"Alan" wrote in message
. ..
Grateful for any advice.

I'm planning over the next couple of months to plant a reasonable
number of fruit trees along the wall of my garden.

Good for you !

The main wall is about 5-6ft high,almost 100ft long and faces west.

There is a second section - approx same height and around 30ft long
facing north.

Not exactly a Victorian walled garden - if only! - but I think could
work well nonetheless.

I live in central London so extreme low temperatures in winter are
fairly unusual (although clearly nothing is guaranteed).

I would like to grow a good variety of fruit trees - apples, pears,
peaches, apricots, plums, figs, grapes + possibly some soft fruit -
raspberries, blackberries, etc.

Some questions:
* is now-ish a good time to get digging & planting?

You can order bare-root treesfrom various suppliers- they are cheaper &
you'll have a vastly wider range of varieties from which to pick. They'll
come in the next month or so, depending on the supplier's workload.

* how easy is it to train a fig tree along a wall? I've had a free
standing one before but it was quite in an exposed spot 400ft ASL and
although it survived it didn't really prosper

Fairly easy, but it will try and get out of bounds & you must constrain the
roots otherwise you'll get a monster.

* what sort of rootstock to go for? Will I be best with the really
dwarfing types & am I also right in thinking that they'll give me a
crop sooner?

Really dwarfing types can be a pain in the neck as the small root system
requires better feeding and watering than a more widespread one. On apple
I'd suggest a minimum of M26.

* how to choose the right "shape" of tree - fans, espaliers, etc.?

Growing along a wall demands an artificial shape for all the top fruit.
Apples & pears are generally best as espaliers, stone fruit as fans. Apples
& pears can also be grown as cordons (just one stem leaning over at say
45deg), which would give you a lot of varieties in a short wall space.

(this is a real mystery to me)
* how will the more delicate trees (peaches, figs, grapes) fare on a
west facing wall in a wet & windy winter??

Should be fine. Peach leaf curl can be a pain for peaches, and will
probably require spraying witha fungicide. The alternative is to cover them
in winter so that rain doesn't get on to them- some people use polythene on
a wooden framework, which isn't very scenic but works.

Using wires set off from the wall a little bit (as I think another poster
mentioned) will help air circulation & reduce fungus probs.

* I've not grown olives before but I've heard rumours that it can be
done and that with a great deal of TLC & a bit of luck with the weather
they can even be persuaded to crop - is this true or just wishful
thinking?

Dunno- I suspect that luck with the weather is more important than any
amount of tlc, as olives are very tough in the Med., and seem to grow on 3
stones and a bucket of sand.

* what's the best way to support the trees? Hoops & wires along the
wall?
* Will the north facing wall be a dead loss for fruit trees? Or is
there something that will thrive there?

Morello cherries, early plums, blackcurrants...

* How close to plant the trees together?

Depends on the rootstocks. You might consider medium size rootstocks (MM106
for apple, say) with soft fruit or even some herbs in between. MM106 about
12ft apart. Pears haven't got a real dwarfing rootstock commercially
available- about 12ft for them too on Quince A or C.

Lots of questions I know...

I'd encourage the plums and gages- eat them off the tree and you'll get a
sensation that you can't buy in any shop.

Alternatively, if I wanted to enlist the help of a professional in
laying the thing out & generally holding my hand, how would I go about
it & what might it cost (design work only - I can do the digging &
planting myself)? Any recommendations (of individuals)? Ironically,
Tommy Walsh only lives a couple of streets away from me, but
unfortunately I don't have room for decking & a pergola!




--
Anton
www.btinternet.com/~treesandfruit/