Hello Masto #Gardeners - so I'd welcome comments, suggestions, advice.
I'm going to put a metal-frame pergola up length of the garden and plant fruit trees along it. Something like this: https://www.agriframes.co.uk/collections/pergolas/products/round-pergola
Mayb 1.8 wide and I think it's about 10 m long. It's a big investment and project.
I'm now wondering what to plant along it. I'd like it to be fruit. which means something over 20 trees are reasonable.
So: are multi species graft trees any good? Any advice at all here?
@JimmyB Multi species graft trees need to be very well balanced, and a lot aren’t. You also need to be aware if pollination partners if there aren’t a lot of other fruit trees about. The main thing for trained trees is where they fruit - training involves shortening branches, so if the fruit forms at the tips of the branches you won’t ever get any because you’re always pruning though off.
@foxbasealpha yes - I’m sort of aware of these points but don’t know how to navigate: ie if a decent supplier has multi grafts one should be able to assume they know what they’re doing. But can you?
The tip pruning - presumably thinking about what gets pruned each year is the answer? Ie not everything every year?
I’m planning to plant 20+ and I’ve got some already so hoping the pollination will be ok…
@JimmyB Personally I would avoid anything with really vigerous types grafted on (Bramley for example), but tbh if you’re getting that many I don’t think you really need to get family trees!
I’ve always found Adams Apples (https://www.adamsappletrees.co.uk) to be very helpful if you need advice.
@foxbasealpha I did wonder if vigour needed to be matched. Could imagine a pretty lopsided tree otherwise even with robust pruning… I will get a Bramley. We’ve got a local variety cooker - Gros France - which is fabulous and keeps its shape in cooking but a Bramley is always welcome…
@JimmyB Getting so many means you’ll have a lot of choice - you shouldn’t have problems with pollination (some, like Bramley, need two pollination partners, but don’t polliant anything else - so aren’t a good choice for small gardens).
@foxbasealpha that’s interesting about the Bramley: didn’t know that!