Western Morning News (Saturday)
GO POTTY FOR FRUIT
Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh:
THERE’S something wonderfully romantic about fruit trees, and growing fruit is one of the most popular gardening pursuits. Plus, there’s no need to be left out if you have a small garden because it’s easy to grow fruit in pots.
All the popular apples and pears do well in containers – just choose varieties grown on dwarfing rootstocks – and cherries are very worthwhile when you go for modern, compact, self-fertile kinds. Containers are also a great way of growing fruit with special requirements, the type that are tricky to grow in normal gardens.
Blueberries and cranberries, which need acid soil, do brilliantly in tubs of ericaceous compost, and it’s easy to protect the fragile early flowers of peaches and nectarines from bad weather because you can simply move the plants under cover when the blossom is out.
Standard-trained gooseberries and cordon redcurrants produce very good yields in pots too. But there are a few fruits which aren’t really suitable to grow in pots, so don’t bother with blackberries, blackcurrants or raspberries. Plums aren’t really worth the effort, either.
Now is the best time to plant fruit in pots so they have the full growing season ahead of them.
You can start with bare-root plants delivered through the post or go for pot-grown plants that you buy from a nursery or garden centre.
Use large, good-quality pots – 15 to 18in in diameter – with plenty of drainage holes. Spread a double handful of broken clay flowerpot pieces, pebbles or gravel over the base of the container for drainage.
Cover your drainage material with several handfuls of potting compost. Use soil-based John Innes No3, it’s ideal for plants that will stay in the same container for more than one season.
But for lime-hating fruit, such as blueberries, use the ericaceous John Innes compost instead.
Lift your plant out of its original pot and stand the root ball in the centre of the new container.
The surface of the root ball should reach roughly to an inch or two below the rim of the container, to leave room for watering.
Fill the gaps round the root ball with compost, then firm gently and water well. Put in a stake to hold fruit trees or standard gooseberries upright, secure them with proper tree ties, and that’s it.
With fruit trees and bushes, plant one per pot and don’t be tempted to add a few pretty bedding plants – fruit doesn’t care for competition.
A sunny, sheltered spot is key, so a corner of the patio is ideal. Alternatively, stand potted fruit in front of a south or west-facing wall (the brickwork traps warmth to act like a night storage heater) or line pots along a path, avoiding windy or east-facing spots.
From early April to late September, feed potted fruit once a week with liquid tomato feed, and water regularly. Be particularly generous with water when the plants are carrying
fruit. If they dry out at this time they tend to shed their crop prematurely.
In autumn, when leaves have fallen off, secure potted fruit trees so they can’t blow over and stand all containers up on bricks for the winter so they aren’t waterlogged in the wet weather. Don’t allow pots to freeze solid in cold spells as it kills the roots. Either push them close together and cover with bark chippings for insulation, or move them into a cold greenhouse, dark shed or
garage for a couple of weeks when they are dormant.
Each spring, in March or early April, scrape off the top inch of old compost and replace with new John Innes No3, or use peat-free compost with a little slow-release fertiliser every third year.
Don’t expect instant results. Fruit takes a year or two to yield returns. In the meantime, it creates a handsome potted patio scheme that needs less work to manage than annual flowers.