THEY’REMINIMARVELS! No room for an orchard? Try a ‘supercolumn’ fruit tree instead
WHeN I was little we lived in a bungalow. the garden wasn’t considered large, but my parents grew flowers and veg and kept poultry. We also had an orchard with trees big enough to climb.
Few gardens have room for orchards now, but that doesn’t rule out tree fruit. With modern techniques, even the tiniest spaces can, in fact, be amazingly productive.
In commercial orchards, trees are kept small with grafting and pruning and pushed into early production for higher yields and better quality.
Similar techniques offer fantastic opportunities for gardeners. Space-saving cordons and espaliers have been known for years, but for greater efficiency we now have ‘super spindle’ or ‘supercolumn’ trees.
With this technique, fruit trees grow as single upright stems, each grafted to a dwarfing rootstock. Side-branches are short and height is limited, which makes them easy to manage, and exposes the fruit to flavourboosting sunshine.
the supercolumn or vertical cordon system works with cherries, plums, apples and pears. Most varieties are available and specialist suppliers such as Chris Bowers ( chrisbowers. co. uk) and Pomona Fruits ( pomonafruits. co. uk) offer extensive ranges.
TOY SOLDIER TREES
WItH old-fashioned fruit trees you had less control over size and shape, while supercolumns let you set out your orchard like ranks of toy soldiers, planting trees directly in the ground or in large containers. Growth will be slow, so plant them in the best possible soil and in full light, ideally somewhere sheltered. For trees in the ground, enrich your soil with compost before planting. Feed annually with bone meal or slow-release fertilisers, and don’t allow grass or competing plants near their roots. Pruning is minimal. In late summer, shorten any new shoots to promote fruiting spurs. In winter on mature trees, thin ageing or congested spurs. With big conventional trees, the tastiest fruits come from the sunny side. With supercolumns, all the fruit receives plenty of sun, so flavour should be excellent. you can space the trees as close as 60cm apart but 1 metre between them is better.
MY FRUITY PLAN
NORFOLK fruit grower Chris Bowers has been raising supercolumn trees for more than a decade. their online catalogue offers a comprehensive range of apples, pears, plums and gages.
to bear fruit, most trees need to cross-pollinate with other compatible varieties. a few, such as Spartan apples, are self-fertile, but even they produce bigger crops if a pollinator grows nearby.
So my choice for apples will be Spartan, early ripening Michaelmas Red and mid- season egremont Russet — two trees of each. For plums I’ll try Czar, Bluetit, Oullins Golden Gage and Old Greengage.
I’m clearing an old flower border to create my fruit plot. there will be room for a tiny ‘avenue’ of 16 supercolumn trees — eight per side, in enriched soil in narrow parallel beds, with a path between them.
It’s a lot of work and the trees won’t be cheap. But if all goes to plan, I’ll have a mini-orchard for under £400 and should gather my first fruits in 2019.