Naomi Slade

This gardening journalist, broadcaster and orchard enthusiast designs beautiful gardens with fruit in mind. Naomi also runs a business producing juice from her apples. Her latest book, An Orchard Odyssey (£24.99, Green Books) is on sale now.

Tell us about your love of orchards... I think orchards are hugely evocative. They have a timeless quality, and are intensely relevant to the way we live today. Why should every garden

have a fruit tree? Fruit trees encourage wildlife, provide fresh food and have design impact. The ‘official’ conservation definition of an orchard is just five trees so, ignoring artificial boundaries, we could all live in an extended orchard! What about small gardens? Trees can be trained flat against a wall or wire, while dwarfing rootstocks produce varieties for borders and containers. The best fruit trees for a country garden? It really depends where you live and what you like to eat. More space means more or bigger varieties — good for vigorous trees

like ‘Bramley’s Seedling’. Colonnades of trained apples or pears are also very striking.

Any unusual apple or pear tree varieties worth

hunting down? Every area has its own history, so local or regional varieties are well worth investigating. My family has a hard yellow apple that came from my Somerset grandmother and makes a marvellous juice. Brogdale Collections supplies graft material for a huge range of fruit.

If you could grow one fruit tree…? If I could introduce one fruit tree that I don’t currently grow, it would have to be a greengage. Visit naomi slade.com.