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Growing a fruit tree in a pot
Jillity
Posts: 13
in Fruit & veg
What's the best fruit tree to grow in a pot in the garden apart from apples? The garden is 550' above sea level and it can catch the wind a lot. It is in Cornwall and we don't get the frosts and very cold weather that some other parts of the uk get. We're inland from the sea and so there shouldn't be any salt in the air.
0
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Try a peach tree but try and keep it out of the wind.
I thought it might be too exposed for a peach tree but I'll read up on them. I love peaches.
You can get dwarf peach trees which fruit very well, fruit not quite full size but bigger than you'd expect from a 5ft tree. My son has one in a windy garden in York, only 2ft tall but around 10 fruit on it. Might be easier to site out of the wind than a big tree. Or an apricot? (Also available as a dwarf.)
I thought apricots needed winter protection as well but I do love the fruit. I was wondering if a pear would do well.
..when I lived in Cornwall... near St Austell - I grew a Fig in a container... one called 'White Marseilles'... I got some nice fruit on it as I remember but I moved to a colder area and left it behind...
I live near St Austell.
Actually, peaches & apricots fruit ok a long way further north than you'd think! I used to work in a garden in Northumberland with (full sized) peach and apricot trees, trained on SW and SE-facing walls. Peach produced 50-something ripe fruit one year, apricot quite a few (though the mice loved them!). You just need the right varieties.
..it's funny but I had a feeling you did... in some ways I'm sorry I moved away but needs must.... you know... things happen... it's much busier there now than it used to be I think...the last time I visited... lots of road building going on etc... but I'm from Falmouth originally...
...now in East Anglia...warmer summers but much,...much....colder winters...lol...
..I used to grow roses in Cornwall....loads of them..all different kinds... plus the usual Cornish shrubs that everyone grows... I used to visit Burncoose nursery down near Redruth,...plus Duchy of Cornwall nursery near Luxulyan... amongst others... and mail order...as you couldn't get many roses there, in those days..
...I liked the way you could just more or less buy whatever plant you fancied without having to worry too much about its hardiness....within reason of course... never tried Bougainvilleas...lol.
I would avoid pears Jillity - they prefer sheltered conditions and can be finicky at the best of times!
The OrangePippin site has some good advice:
http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/growing-fruit-trees-in-pots-and-containers
Reads Nursery are also excellent and I'm sure if you contacted a specialist supplier like these they would be happy to give advice specific to your location and garden aspect.
That site is really helpful. I'd forgotten about damsons but there's a great article about them on the site. I know they grow in Cornwall and in windy situations so I think this is what I'll go for.