Fruit Trees

Apple trees are one of the best trees you can add to your garden and there is so many to choose from that you can find ones to fit in pots, in small gardens and ones for an orchard! When we moved in here I made a mistake in choosing a few very small sized trees, ones that would always remain short and would be very well suited to a small garden but were not necessarily the best selection for the mini orchard I had in mind. When you buy most fruit trees, especially apples, they are grafted onto rootstock to ensure a certain height or growth pattern. If you look at an apple tree at ground level you will be able to see the graft, or point where the root of one tree was joined to the top section of the tree. The reason this is done is to ensure the size of the tree but also other traits such as susceptibility to diseases or tolerance to cold etc.

By taking time to investigate the different rootstocks (M25, MM111, MM106, M26, M9 and M27) then you can choose the right tree for your situation. The short trees I choose were from a long shut B&Q and they had no mention of size on them, not that I would have known to look at the time. Say for example you really want a specific apple then it is possible to find it to match the perfect growth size to suit your garden. How great is that?

Next thing to think of is how is the beautiful blossom on the tree going to be pollinated? Bees and other insects will need to pollinate the fruit but they might need to cross pollinate with apples from another tree. Some trees are said to be self-fertile and then it is possible to buy what are called family trees, where there might be three different types of apples or pears grafted onto the same rootstock. A good fruit tree supplier will be able to advise on pollinator partners. We had no bees in our garden here for many years and I had a few pear trees that took seven years to bear fruit. It was suggested to me to use a feather duster to transfer pollen from tree to tree. How awful was that? Not the suggestion itself, but the fact that we had so little pollinators in the garden. The better solution would have been to grow more flowers! Not a problem now thanks to the flowers but it’s good to know how quickly nature can come back.

I added a few trees from Irish Seed Savers last year and a couple more this year. They are heritage varieties so it’s really exciting to be able to keep those varieties growing in Ireland and knowing that they are perfectly suited to the Irish climate. Link at the bottom to their website if you want to have a look. I have also bought fruit trees from English nurseries in Wexford and they have a wide range of fruits too.

Another bonus of growing fruit trees is they feed the pollinators with their blossoms! Not to mention the absolute beauty of them flowering on a sunny day. Other lessons I have learnt from growing fruit is you need to be quicker than birds to enjoy cherries from a tree and hungrier than wasps for plums.

Photo from Irish Seed Savers last week. I’m looking forward to be able to follow how they grow and bear fruit through the seasons.

Over the next week I need to get my three new bare-root trees into the ground, they are currently heeled into a raised bed for protection. I usually add mushroom compost to a freshly dug hole when planting and this time I have mycorrhizal fungi to add in. I bought it for roses but I have read its very good for trees root systems so it will be worth adding. I’ve also been pruning the older trees here, a job I was intimated by for years but its straightforward and there are some great videos on youtube to guide you for that.

I find some years are really great for apples and then other years not so. But that’s ok everything needs rest once in a while! Hope you found this helpful and do let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Happy growing,

Maria

Sources of Apple Trees : Irish seed savers Heritage varieties