New blank garden.... need URGENT advice on fruit and veggie plantation.

[PassionateButInexperience]

Hi ... thank you all for all the advice.. makes sense... good I came here else would have done so much of purchase by now and made a mess in my garden..

I am rethinking the whole plan of fruit garden hearing all the suggestion ?
- not keen on flowers for the back garden so will only grow veggies in all the beds
- Will put runner beans where I want grapes and check this summer...
- Will also put strawberries on the west facing wall

Please help on below ( considering I have discarded the fruit plants for now so what else I can do..)

- Can I plant Blueberries and raspberries in basket on wall fence or they have to be on the ground ?

- What is the best month to go to RHS Wisley to pick the best fruits trees? considering I am not doing it this summer now, as you all advised

- If I scum to temptation and plan to do 1-2 fruit trees this year then am I too late to go to Wisley and pick good quality container grown fruit trees to plant now ? I was planning to buy fruit trees online (Fruit Trees & Soft Fruit Plants | Buy Online | Blackmoor Nurseries UK and Buy Seeds, Fruit Trees and Seed Potatoes | Marshalls Seeds)
There is also a 'Crawley Garden centre' i visited today, they have fruit trees (not many varieties or root stock) but the they give expert advise and train you on growing and pruning trees and will order fruit freest for you on variety/rootstock etc for you to come and see the plant once arrived and buy if you like to... the plants I saw there were good quality ( i think so).. not sure how well they are compared to highly recommended Wisley


Many thanks
Anil C.

[WendyC]

Can't answer all your questions but blueberries and raspberries definitely are not suitable for baskets. Blueberries could go in a large pot of ericaceous compost but raspberries grow to 6' plus and are best in the ground.

[fishpond]

Blackmoor nurseries have just supplied me with 3 fruit trees and I am astounded at the size and health--brilliant!

[PassionateButInexperience]

Blackmoor nurseries have just supplied me with 3 fruit trees and I am astounded at the size and health--brilliant!

Thanks fishpond,

The trees you ordered, are these container grown ? Which trees and varities ? if i may ask please.

[fishpond]

1 x apple--Court Pendu Platt
1 x Gage
1 x Pluot--cross between 75% plum 25% apricot--should be superb in about 2-3 years or so, but I admit that I will let a couple of fruit develop for tasting.
I also ordered some rootstocks for experimental purposes

Look for varieties that will cross pollinate each other, also look to see what gives you the longest keeping period, certainly with apples, so you could start eating from one tree in August and have different varieties in store until April.
Or you could freeze/bottle everything
Your choice, growing fruit is a long term investment (50-100 years for some), choose carefully and take your time, including preparing the planting hole--they could be in it for a while
Mine were 2 year bare root.
Poor Planning = Poor performance
Most of all --ENJOY.

[Alison]

Blackmoor nurseries have just supplied me with 3 fruit trees and I am astounded at the size and health--brilliant!

Blackmoor are excellent, not cheap but very good value and fab service.


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[Kristen]

1 x Pluot

That reminds me ... I'll ask my question in a new thread:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1221887

[PassionateButInexperience]

Hi Alison/ Fishpond - Which one would you recomend more to buy from .. Blakmoor or Wisley plant centre?? In terms of purely quality of trees.

I don't drive and not sure Wisley delivers to home ( I know blackmoor does), so not sure if more than one plant then how to do that 2 hours+ of journey from wisley to home with a delicate plant or 2

I checked wisley broucher online (price , breed, rootstock etc..) and it says to come and collect.

[Two_Sheds]

Which one would you recomend ...

I'm just concerned that you want the perfect fruit garden, yesterday
It's taken most of us years & years to get good at what we do, and we're happy to advise you, but there's no substitute for your own experience. You aren't going to get this all right first time. Start with the easier things, and go on from there.

You might find Hessayon's Fruit Expert to be of help to you in your planning, and your understanding of what different fruits need in terms of location, soil, aftercare, etc

[PassionateButInexperience]

Two Sheds- I know i am being very greedy and may be childish as well

I have lot of exp growing veggies in country side and also in kitchen garden, I am 34 now and I started growing veggies when i was 18..

But as i said earlier... I am inexperience, greedy and childish when it comes to fruits...

I have slowed down from all the advice on this post.. but want to do 1 or 2 trees this year..
I have a neighbour who is my best buddy and I have to do for him as well ( you can imagine how ameture he must be to leave hos garden for me ��������)


Any advice on my earlier post would be highly appreciated... might not do it but working on to curb my enthusiasm ... ��

[yummersetter]

Going back to your questions, the peach will need the best, sunniest place you have. I have never grown a family apple tree but have read of a lot of problems with them, try searching them in the archive here.

Have you made your mind up about varieties yet? To me that's the most vital area of your project, and the most interesting and time consuming part of the planning. I would ( and do) not waste space by growing varieties I can easily buy, but like to eat varieties of fruits that can only be tasted if you grow them yourself. So I buy barerooted trees from Reads, Keepers, Agroforestry and Blackmoors. They will be delivered in autumn. I personally wouldn't normally buy potted trees unless it was something I really wanted, they are in compost that is unlike my soil and are often rootbound or very recently potted up.

[PassionateButInexperience]

Yummester - Good advice, thanks.. I Need to rethink in my wish list..

