Читать книгу Self-Sufficiency: Grow Your Own - Ian Cooke - Страница 15

Growing fruit in a small space is even more challenging but not impossible. Really most fruits need to grow in the open ground, although some can be grown in large pots. Most fruits prefer a sunny location. If you have some space against a wall, trained fruit trees, such as cordon apples, fan-trained plums or espalier pears, can be grown. These are regularly pruned so kept within a restricted space. Do always make sure with any of the top fruits (see Types of fruit, here) such as apple, pear, plum or cherry that you purchase young trees that have been grafted on a dwarf rootstock. The dwarf nectarine ‘Nectarella’ is suitable for pot culture and produces full-sized, sweet juicy fruits.

One possibility for small gardens is the concept of a ‘family’ apple tree. Three or more varieties are grafted onto the same rootstock, grow and produce three types of fruit. It is essential with such a tree that the different varieties will pollinate each other and that they will grow at a similar rate to each other to keep the tree in balance. You can also get pears grafted as family trees.

Redcurrants, white currants and gooseberries can all be grown as upright cordons and take up very little space. Blackcurrants grow in a different manner and are rather too spreading for a confined space. Raspberries also grow vertically and three or five canes can be planted around a central post. Strawberries are easily grown in growbags, pots or even in hanging baskets. Growing strawberries in above ground containers keeps the fruit off the soil and away from slugs.