34. The Fruit Dome

The second geodesic dome in the garden is a fruit cage; a growing space for those fruit trees and bushes that can’t be grown against the walls. It fits well in that section of the garden and is a practical solution for housing the mini orchard.

I saw this photograph of the grand orchard house on the Royal Windsor Estate many years ago and loved the concept of a miniature orchard grown indoors in pots. The idea has stayed with me.

The orchard house at Audley End, Essex uses a similar design, this time with the trees grown in rows to each side of a central path, each tree planted in a special pot with large holes to the base.

I have tried to bring a much smaller scale of this design to my fruit dome, using a geometric layout with paving stones marking the boundaries between the trees. By positioning the taller plants in the centre of the dome and smaller fruit bushes around the outside, I have been able to fit a surprising number of trees into the space.

The plan is to grow as wide a range of fruit as possible. All the trees are on dwarf rootstock (maximum height between 1.8-2m), and planted in large black air-pots which will help to establish strong root growth (and fruiting) quickly. The trees will need to be kept in these pots for the first couple of years, waiting until the studio building works are completed. They will need diligent watering during the summer and a large net cover on the dome to protect the fruit from the birds.

It is surprising how many different varieties of fruit are available on dwarf rootstock. These are available from specialist fruit growers; the ones I have used for this collection of trees are Frank Matthews, Chris Bowers and Pomona Fruits. Using pots will allow me to move the plants around as their height / spread requirements change, with the outside circle made up of the lower growing blueberries, chilean guavas, miniature blackberries and mulberries.

It will be interesting to see how they do. The trees are at the end of their first season in the pots, with their autumn colours and slowly dropping leaves. I am looking forward to seeing their first season of blossom in the spring.