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My orangery... with no orange tree!

TagwexTagwex Posts: 44
in Fruit & veg
Hi all,
We spent today getting the soil and compost into the orangery (19m2 of growing space) and the fruit trees have been waiting outside patiently. We have the following trees and was wondering what to do as regards care, pollination (not sure what trees are male, female or maybe both), acidity and actual planting. There is a resident Nectarine already in there.
Plums - 2 No. Mallard.
Cherry - Prunus Avium 'Early Rivers'.
Cherry - Prunus Avium 'Sunburst'.
Fig - 2 No. Ficus Carica 'Brown Turkey'.
Kiwi - Actinidia Deliciosa 'Jenny'.
Kiwi - Actinidia Deliciosa 'Hayward'.
Apricot - Prunus Armeniaca 'Moor Park'.
Peach -  Prunus Persica 'Peregrine'.
Peach -  Prunus Persica 'Rochester'.

Are all of the above suitable in an orangery all year long? We know that the fig needs protection from frost.

We also intend to start very shortly on 4 raised beds, concrete posts and gravel boards and apart from the standard veg that has been started in pots for onward planting we will be putting in the following.....

Logan berry - LY654.
Tayberry - Fruticosus x R. idaeus.
Blueberry - Vaccinium Corymbosum 'Torro'.
Blueberry - Vaccinium Corymbosum 'Patriot'.
Blueberry - Vaccinium Corymbosum 'North Sky'.
Blueberry - Vaccinium Corymbosum 'Chandler'.
Blueberry - Vaccinium Corymbosum 'Berkley'.
Blueberry - Vaccinium Corymbosum 'Duke'.
Mulberry - Morus nigra folia, (probably not in a raised bed).
We also have white currant, black currant, red currant and raspberry canes.

All the above to go outside...or can any of them successfully go in the orangery? We know the blueberries have to have a separate bed in acid soil and we think the Mulberry can potentially be huge so that needs to go outside. We have 43 strawberry plants and they will be spread around among the fruit trees in the orangery. 

 

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Posts

  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    You seem to have a huge list for a comparatively smallish space!
    Can't advise but did wonder how deep the soil is, I suppose it's open to the ground inside?
  • TagwexTagwex Posts: 44
    Agreed. Might have gone overboard. We are at this very minute spacing the trees out. We need to check the potential spread of each. Would leaving some of them in pots restrict their growth? The plums have to stay in pots as their root are rampant. We put in a mixture of screened topsoil and compost today, approximately 15" on top of the topsoil that there was there already which I rotavated a few weeks back.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    edited April 2021
    Your plums and cherries really need to go outside, I don’t think you are going to have the space (each 4x4m approx) and don’t think they need to be undercover, they are pretty hardy. All of the berries and currants in list 2 need to go outside, the blueberries in acidic soil. Save your orangery for those that need extra protection. You can look up online each tree variety regarding whether they are self-fertile or if they need a pollinating partner.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • TagwexTagwex Posts: 44
    Hello Nollie, We are just going through the heights and spreads of each tree at the moment. The guy who sold us the plums (I have known him since childhood so no salesman talk there) said to put them in the biggest pots we can get and bury them up to the rim to restrict the roots. The nursery where we bought the cherries said they would be fine in the orangery. The sunburst can have a potential height of 8m in 20 years so that lead shoot will be lopped at some point. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Brown Turkey figs are pretty tough too ... mine lives outdoors on the  S/E facing terrace all year round, even through the Beast from the East ... and we get one crop a year most years ... you should get more fruit inside.  

    All the trees in the first list will need insects to pollinate them ... they really need to be outside.   Figs don't need pollinating so they're ok inside.  If that space was mine I'd grow some grapevines in there, and some citrus in pots on wheeled trollies so that they can be wheeled in and out for winter/summer. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TagwexTagwex Posts: 44
    Dovefromabove said:
    Brown Turkey figs are pretty tough too ... mine lives outdoors on the  S/E facing terrace all year round, even through the Beast from the East ... and we get one crop a year most years ... you should get more fruit inside.  

    All the trees in the first list will need insects to pollinate them ... they really need to be outside.   Figs don't need pollinating so they're ok inside.  If that space was mine I'd grow some grapevines in there, and some citrus in pots on wheeled trollies so that they can be wheeled in and out for winter/summer. 
    Ahhhhh I think I have the grapevine covered :). A black hamburg.
    Not a fan of citrus bar oranges. 
  • TagwexTagwex Posts: 44

    Should have been attached to the previous post
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    I think the sunny south east of Ireland is possibly wetter and maybe slightly colder than central Norfolk so to guarantee a fig crop, maybe the plant should be in the orangery.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    edited April 2021
    Yes cutting the leader stem out of your plums and cherries is essential, often already done when you buy them, unless they are just 1st year maiden plants. I would do that this summer. Unless they are on pixie stock they will still want to get too large, I think, for that space and don’t need or want to be inside. Have you no suitable space outside, is that why you need to grow them indoors? Also I wonder why your plum guy sold you two of the same variety? Check if Mallard is self-fertile, otherwise you will need another compatible tree for a pollinating partner. Even self-fertile trees fruit better with a partner.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Ceres said:
    I think the sunny south east of Ireland is possibly wetter and maybe slightly colder than central Norfolk so to guarantee a fig crop, maybe the plant should be in the orangery.

    I doubt if it’s colder than here ... winter winds straight from Siberia via the North Sea 🧊 💨 
    but it is probably wetter ... we have to water our fig at least once a day in summer 
    😊. 

    As I said, the OP should  improve on our cropping if his fig is indoors. He should get at least two flushes of fruit ... possibly three. I’d grow figs indoors if I had the space ... but then I wouldn’t grow Brown Turkey ... there are much choicer varieties if you can provide the right conditions. 😊 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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