I’m looking forward to getting over to my (new to me) French home with it’s approx 1000sq.m. south-facing back garden, located in the south of Deux-Sevres.
I’m hoping to have a patio area immediately at the rear. Then beyond that a potager, probably mostly consisting of semi-raised beds, and a greenhouse. The final section, I am hoping to plant with fruiting canes and trees.
So this question is about the latter.
I’m starting my research on what I can actually grow there and it would be great to hear suggestions on what fruit trees thrive there. I’d like to grow apple, pear, cherries, fig, peach, plum - but would be open to others too.
I would like trees that I can harvest without too much ladder-work, so small or miniature fruit trees seem to be the answer. Does anyone have experience of this, do you have any advice for me regarding selection of varieties, planting, maintenance etc. I’m a complete beginner regarding fruit trees. Thanks in advance.
What a lovely idea! We started out here in Normandie, land of the apple, with some conventional (big) trees but now have real problems in terms of being able to big the fruit. The last couple of years our pruning technique was to removed anything above easy-reaching height so we now have umbrella-like trees but they seem to be working fine.
However, the apple tree we bought on a very dwarfing rootstock never grows much above waist height although it fruits prolifically. I think we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. The best thing to do is find a specialist nursery because then they can advise on the rootstock to use for the optimum height for you.
From my experience, and others may differ, I would avoid the columnar trees widely sold as suitable for patios. If all you ever want from them is a couple of fruit, it might be fine but it’s such a faff for so little result.
Sorry I can’t advise on varieties for your area but others here will certainly be able to do so.
Soft fruit is also an excellent idea and you won’t regret it!
Here’s almost all you need know about fruit tree root stocks, reading your requirements I’d go for M9 for apples if you have strong soil or if weak M26.
Edited don’t forget to research before buying if the trees are triploid or diploid.
We had an MS a bit further north in Deux Sevres, west of Parthenay. We were surrounded by fruit trees, mainly commercial apple and pear trees, but also some soft fruit as well. We had damson and reine claude in our garden, both of which fruited profusely. Sounds like your further south than that, but I’m sure you won’t have any issues with whatever you want to grow. Good luck.
Depends on the root stock on which it’s grafted, if you want to grow them in pots (larger the pot the better) I’d go with a n apple tree on a M27 stock. This would of course need more attention and feeding.
