M9 and a couple of average/less vigorous varieties on M26 might be the way to go as large bushes/small trees. I do like the idea of step overs along the edge of the path but I can't see the vast range of postman/delivery men not damaging them taking shortcuts everyday.

FB. (or anyone else ) do you think clay soil is a big plus or minus, in terms of estimating the mature size of the trees? Using the link on your signature I think a very vigorous variety like Bramley will mature to about 10.5ft which is OK, but 14ft on M26 sounds a bit big maybe. Changing the soil quality away from the average setting also had a huge effect on the sizes, so your advice on the heavy clay I think will be really important to my choices

[FB.]

Thank you for the wealth of replies! Having a read through I'm thinking maybe a very vigorous variety on an M9 and a couple of average/less vigorous varieties on M26 might be the way to go as large bushes/small trees.

Sounds like a good idea if 2-3m bushes are what you want. The M9 and M26 can easily be kept much smaller than their potential (about half) if they are pruned in mid-July. Pruning any time while they have leaves on is very de-vigorating. Pruning in mid-July encourages fruit bud formation for the following year and reduces vigour; of course, if you de-vigorate too much it won't have the strength to fruit the following year, so only shoots which grew that season can be safely pruned in summer.

I do like the idea of step overs along the edge of the path but I can't see the vast range of postman/delivery men not damaging them taking shortcuts everyday.

Grow stepovers on a slightly stronger rootstock and perhaps consider making them taller (like a picket fence) or even virtually a low-level, two-tier espalier.

FB. (or anyone else ) do you think clay soil is a big plus or minus, in terms of estimating the mature size of the trees? Using the link on your signature I think a very vigorous variety like Bramley will mature to about 10.5ft which is OK, but 14ft on M26 sounds a bit big maybe. Changing the soil quality away from the average setting also had a huge effect on the sizes, so your advice on the heavy clay I think will be really important to my choices

I doubt that your soil will be "poor" or "very good".
Normally, "very good" would be highly-enriched allotment soils, or other areas of exceptional soil depth and fertility.
"Poor" are usually shallow soils - often sandy/gravelly/chalky - which don't hold moisture.

My soil varies from "poor" to "below average"; sandy-gravelly-chalky-loam, varying in depth from six inches to eighteen inches (15-45cm) before then a six-inch layer of sand, and many feet of free-draining gravel beneath with the odd small clump of chalk or clay occasionally appearing. Plants need moisture and my soil just doesn't hold much.
It doesn't help that I'm only a few miles from the lowest-rainfall part of the UK (about half the UK's "normal" rainfall).

Most likely your soil is below average or average, I'd say.

How deep is the topsoil over the clay?
How well do other plants grow in your area?
What does grow well in your area? - this can tell you a lot about your soil.
Are there many other apple trees?

You can improve drainage by planting the trees on mounds or ridges in order to keep the base of the trunk out of the standing water to avoid root suffocation. M9 and M26 will resist the diseases found in wet soils, but they may still suffocate if they're in standing water for days.

However, on really heavy soil the very dwarf M27 probably won't do well (it resists the fungi in heavy soil but lacks vigour to cope with less-than-ideal soil and anaerobic conditions - except with the most vigorous varieties like Bramley). Moving up to MM106 gives a high risk of crown rot (MM106 roots can be killed by fungi in heavy soils).
MM111 and M25 are probably too strong for your needs, although MM111 is generally the best of the fairly vigorous rootstocks when the growing conditions aren't ideal .
M116 is considered to be between M26 and MM106 size, and a near-substitute for MM106 without the disease problems in heavier soils - but M116 is quite rare.

So on balance, vigorous triploids on M9 and medium-vigour varieties on M26 seems to be about right in terms of both tree size and tolerance of heavy soil diseases.

M27 with weak or medium-vigour varieties will not have the vigour to recover from occasional partial suffocation.
MM106 is a gamble in soils which become saturated as it is very susceptible to crown, collar and root rots. It's so susceptible that I've lost a number of MM106's which probably brought it with them from the nursery. MM106 may be too vigorous, too.

MM111 and M25 are probably too vigorous for your needs.