Sadly, many people are put off fruit growing as they think it will take up a lot of space in what may be a very small family garden.
However, this need not be the case. Here are a few ideas on how to fit fruit growing into a family garden.
Fruit trees can be grown in the decorative area of the garden as dual purpose flowering and fruiting specimen trees, and are well worth finding space for.
All fruit trees have superb blossom in spring that is as good as any purely decorative species. Some also have autumn colour and good shapes making them valuable year round attractive specimens. And with modern dwarfing rootstocks they can stay small and more manageable than many tree grown for decorative purposes.
Trained fruit trees come in a variety of forms making them very easy to accommodate in small spaces in decorative gardens. Fans and espaliers look stunning on south or west facing walls. Or they could be grown on trellises and used to separate or screen different parts of the garden.
Cordons make productive hedges or can be trained over arches or placed as accent plants near the back of a border. And step-over trees, that is single tiered espaliers, can be used as edging to paths and borders.
Other fruits such as blackberries can be trained over arches, against walls and on trellis. Others such as strawberries can be grown in containers and baskets.
Red currants and gooseberries are often grown as U shaped double cordons against a wall or trellis, and both can be grown as small standards in containers or in flower borders.
Even if you have very limited space it’s still possible to grow your own fruit as many varieties can be grown in containers on a patio, deck or balcony. Some fruit, particularly citrus fruit such as lemons, limes and oranges, can be grown indoors as house plants. They make superb specimen plants when grown well in large pots. And as they are evergreen and have wonderfully scented blossoms, they remain attractive all year round.
So by growing your own you can enjoy the taste of succulent of fruit year after year. And one of the great joys of home-grown fruit is to be able to eat fresh and healthy produce that is not tainted with chemicals.