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8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood flower essence flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees fungi future future care gardening garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands worms yarrow year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Topics

8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood flower essence flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees fungi future future care gardening garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands worms yarrow year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Planting Fruit Trees – Part 2 – Which Variety?

The second part to Patrick Whitefield's three part series on planting fruit trees. Here he explores which variety you should choose.

There’s a bewildering range of varieties available. It may seem best just to go for something you’ve heard of, like Cox apple and Victoria plum, or just accept the meagre offering of the local garden centre. But these trees will last you a lifetime. Why not get the ones that will suit you and your garden perfectly. All you need is a good mail-order nursery catalogue and/or a good book. I recommend Keepers Nursery www.keepers-nursery.co.uk and Ben Pike’s Fruit Tree Handbook.

Taste

Plant what you and your family like to eat. Written descriptions are a help but there’s really no substitute for tasting them before choosing. Beware of shop-bought fruit. It will have been picked unripe and ripened off the tree and some varieties will never reach their full flavour like this. Try to find neighbours with trees of the varieties you’re interested in.

Pollination

Most fruit trees can’t set fruit without being pollinated by another tree of the same species but a different variety. If you live in a village or an old suburb there will probably be enough fruit trees in other people’s gardens to provide pollination partners. But in a more isolated situation you have to plant two apple trees in order to get any apples.

There’s some difference between the different fruits:

  • all apple trees need a pollinating partner
  • almost all varieties of pear do too
  • about half the plum varieties do and the other half are ‘self-fertile’, so you can grow just one if you choose the right variety. 

You also need to make sure that your pollinating partners flower at the same time. The nursery catalogue will assign each variety to a pollination group, according to their relative flowering time. Varieties in the same group or an adjacent group will pollinate each other. Thus a tree in group 2 will pollinate one in group 1, 2 or 3 but not one in group 4. 

Disease resistance

It’s a good idea to choose varieties that have natural disease resistance, especially if you live towards the wetter west of the country or at high altitude, where fruit growing is marginal. In apples and pears, scab and canker are the most important diseases to watch out for in wetter regions, and mildew in drier ones. 

Spreading the harvest

In my previous article on choosing fruit, I praised the apple as the fruit that keeps over the longest eating season – late August to May – without any precautions other than placing them carefully in a garden shed. But to do that you need a mix of varieties. They divide up into:

  • earlies – mostly ripen in September, only keep for a month
  • mid-season – harvest in October, ripe immediately or around Christmas, usually have a two-month eating season
  • late keepers – harvest in October, start eating in January and some varieties keep right through till May.

Notice how the later ripening ones keep the longest. So, if you’re planting a lot of trees I recommend that you plant them in the ratio, 1 early: 2 mid-season: 4 late keepers. This will give you a constant supply. And if you only have space for one tree, make it a late-keeping apple.

Heritage varieties

If preserving ancient, local varieties is one of your aims in growing fruit, I wouldn’t want to discourage you. But if your main aim is to feed your family, heritage varieties may not be best. ‘Heritage’ means that most people don’t grow them any more and there’s probably a good reason for it. Often it’s taste or disease resistence. Modern varieties have been carefully selected for both these qualities by generations of plant breeders.

On the other hand, a variety that does well in your area is likely to do well for you. If you can, find out what other fruit growers locally are growing – and then taste the fruit. Also, don’t be afraid to break the rules. Kidd’s Orange Red is, in my opinion, the best tasting apple in the world but it’s also very susceptible to canker. Nonetheless I couldn’t resist planting one myself and, though it has got canker, year after year it has yielded abundant harvests of the most delicious fruit.