This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
South facing Porch Fruits?
Bayanole22
Posts: 10
in Fruit & veg
Hi all,
We have a south facing Porch on our current house which is somewhat more like a conservatory (dwarf wall with glazing all around).
The kids love fruit picking and we have some land with a variety of fruit trees and would like to bring something to the home.
We live in Staffordshire, the porch is unheated but being south facing gets very hot in the summer. It has a large ledge all the way around over the dwarf wall that could possibly sit some smaller growing fruiting plants or there is enough floor space 1 larger fruit tree like a peach maybe?
Just looking at suggestions really and what others grow in their porch or conservatory? Have heard citrus can be hit and miss (mostly miss) but you get the benefit of them being evergreen. I'm guessing the summer heat may actually be detrimental to berries? (Blackberries, Blueberry's, Strawberrys). I do really like the foliage and flowers of peach trees and keeping them out of harm for leaf curl maybe the ideal thing, but do peaches do well long term in pots and also heavy pruning to keep it from taking over the whole porch?
Thanks in advance!
We have a south facing Porch on our current house which is somewhat more like a conservatory (dwarf wall with glazing all around).
The kids love fruit picking and we have some land with a variety of fruit trees and would like to bring something to the home.
We live in Staffordshire, the porch is unheated but being south facing gets very hot in the summer. It has a large ledge all the way around over the dwarf wall that could possibly sit some smaller growing fruiting plants or there is enough floor space 1 larger fruit tree like a peach maybe?
Just looking at suggestions really and what others grow in their porch or conservatory? Have heard citrus can be hit and miss (mostly miss) but you get the benefit of them being evergreen. I'm guessing the summer heat may actually be detrimental to berries? (Blackberries, Blueberry's, Strawberrys). I do really like the foliage and flowers of peach trees and keeping them out of harm for leaf curl maybe the ideal thing, but do peaches do well long term in pots and also heavy pruning to keep it from taking over the whole porch?
Thanks in advance!
0
Posts
It will get very hot in the summer and without any shading would scorch plants - net curtains could prevent that though.
Whatever you grow will need to be pollinated, so pollinators must be able to get to the flowers, so you'd need an open window during the day that isn't covered with a net curtain.
If pollinators can gain access and you can prevent it overheating, then maybe patio tomatoes (e.g. Maskotka) would work. Snackbite peppers and chillies could also be ok there. Maybe even a melon.
A friend grew Cape Gooseberries in his greenhouse last year with great success.
I grew some in my garden which were ok - but tbh I didn't really like the taste, but they may work - easy to grow from seed sown late Feb/March.
My CG pants only got to about 1ft but produced berries all summer long, but they're an acquired taste.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I wouldn't try it with the brambles or blueberries - it just wouldn't suit them IMO.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Agree with @Fairygirl about the Strawberries - much easier to handle and move around.
If you can provide a bit of shading as and when needed one of the smaller cherry type tomatoes may be worth thinking about ?
So much depends on what you like and what size containers you can use on the ledge and on the floor.