Fruit trees for area that is semi-wet in winter ?

[jersey bean]

Evening Grapes!

We have a patch of garden which can get quite waterlogged in winter after a good rain and we need to make the best of it. Doing away with some lawn and making a border seems a good option.

We have an old well established bramley planted there which does fruit but sparingly, the hedges all survive having wet feet. I have a victoria plum planted on a higher level which I need to transplant as the space its in is too dry (my plums shrivelled up ) and I don't want to be continually watering.

My question is what fruit trees would do well there? Would the plum be ok, I had read that figs don't mind wet feet occasionally, do I risk another apple? Any other suggestions welcomed, I would love to plant another quince (we had one at our old house) but I don't know if that would be a good spot.

Thank you
jo

[BUFFS]

why don't you put a French drain in, dig a deep hole in the lowest corner and channels spreading out from it so the water can run towards the pit, fill this with broken bricks and bits of old terracotta pots etc and then add grit to fill the spaces, put a layer of grit in all the channels and then cover the pit and channels with some ground cover fabric and put the soil back, this will let the water thru but not the soil and use the leftover soil to raise the level where you want to plant the fruit trees( this area should be double dug anyway. where I used to live we had this problem and I double dug a square yard for each tree and raised the level and it was working fine for the next ten years til we left there to move to rain central , we get more rain in a month than jersey gets all year, I know as I lived there for some years...good luck with it, it really is worth doing properly as you only then do it once..

[sparrow100]

I was told quinces like boggy ground when I bought mine. The boggier the better.

[jersey bean]

Thanks so much BUFFS - rain central doesn't sound good! (cheaper housing than here though eh?) We live around the Grouville Marsh area and we are next to a sea level field which floods frequently in winter, not complaining as we see swans daily which are beautiful (today we have cows and swans!) but our ground is not much higher. Plus the new development next door raised their ground level by 1m and put in a soakaway pond - above the level of our ground! So a french drain wouldn't work, I don't think - if we dug a hole in our lowest corner I'm pretty sure it would start to fill up as we dug it I'm trying to work with what we have and hoping that some planting will absorb some of the wetness in time. Resisting willow as we have a nice view of the swans at the moment

[jersey bean]

sparrow100 - excellent news, I love quince. Just the smell of them is heavenly!

[BUFFS]

Thanks so much BUFFS - rain central doesn't sound good! (cheaper housing than here though eh?) We live around the Grouville Marsh area and we are next to a sea level field which floods frequently in winter, not complaining as we see swans daily which are beautiful (today we have cows and swans!) but our ground is not much higher. Plus the new development next door raised their ground level by 1m and put in a soakaway pond - above the level of our ground! So a french drain wouldn't work, I don't think - if we dug a hole in our lowest corner I'm pretty sure it would start to fill up as we dug it I'm trying to work with what we have and hoping that some planting will absorb some of the wetness in time. Resisting willow as we have a nice view of the swans at the moment

you have the ideal conditions for blueberries, they like it here but would absolutely love your garden, I know that area, so play to your gardens strengths and reap the benefits of your boggy garden...give it a try , I did and we now have ice cream, sorbet, pies and juice, use it all to your benefit....

[jersey bean]

Thanks BUFFS, I will give them a go.