Below 'was' my wish list, ( 2-3 days bsck when i first started this post, not so stupid anymore.. but still greedy )

Below is the snapshot of the email I had send to Wisley plant centre, havent received reply yet.
I chose the varities mentioned below mostly from Wisley broucher and family apple tree (not decided yet) and Peach Avalon variety ( hardy against frost, curl leave ) from Blackmoor

-------------------------------

My wish List and queries

I want to start planting my trees now in Mar-Apr(I guess container grown are my options)

1. I wish to plant a Family apple tree on the corner (where South facing wall meets the West facing wall) of the garden (well drained soil, good sun)
- Is this good idea ?
- Can I plant it in March - April ?
- Do you home deliver or it is only collection from plant centre ?

2. I wish to plant 'Pears – Double U-Shaped Cordons, 1 x Comic & 1 Williams ’ on my West facing wall (well drained soil, good sun)
- How many of double U shaped pear cordons can I plant in space of 18’ fence, can I do 3 ?
- Can I plant them now in March - April ?

3. I wish to plant ‘Cherry– Morello , Bush, Gisela 5’ on corner (Where North facing wall meets the West facing wall) of the garden (well drained soil, good sun)
- Is this good idea ?
- Can I plant it in March - April ?
- Do you home deliver or it is only collection from plant centre ?

4. I wish to plant ‘Peach- Avalon variety' on corner (Where North facing wall meets the East facing wall) of the garden (will drained soil, PARTIAL sun, 8-10 hrs)
- Is this good idea ?
- Can I plant it in March - April ?
- Do you home deliver or it is only collection from plant centre ?

5. Can I grow outdoor desert black and Grapes
- I have a bed of 3’ x 20’ on the south facing wall (well drained, good sun). Can I grow 4 grape wines on this bed and grow veggies like aubergine., tomato etc in the same bed (giving space to the grape trees and not planting close to them) ? Will it kill the grape plants ?
- Can you recommend good hards outdoor dessert varieties please ? both dark and white please
- Are these for delivery or collection only ?

6. Any tools, compost, manure you recommend I should buy to get the job done ??

---------------------

[yummersetter]

Definitely put the peach where you were planning your apple tree. You want your peaches to be ripe and juicy, or you might as well buy them from the shops. I think you mean Avalon Pride, which I grow in an open position but haven't had fruit yet so can't give an opinion of the flavour. Alternative choices would be Flavorcot / Tomcot apricots in the same place. What form are you thinking? Bush, standard, fan?
Comice and Williams pears are easy to buy, though home grown Comice are much more delicious if picked at the right time and stored properly. That combination is the obvious couple for the masses, you might get something more interesting with two single cordons but you would have to research compatibility.
Which varieties of apples on your family tree? How tall are your fences, maybe a standard tree will pick up the sunlight by growing above your north facing fence?
I think you might have too many grapes for the space, depending on variety - some are more vigorous than others. I buy grapes from Sunnybank, they are very helpful.

[Paulieb]

Any advice on my earlier post would be highly appreciated... might not do it but working on to curb my enthusiasm ... ��

In Feb 2013 I had a bare south facing wall where I could have rushed to put a fruit tree. However, I ended up leaving the area and putting in some fruit trees elsewhere in my garden.

And now, a year later, I still have not planted anything permanent in this area as,
a) I cannot decide
b)still haven't pH tested it
c)haven't had time
d)haven't dug it out to test the depth.

The best advice I can give is to keep planning, do lots of research, and prepare an order for the Autumn.

I would suggest trying as many local apple/pear/etc varieties as possible, when they become available from Aug onwards in local farm shops, or from local orchards.

In terms of research you could look at what shapes you want your trees to be (I see you mention cordons), and research what rootstocks are suitable for this and see where these are available with your favoured varieties. You won't always have the choice with a potted tree, that you can get bareroot/mail order in the autumn.

Growing more usual forms may require starting with a 1 year maiden and training it yourself, which won't fruit for maybe 3 years.

I bought my trees from Keepers/Blackmoor/Walcot. Only been in the ground 2 months but so far so good.

I found that planning what to grow was as much fun (if not more fun) as actually planting, and now I just need to sit back and wait for them to grow.

As yummersetter said earlier. Peach in the sunniest spot. Morello cherry will probably require the least sun (though the more sun the better).

[PassionateButInexperience]

Hello all,

As usual sorry for late reply, I am still in stone age( no internet yet in new house..) so working from mobile.

On all you suggestion above I did lot of research ( with help from Blackmoor and RHS and local fruit and veggi grower at near by allotment), on your advice I also joined RHS as member and going to see them this weekend as Wisley plant centre.

What I found out..
1. I have clay soil ( well no brainer) and ways in which I can plant on clay soil and varities i can plant
2. Locations in my west facing garden where I can plant
3. As adviced in earlier post above, I researched family pply treat problems and now have discarded the idea of family apple tree. Will plant just one tree with one variety on it.

I still need your help with below... ( please bear with me )

1. What are the questions I need to ask when I see the advisor at RHS this weekend at Wisley? I want to make good use of the time with them.
( I have garden size, direction, soil type and my chosen varities in my mind)

2. How to choose a good tree when I am at Whisley ?
My choices are going to come from blackmoor and RHS.

3. What apple tree would you recomend ? I am looking for good size sweet dessert varity.
I dont mind if tree needs to grow in first 2-3 years before it fruits but i want a healthy nice tree before it fruits.
Can i plant 2 varities of apple bush tree at same spot (like 2 feet away), will they grow healthy and bear good fruit. I though it as alternative to family apple tree..

Many thanks
Anil C.