Dwarf Fruit Trees for a Small Garden or Patio

No supermarket fruit can compare with the ones you grow and pick yourself, and an ever increasing range of small trees on special ‚”dwarfing” rootstocks is now available to the gardener. The smallest garden, patio, or even balcony can now produce a delicious harvest of apples, pears, plums, cherries or even more exotic fruit like apricots and peaches.

Pruning, spraying, and picking are all simpler on such small trees, making cultivation easier, and they produce quite enough fruit for the average household without an embarrassing surplus. Perhaps more important, especially with cherries, is that they’re easily covered by nets to prevent the birds beating you to your crop. Finally, you’ll enjoy the bonus of their fragrant and colourful blossom to brighten the garden in spring.

Choosing Your Varieties

Don’t get carried away by wonderful names. Apples like Winter Quarenden and Egremont Russet sound delicious (although perhaps not Pig’s Nose Pippin), but generally the reason the more common varieties are popular is because they crop and taste best.

Popular varieties are also more likely to be available in the form and rootstock you want.

In many cases you’ll need more than one variety of each type of fruit. There are a few ‚”self fertile” apples, plums, pears and cherries, but most varieties will need at least one other suitable variety planted nearby to act as a pollinator. (Trees in a neighbour’s garden will do). Ask the nursery whether pollinators are needed for any fruit you buy.

Popular Varieties

Tasty and easy to grow varieties normally available in dwarf form include:

Apples

• Braeburn. (Self fertile). Flushed skin, dessert, excellent taste, similar to Cox. Not suitable for colder climates of Northern Britain.
• Self Fertile Cox. (self fertile) Flushed skin, dessert, excellent taste.
• Spartan (Self fertile). Red dessert.
• Sunset (Self fertile). Flushed skin, dessert, similar to Cox, but hardier and easier to grow.
• Bramley (Triploid – needs 2 other pollinators). The most popular cooker.

Cherries

• Morello. (Self fertile). Cooker with deep red fruit.
• Stella. (Self fertile). Dessert with deep red fruit. Very popular.
• Sunburst. (Self fertile). Dessert with large, sweet, deep red fruit.

Pears

• Conference (Partially self fertile). Very popular dessert. Hardy in most parts of Britain.
• Invincible Delwinor (Self fertile) dessert/cooker. Very hardy.
• Williams (partially Self fertile). Very popular dessert. Hardy in most parts of Britain.

Plums

• Czar. (Self fertile). Very popular blue cooker.
• Victoria. (Self fertile). Very popular dessert/cooker, with golden/red flushed fruit.

Form and Rootstock

Fruit trees may be pruned in several different forms, as shown in the diagram below.. Which you choose depends on the location and space available. Espalier and fan forms are best suited for growing against a wall or fence, cordon for training as a barrier or hedge, and bushes or standards for free standing locations.

Common dwarfing rootstocks are:

• Apples. M27 root stock produces 4-5ft trees, but vigorous varieties like Bramley grow larger.
• Pears. Quince C rootstock produces 8-10ft trees. An espalier trained tree takes less room.
• Plums. Pixy rootstock produces an 8-10ft tree. Again try an espalier if this is too big.
• Cherries. Gisela 5 or Erabraziz produce 8ft trees. Otherwise try a fan.

Buying Your Trees

Always buy trees from a reliable nursery or garden centre, ideally a specialist fruit nursery, where they will advise you on varieties, pollination and rootstocks.

Bare root plants are cheaper than pot grown ones, and also generally sturdier and available in a wider range of varieties from specialist fruit growers. They are best planted in late autumn, as soon as possible after they’ve been lifted. Protect the roots from frost and wind and keep them moist until planting.