Which fruit trees to plant?

[TheGreenNinja]

We've just moved into a house with a huge garden, and I'm getting all excited with plans for what to plant.
We already have 6 apple trees and 4 plum trees of various varieties and a huge walnut tree. Ideally I want to plant several more types of fruit tree, and I have a couple of wall spaces which I was thinking would lend themselves to fan-training or espaliered trees.
What to plant though? Don't need any more plums, but as far as I can tell only 1 of the apple trees is an eating apple so could probably do with another one or two. I thought an apricot could work well against the wall? Any suggestions of varieties would be great. And how is best to buy, bare-root or pot?

Oooooooooooh you have an orchard. I am VERY jealous!

I think it's easier to espalier apples and pears than stone fruit, but the latter can be done with care.

What about local heritage varieties of eating apple? Each area of the country has varieties that are quite specific to that place, and it's lovely to connect your garden to the surroundings in this way. Plus, you're helping to preserve some really endangered varieties. If there's a local apple day near you, it could really help to give you some ideas. Plus, some of them let you taste lots of apples to decide on one that is to your taste. YUM! There are societies that look after apples who will offer you trees.

The main thing to think about is the rootstock. It might sound counterintuitive because espaliers and fans are small trees, but you actually want quite a vigorous rootstock because they are pruned so hard. Bare root plants are generally a bit cheaper than potted ones, but I think you could use either. Probably best to put them in after leaf fall in late autumn/early winter.

Cherries and pears. Pears are ok with Espaliering but cherries not so much.

Bare roots tend to be available in the spring, whereas pots can be planted at any time.

Apricots - yes absolutely but I am not sure they are happy espaliered as they are from the Prunus family.

Personally no orchard in my opinion is an orchard without a quince. And a proper one at that. I have 5 different varieties [the Chaenomales are edible, but it's the Cydonia that are mainly the trees with the large quince fruit]. Make quince jelly or cheese with them. Totally gorgeous.

Also, a fig. Wonderful wonderful figs. My smallish one has about 30 on it at the moment. These need to have their roots restricted to produce fruit. A south facing wall is best for these fabulous trees.

Asian Pear. Like an apple, but super crunchy and so so delicious. Yum.

I know you say you have enough plums, but do you have a damson? I've spent all weekend making damson gin, jelly and sorbet. All very delicious. And the tree can be kept fairly small and you'll still get a really good crop. (At least ours does).

What about tayberries along the wall space?
Mine are threaded through trellis all along the one side of our garden,we had a massive crop this year.
Delicious!

Ooh lots of things I've never even considered, brilliant!
Quince is a great idea, I've only ever had quince jelly once actually but it was delicious. A fig in a pot along a south wall we can do.
I was thinking fan training for the apricot (and cherry?) as it seems that's suitable for them rather than espalier. We have masses of space to grow normal trees too but don't want to end up with a load of things we can't eat/use. I quite fancy a nut of some sort, typical that we have an enormous walnut tree and they're the only nuts I don't like.
Has anyone had any success with more 'exotic' things like peaches or kiwi? We're in the south west (not as far down as Cornwall) so it's supposedly fairly warm (not this year!).
What are tayberries like? Are they like blackberries?

Oh, just spotted yours daftvader, I'm assuming the trees are all plums, although I'm not sure I'd know if one was actually a damson.

I would LOVE an orchard. It's my lottery dream actually - win lottery, get orchard.
My dream orchard would have a mulberry, so if you're there for decades and you don't mind mess...

If you've only 1 eating apple, maybe try extending the season and get an earlier or a later one?

I've got a couple of cobnuts and filberts (came with the house), which are another type of fruit that is dying out a bit. The trees are very low maintenance, very beautiful (one is all curly), and quite productive too. If I get them before those darn squirrels!

You can get hardy kiwis? I've got a small one of those too, in its second year, bought v v v cheap. It's grown quite a bit this summer but only a few flowers and no fruit set.

Tayberries are lovely, they are possibly my new 3rd - favourite fruit. Or maybe 4th. It's a close call. But they're delicious. Or what about some currant bushes, trained as standards?

Was not meant to be a question mark after the kiwi thing. Yes, you CAN get hardy kiwis. But I have not eaten one yet, so they might be a poor relation, taste-wise.

Almond?

Down there, you could pretty much have anything.

May I also pip in with a Japanese Wineberry? Just harvesting them at the moment, such a fabulous crop from just two plants each year. I love them. Not a tree but will grow along a wall, just add three wires and twirl three strong suckers around each year to keep them horizontal and they will reward you for years.

Also - grapes. Some to eat and some for wine. Again, some wires and grow them horizontally from a leader on south facing walls, just prune back to the first outward facing bud on the shoots from the horizontal stems and you should have plenty of grapes once established.

I have a 30 ft long, 10 ft wide garden, and have grapes, wineberries, 5 quinces, a cherry, 3 espaliered apples, hops, a plum, 2 Szechuan peppers, strawbs of many varieties, amelanchiers, a fig, a currant among the non edibles, plus loads of herbs and leafy stuff to eat. We are making it into a forest garden style, with a meandering path down to the canal that we can just pick stuff from it as we go. I harvest from it daily during the summer and autumn, and weekly during winter and spring.

I also run a community garden and we had to remove around 20 fruit trees that were badly diseased; and we are in the process of sorting out the orchard and are transforming it into a forest garden style [no canal] but into a foraging wilderness with trees surrounded by edible bushes and ground level berries.