What a delightful thought – to walk outside on a summer’s morning and pick fresh peaches for your breakfast!
But how to achieve that? It might seem like an impossible dream as you look out at your twenty-foot square courtyard garden. But take hope from what I about to share with you…
Now of course, you can have an orchard if you have the room in your garden. But it is a fact of family life that by the time you’ve allowed for the football / cricket pitch, trampoline, sand pit, paddling pool, greenhouse, garden office, shed, patio and BBQ, somewhere for the dog to dig and the washing line there’s not much space left in the ‘average’ suburban garden!
Let me tell you a secret: it is possible to have a mini orchard even on a balcony.
The trick is to plan carefully and prepare well.
Firstly, lets define a mini orchard. This will consist of at least five fruit trees. These can be anything from full size to single cordons that only grow to 6 foot. Strictly speaking, they should be grown near to each other, but in your garden this isn’t essential.
Planning your mini orchard
There are three main questions you need to ask yourself: –
- Which fruit should you grow?
- Where will you be growing your orchard?
- How much gardening knowledge do you have?
Any sort of garden planning requires you to move on from the initial thoughts and dreams and onto how practical or viable the project is. Here I’m aiming to give you a few pointers in the right direction. For a more individual approach, please get drop us an email.
Let’s take the last question first. The “How much gardening knowledge do you have?” is not aimed at scaring you off, but ensuring that you choose fruit trees that are easy to look after if your knowledge is basic. If you would like more help, we offer bespoke gardening lessons across the UK where your garden is your classroom. There is also a wealth of easily accessible horticultural gardening information for you in Plews Potting Shed.
Which fruit should you or could you grow in your mini orchard?
The first thing is to decide what fruit you like to eat. Strictly speaking an orchard is top fruit; for example: –
- Apples
- Apricots
- Cherries
- Citrus – Lemons, Oranges, Limes, Grapefruit
- Damsons
- Figs
- Medlar
- Peaches and Nectarines
- Pears
- Plums
- Pomegranate
- Quince
But rules are often there to be broken, so yes, include bush fruits, nuts and vine fruits if that suits you. It’s your garden after all! Or keep your mini orchard as purely top fruit.
For clarity, in this article, I’ll just consider top fruit.
Naturally a mini tree such as a single cordon will have fewer fruits than a fully sized tree. But as a rough guide, a single cordon mature apple tree could produce up to 10 kgs of fruit. And we’re looking at growing at least 5 trees. That’s a fair bit of fresh, organically grown fruit!
To recap: the amount of fruit you’ll harvest from your mini orchard will vary depending on –
- type of fruit
- variety
- soil
- the trained form chosen
- age of tree
- its location in garden
- and the weather
Remember, you can grow more than one type of fruit tree. For example, apples, quince and pears have similar cultivation needs, so might suit you if you wanted to grow your mini orchard on one place.
But you could grow an espalier peach against a sunny sheltered wall or fence, 3 step-over apples to separate patio from the lawn and a dwarf quince in a large pot to hide the gate in the back fence.
When you’ve decided which type of fruit tree, you need to check their pollination needs. If a fruit is classed as self-fertile it won’t need a partner. Although it will limit your choice of apple varieties, if you want a selection of fruits it may suit you to only look at the self-pollinators.
Where should you grow your mini orchard?
The limits on what you can grow are not just the space available. It’s also about the soil if you’ll be growing the fruit in a border, and the aspect.
Spacing
How many trees you’ll fit into the available space will depend on the eventual size of the tree and the trained form chosen. Single cordons take up less room than an espalier. Some forms suit certain fruits better than others.
Trained tree forms can be placed against a wall or fence or grown as a freestanding tree. However, they will need support, so freestanding really means with a stake or against a trellis. But it does mean you’re able to utilise borders which do not have a wall behind them.
If your mini orchard will be container grown, then you also need to work out how many pots or troughs you can fit into the space. Generally speaking, you should allow for re-potting to a larger size of container about every 3 years, until the tree is fully grown.
Soil
A nutritious, fertile, free draining soil provides optimum conditions for most of the tree fruit. However, the acidity or alkalinity of your garden soil is also important. For example, apples prefer a more acidic soil than plums. If you want to grow them next to each other, they would both tolerate a neutral soil.
Aspect
Fruit likes the sun, right? Yep. But some fruits like more sun than others. For example: –
- Plums and Quince are fine with morning sun and then partial shade
- Morello Cherries will grow on a north facing wall, dessert cherries won’t
- Peaches need the warmth of a south facing aspect to soak up sun
You also need to consider frost pockets. If your garden is prone to frosts then choose later blossoming varieties.
