18. Orchard Planting I

The sunniest part of the walled garden is the south west facing wall running the full length of the garden. It gets sun from mid morning until the sun sets in the evening and is the ideal place to plant an orchard.

One of the most beautiful features of traditional walled gardens is the way they train fruit trees against the walls. Whether the trees are trained as espaliers, fans or cordons, they are a very practical way to grow fruit, and very decorative. It also allows you to grow many varieties of fruit in a small space, so if variety is more important than volume then this is an ideal way to establish an orchard.

Trellis Support

Step 1 is to set up a support structure to train the trees against. This will be a combination of horizontal wires to support the weight, and a series of bamboo canes to define the shape. The structure should allow for at least a 10cm gap between the wall and the plant, partly to allow easy airflow, partly to protect the plant from the heat of the wall in very hot weather. And it needs to be something that is weather proof.

After a lot of research into the alternatives, I decided on a stainless steel wire trellis kit for the horizontal supports. It is a very long wall (25m+) so will require 2 x 10m sections, and 1 x 5m section. The trellis includes a tensioning system to adjust the tension on the wires as needed - this will be useful as the weight of the trees increases. Both the wire and the fixings are stainless steel, and weather-proof.

The bamboo canes will be attached to these trellis wires to train the shape of the trees into fans or cordons.

Cordons

The apple and pear trees will be planted as cordons. Cordon fruit trees are planted at a 45 degree angle to the ground, and can be planted as close as 60cm apart. I use the bamboo cane to define the angle, and then train the plant by tying it to the bamboo cane. Each tree also has a tree shield at the base to protect it from the resident voles.

My cordons have been planted in two banks of five plants each, leaving space for a fan trained plant in the centre. These tiny trees are a year old, and it will be a couple of seasons before they produce fruit. Each cordon is expected to produce between 20-30 apples / pears when it is established.

Fans

The cherries, plums, damsons and quinces will be trained as fan-shaped trees against the wall. I use 5 separate bamboo canes to define the shape of the fan, and then train the young tree against that. Fans require a lot more wall space than cordons - you need to allow for 2.5m per plant.

Fruit Varieties

The plants I selected are all self pollinating and on dwarf rooting stock, with maximum growth to about 2-2.5m. Both are important factors if you are growing fruit in a small space. I use specialist fruit growers to supply the cordon, fan-trained and espalier trees. These have come from Chris Bowers as 1 year old plants.

Planting Plan - cordon and super columns

Planting plan - fan-trained fruit trees

It is important to keep the area around the newly planted fruit trees clear for the first couple of years until they are established. I will avoid any underplanting, and use bark mulch to suppress weed growth as much as possible. The trees need to be kept very well watered until the are well established; one of the arguments for planting them out in autumn to benefit from the winter rain.