Hi, just found this site, and am impressed. I am in West Cornwall & have a tiny garden/yard. I'd like to grow a couple of potted/patio fruit trees and would appreciate basic advice for a biginner.
I started off an apple tree from a pip last year. It is about 15/18" high at the moment in new spring leaves, in a 6" pot.
How do I keep it small enough to keep in a pot,,, of maybe 18" diam ?
What other fruit or nut trees do readers advise, to be grown in the same conditions ?
Any other advice apprciated for this newbie. Thanks for reading.
Tosh

In article ,
Tosh wrote:

Hi, just found this site, and am impressed. I am in West Cornwall &
have a tiny garden/yard. I'd like to grow a couple of potted/patio
fruit trees and would appreciate basic advice for a biginner.
I started off an apple tree from a pip last year. It is about 15/18"
high at the moment in new spring leaves, in a 6" pot.
How do I keep it small enough to keep in a pot,,, of maybe 18" diam ?
What other fruit or nut trees do readers advise, to be grown in the
same conditions ?

I grew a Feijoa sellowiana from seed, and can strongly recommend it.
It is evergreen, hardier than I expected (this is Cambridge!) and
the flowers are edible even it it doesn't fruit (as it probably won't).
The leaves are silvery underneath, too.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Tosh wrote:
Hi, just found this site, and am impressed. I am in West Cornwall
&
have a tiny garden/yard. I'd like to grow a couple of potted/patio
fruit trees and would appreciate basic advice for a biginner.
I started off an apple tree from a pip last year. It is about
15/18"
high at the moment in new spring leaves, in a 6" pot.
How do I keep it small enough to keep in a pot,,, of maybe 18" diam
?
What other fruit or nut trees do readers advise, to be grown in the
same conditions ?
Any other advice apprciated for this newbie. Thanks for reading.
Tosh

Just move it into a bigger pot when the roots meet the sides of the
one it's in. But I'm afraid you'll be exceptionally lucky if it ever
makes a worthwhile productive tree, even in the open ground -- and
it'll take ten years. Hardly any fruit tree seeds produce fruit
anything like their parents, which are reproduced by grafting. For
container growing, you really need to splash out and buy a special
dwarf kind.

If there's soil under the fence or wall and a bit of sun, you'd be
better off using that to plant what's called an espalier or cordon,
which are trained flat against the fence. Best thing is to go to a
reasonably local specialist fruit nursery and explain the position.

--
Mike.

Thanks Mike,
I didn't actually plant the pip for fruit,,, but as it has grown quite well,,,, I just wondered ???? I don't want to wait 10 years or so though !
I don't mind buying something,,,, preferably something more exotic,,, any idea
what fruit/nuts grow well in West Cornwall please ?
I have a very small plot that gets a bit of early morning sun, then is hidden whilse the sun moves around the house,, then quite warm/hot in afternoon/evening sun.
I also have a narrow strip between a boundary fence (poss south facing,,, but about 5 feet from the house) This also gets the early sun & maybe a bit of later/hotter sun. (I can e-mail a rough drawing to anyone that is willing to help)
Am only interested in growing edible stuff.
Any advice appreciated.
thanks all
Tosh

Tosh wrote:
[...]
I don't mind buying something,,,, preferably something more
exotic,,,
any idea
what fruit/nuts grow well in West Cornwall please ?
[...]

Best to go to a nearby fruit specialist and put your cards on the
table. Your high rainfall will be a factor, as well as how much
direct sun the trees will get.

I've done a quick Ggl, and found, among others:

http://www.england-in-particular.info/corn(orc).html
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/Environme...s/ab-de03r.htm
both of which list nurseries and give general information.

Just at random I picked the following nursery between Helston and
Penzance, but they aren't specialists:
http://www.trevenacross.co.uk/whereweare.asp

The Duchy of Cornwall Nursery is at Lostwithiel, and is likely to be
very good (well, HRH is commendably fussy about these things, and I
like his biscuits!):
http://www.duchyofcornwallnursery.co.uk/

--
Mike.