Mini Orchards and Citrus Groves
If you want to grow citrus fruits, can you give them protection overwinter? There is something delightfully challenging in growing borderline hardy plants, and fruit trees for a mini orchard are no exception.
Citrus trees will need frost protection overwinter. For example, bringing them into a conservatory over the cold months gives you fragrant blossom to fill the room. Imagine… a citrus grove in your home at Christmas….
Rootstocks and Dwarf Trees
Many fruit trees are grafted onto special dwarfing rootstocks that make them more manageable for smaller spaces.
However, there are other factors to take into consideration –
- a tree will grow bigger where the growing conditions are good
- the variety of the scion, ie the fruiting part of the plant, also affects the size at maturity
Consider your garden soil, and where you’re planting your mini orchard within the garden, before deciding on how dwarfing a rootstock is required. Certain varieties are more suited to a region than others; you may like to consider heritage varieties local to your area.
Bare-root or potted trees?
Container grown trees are available year-round but with less choice available then bare rooted fruit trees. Bare root plants are available from November to March, the dormant season. Generally speaking bare-rooted fruit trees are cheaper than potted. Se
What else do you need to do?
You may have discovered that the peaches you wanted to grow are not going to thrive in the north westerly facing border you have available for them. What options are available to you?
- choose a different fruit
- move to a different garden
- plant the peach among the flowers in a sunny border
Remember – you don’t have to have all the fruit trees planted together if that doesn’t suit you and your garden. I’ve designed mini orchards that are distinct and separate to the rest of the garden. And those that are spread throughout, sometimes, but not always, as elements within an ornamental edible garden.
Planting in soil rather than pots
Preparing the soil is not a job to skimp on. Your mini orchard trees are going to live in that soil for years, so give them the best start possible. Double Digging is an easier task if you’re clearing an area for the fruit trees rather than just slipping them into an existing border.
Improving the soil is essential. Add lots of organic matter, whether thats home-made compost or bought soil improver.
If practicable, bulk bags / ton bags are a more economical purchase than individual 30 individual bags if you’re improving a larger area.
How to plant a tree – this varies a little depending on whether its container grown or bare-root. See the blogs below.
Planting in Pots
You may not need to repot your new tree, but you may want to for aesthetic reasons, perhaps so the pots are all the same blue glazed clay.
Garden Teacher Tip
Will you need to move that heavy pot? Theres a trick to make this easier! Keep the fruit tree in its plastic pot and put the whole thing inside the slightly larger and more decorative clay pot.
When the time comes to move it or indeed re-pot the tree into a bigger one, it’s a lot easier to deal with!
Maintaining your Mini Orchard
Trees need extra tlc until they’ve established, which may well be three years. During that time and afterwards, your mini orchard will need annual mulching, watering when necessary, feeding at key points, pest watch and control, pruning.
But remember this maintenance is spread across the year, so it’s not onerous. And you’ll enjoy blossom in the spring, fruit to harvest in summer, colourful foliage in the autumn and the winter beauty of bare branches shining with frost like a lit-up Christmas tree.
And finally
For more help with any or all of creating, planting and maintaining your own mini orchard do get in touch.
This is your opportunity to eat not just the fruit easily obtainable in the supermarket, but unusual and heritage varieties of fruit. You could eat the same apples that Elizabeth Tudor and Isaac Newton enjoyed!
For more help with any or all of creating, planting and maintaining your own mini orchard do get in touch. And for further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below.
Our Garden Consultancy & Advice Visits may help with some of your issues. Do you have a birthday coming up? Plews bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden make a wonderful and practical gift. Have a read through this pdf download for info.
And you could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest Facebook YouTube
Feeling nosey? You can have a peek at the progress of my garden renovation, Spitfires and Slow Worms, on Instagram and Facebook
You’ll get to see it in person if you come to the Plews Gardening Workshops Current ones on Eventbrite for you to book into.
Plus get your local garden club, allotment, WI, U3A or other group to ask me along to give a talk
Related Gardening articles you may enjoy from our Award Winning Blog
Easy Maintenance Edible Gardens
Edible Gardens Ornamental Food
Choosing Apple Varieties to Grow in Your Garden or Orchard
How to Grow Oranges and Lemons
From the Garden at Spitfires and Slow Worms
Cordon Apple Trees – Garden Surprises when Pruning
