GrowingHQ

Fruit

21 fruit and perennial edibles. Fruit is a multi-year commitment, so GrowingHQ leads with the decisions that are made once and cannot be undone.

Fruit in August

The whole of August →

Next month: 2 more jobs open in September. See what changes

Start from the space you have

Before you buy anything

18 of these crop on their own. 3 need a compatible partner — and a triploid apple such as ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ needs two, which is the single most-missed fact in garden fruit growing. How fruit pollination works explains the mechanisms; the rootstock table covers the other decision.

Cultivars80 named cultivars — season, use, keeping quality, disease behaviour, and a computed partner list for eachPollinationSelf-fertility, flowering groups, triploids, and which cultivars pollinate whichRootstocks12 rootstocks and the size of tree each producesWhen to pruneIncluding the stone-fruit rule that overrides ordinary pruning advice

The rootstock decides the size, not the cultivar

The most consequential choice in planting a fruit tree, made at the point of purchase by people who mostly do not know a choice is being made.

How the rootstock decides the size of an apple treeFive apple trees drawn to the same scale beside a 1.7 metre human figure, showing the effect of rootstock choice. M27 reaches 1.2 to 1.8 metres and needs permanent staking. M9 reaches 1.8 to 2.5 metres and also needs a permanent stake, cropping within two to three years. M26 reaches 2.4 to 3 metres and needs staking for the first few years. MM106 reaches 3.5 to 4.5 metres and is the usual garden choice. M25 reaches 5.5 to 7 metres and makes a full-sized orchard tree. The same cultivar grafted onto any of these produces a tree of that size, because size is a property of the rootstock rather than the cultivar.1.7 mM271.2–1.8 mstakedM91.8–2.5 mstakedM262.4–3 mstakedMM1063.5–4.5 mM255.5–7 mdashed outline = upper end of the range
The same cultivar on any of these makes a tree that size. It is the choice most often made by accident, and it cannot be corrected by pruning.

Trained forms

Three of these need a wall or a wire framework and one does not, which is usually what decides it.

Four trained forms for fruitFour trained fruit tree forms drawn side by side. A cordon is a single stem trained at forty-five degrees carrying short fruiting spurs, fitting the most trees per metre of wall. An espalier has a vertical central stem with three horizontal tiers branching left and right, formal and highly productive. A fan has several ribs radiating outward from a short leg, and is the usual form for stone fruit such as peaches and cherries. A bush is an open-centre goblet on a short trunk, the default free-standing form with no wall required.Cordon

A single stem at 45°. The most trees per metre of wall.

Espalier

Horizontal tiers off a central stem. Formal, and highly productive.

Fan

Ribs radiating from a short leg. The form for stone fruit.

open centreBush

An open-centre goblet on a short trunk. The default free-standing form.

Cordon, espalier and fan all need a wall or a wire framework. The bush does not, which is usually what decides it.

Fruit that crops on its own

Where there is room for only one plant, these are the ones that will still produce.

Tree fruit

A decade or more in one position, and two decisions made at purchase that cannot be corrected afterwards: the rootstock, which fixes the size, and the pollination partner, without which many cultivars flower every spring and set nothing.

FruitTypePartner neededFirst crop
ApplePome fruitone partner2–5 years
ApricotStone fruitno3–4 years
CherryStone fruitno3–5 years
FigOther tree fruitno3–5 years
PeachStone fruitno2–4 years
PearPome fruitone partner4–6 years
PlumStone fruitno3–5 years
QuincePome fruitno4–5 years

Soft fruit

Cheaper, faster, almost all self-fertile, and the best return on space in the garden. Where the pruning goes wrong it is nearly always because the plant fruits on wood the grower cut off.

FruitTypePartner neededFirst crop
BlackberryCane fruitno2–3 years
BlackcurrantBush fruitno2–3 years
BlueberryBush fruitone partner2–3 years
GooseberryBush fruitno2–3 years
LoganberryCane fruitno2–3 years
RaspberryCane fruitno1–2 years
RedcurrantBush fruitno2–3 years
StrawberryStrawberryno1–1 years
TayberryCane fruitno2–3 years
WhitecurrantBush fruitno2–3 years

Vines, perennials and annual fruit

The ones that fit no other group — a woody climber, a perennial crown, and an annual grown under glass.

FruitTypePartner neededFirst crop
GrapeVine fruitno3–4 years
MelonAnnual fruiting cropno—
RhubarbPerennial stem cropno2–2 years
Compare all 21 fruit side by side

Light, spacing, minimum pot depth and container suitability in fixed columns, so you can run an eye down one of them. This is the view the card grids above cannot give.

21 plants
PlantTypeLightSpacingMin. pot depthIn a container
AppleMalus domesticaFruitSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade180–600 cm45 cmworkable
ApricotPrunus armeniacaFruitDemandingFull sun400 cm45 cmworkable
BlackberryRubus fruticosusFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade250–450 cm40 cmmarginal
BlackcurrantRibes nigrumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150–180 cm40 cmworkable
BlueberryVaccinium corymbosumFruitSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmwell suited
CherryPrunus aviumFruitSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade300–500 cm50–80 cmnot assessed
FigFicus caricaFruitSome care neededFull sun400 cm40 cmwell suited
GooseberryRibes uva-crispaFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmworkable
GrapeVitis viniferaFruitSome care neededFull sun120–150 cm45 cmmarginal
LoganberryRubus × loganobaccusFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade300 cm40–60 cmmarginal
MelonCucumis meloFruitDemandingFull sun90 cm35 cmworkable
PeachPrunus persicaFruitDemandingFull sun350–450 cm45 cmworkable
PearPyrus communisFruitSome care neededFull sun350–450 cm60–90 cmnot assessed
PlumPrunus domesticaFruitStraightforwardFull sun300–450 cm45 cmmarginal
QuinceCydonia oblongaFruitStraightforwardFull sun400 cm50–80 cmnot assessed
RaspberryRubus idaeusFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade40–45 cm40 cmworkable
RedcurrantRibes rubrumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmworkable
RhubarbRheum × hybridumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade90–120 cm45 cmmarginal
StrawberryFragaria × ananassaFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade35–45 cm20 cmwell suited
TayberryRubus fruticosus × idaeusFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade300 cm40–60 cmmarginal
WhitecurrantRibes rubrumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmworkable