Which Fruits Grow Well In England?

[wild]

Hey folks!

I'm currently growing tayberries, mulberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, redberries. Also have a couple of apple trees, and all seem to be doing well so far.
I'm in the South West of England with a large garden. I'm really wanting to delve into new things, but am afraid that they won't work. A couple of years ago I had a cherry tree that died quickly and left me feeling pretty sad 'cause of the money wasted.
I do have a greenhouse, but it isn't big enough to keep these new plants in so they'll need to be outside.

How well might figs work outside? How about apricots? Lemon trees? Melons? Plums? Kiwis?

Has anyone got any other recommendations of interesting fruits that I could try? I'm not into blueberries, but am open to pretty much anything else! :-)

[veggiechicken]

I have apples, pears, cherries, plums, greengage, black/red/whitecurrants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, worcesterberries, jostaberries, loganberries, blackberres, tayberries, youngberries, figs, kiwis, grapes, blueberries growing outside.
In the greenhouse, peaches normal and donut, apricot, nectarine and there will be melons, melonpear, physalis.
There may be more, but its late and my brains asleep/

[Jay-ell]

Honey berries, fuchsia berries, plums, gages, sloes, huckleberry, medlar, quince, service tree, blue sausage, elder berry, rowan, hawthorn and if its a really really big garden mulberries (and I mean BIG)

[Guest]

The only thing I can think to add is cherry plums, mirabelles, apricots, wineberries, rose hips from wild rose and dog rose. In regard to figs the most common one grown outside is brown turkey but there are lots of varieties some of which are indoors only. Fig trees in the garden | large range of fig trees for sale | Free advice

[Alison]

I'm way north of you and grow apples, pears, plums, cherries, damsons, blackberries, tayberries, wineberries, blueberries, red currant, white currant, black currant, gooseberries, raspberries (summer and autumn), strawberries, cranberries, figs, peaches, grapes and rhubarb (yes I know but we treat it as a fruit).

[wild]

Wow! Very interesting.

Thank you, everyone. Gives me hope that this just might work...!

[ESBkevin]

Peach, Apricot, Greengage, Damson, Plumb, red & black current, Gooseberry, Fig, Cherry, Quince, and don't forget some edible nuts like walnut and hazelnut.

I can recommend a supplier near me called the realenglishfruit.co.uk who have good communication and advice whilst supplying good stock well packaged at the right time of year, don't be buying and planting in the summer, dormant stock has a better survival rate.

[yummersetter]

Where in the SW? Vaguely if you value your privacy! South-facing enclosed garden, or field on the moors? Such a huge range of climates down here. I have a couple of acres of orchard in South Somerset with a lot of trees and even there we have quite a range of sunny shelter and frost pockets. I can grow peaches near the house but the half dozen standard trees I planted in the farther orchard have either died or blossomed without setting fruit. Same for the four apricots, in twenty years I've never had one fruit.
If you're in Devon, think about going on a tour of Martin Crawford's Agroforestry garden in Dartington; in fact, this summer and autumn, visit as many local gardens that grow fruit that you can find and ask the owners / gardeners what they recommend in your locality. Interesting fruit trees can take up to ten years to fruit and you don't want to waste time, money or space on no-hopers.

[BUFFS]

I'm way north of you and grow apples, pears, plums, cherries, damsons, blackberries, tayberries, wineberries, blueberries, red currant, white currant, black currant, gooseberries, raspberries (summer and autumn), strawberries, cranberries, figs, peaches, grapes and rhubarb (yes I know but we treat it as a fruit).

I have about all the same but with figs, apricots and peaches, and I grow melons each year in the greenhouse, so you can try anything down there as the climate will be warmer...

[wild]

Where in the SW? Vaguely if you value your privacy! South-facing enclosed garden, or field on the moors? Such a huge range of climates down here. I have a couple of acres of orchard in South Somerset with a lot of trees and even there we have quite a range of sunny shelter and frost pockets. I can grow peaches near the house but the half dozen standard trees I planted in the farther orchard have either died or blossomed without setting fruit. Same for the four apricots, in twenty years I've never had one fruit.
If you're in Devon, think about going on a tour of Martin Crawford's Agroforestry garden in Dartington; in fact, this summer and autumn, visit as many local gardens that grow fruit that you can find and ask the owners / gardeners what they recommend in your locality. Interesting fruit trees can take up to ten years to fruit and you don't want to waste time, money or space on no-hopers.

Devon, yes. Large south facing Garden!

Fantastic, thank you for this info!

[yummersetter]

Thank you! Your question made me think of the Forest Garden and I've booked a place on an autumn tour, five years since my last visit to do a weekend course. Really looking forward to seeing how it has developed. Otter Farm is worth taking an online look at too.

I'd say be adventurous with smaller things, practical with the more permanent, slowly developing fruit trees. The once-every-ten-years cold snaps will wipe some things out and you don't want to break your heart losing a precious tree that was just about to fruit for the first time.

[chrisdb]

Thank you! Your question made me think of the Forest Garden and I've booked a place on an autumn tour, five years since my last visit to do a weekend course. Really looking forward to seeing how it has developed. Otter Farm is worth taking an online look at too.

I've often thought of going on a tour of Martin Crawford's forest garden. Let me know if it's worth it! I loved his book and it's one of my inspirations, but agree with you about the trees - they take a lot of investment in time and space, so unless you have lots of space it's best to be conservative. There's plenty of room to experiment with shrubs and smaller perennials.