Fruit tree suggestions? beginner gardener

[Startingagainandagain]

I am new to gardening. This is my first house and medium sized garden :).

The last owners planted a few things in the hedges which I am keeping, but there was nothing in the middle of the garden when I moved in

I have added 2 apple trees already , some raised beds with vegetables and strawberries and put some pots with flowers, herbs and tomatoes.

I now have one space left for a couple of small fruit trees or a single, larger tree.

I am on the Kent coast and that part of the garden gets sun all day when the weather is good.

What would you recommend that is not too hard to care for but would allow me to harvest some fruits without having to wait for years?

Quince. Cydonia oblonga, not Chaemomeles (Japanese quince). Beautiful tree with big white flowers. Think you have to wait a couple of years.

or an Apricot. Both would appreciate your warmth.

What do you like to eat? I love greengages and plums and planted them on small rootstock. Very easy, very productive.

Depends what you like to eat, but any tree you buy will take about 2 years to produce fruit.

Plum always makes a nice blossom in spring

Victoria plum gets my vote given that you have apples already. I do love quince though.

A Stella cherry. I planted one on my allotment and after a few years I was harvesting about 100lb of cherries each year. Cherries are easy to freeze and preserve and expensive to buy in the shops. They also cope well with the sea air. A friend has one growing next to their clifftop caravan on the South Coast.

I live in a flat but if I moved to anywhere with a garden it would be the first thing that I would plant.

Fig

Morello cherry - beautiful & robust trees

You could try growing a sweet cherry, but you may end up loosing all of them to the birds. They don’t seem to like morello cherries quite as much.

Plums, cherries or figs. All of ours are prolific most years (as are the apples). The Apricots on the other hand have never so much as blossomed and will find themselves replaced next winter, so I don't recommend those!

Thank you so much everyone!

I really like the idea of plum, cherries and figs :).

Will check what the local garden centre has tomorrow for the above.

I should have said we have lots of seagulls and crows on the roofs so maybe something that would not be too tempting for them...

I would avoid cherry if you have squirrels (ours stripped the cherry again this year)

I agree with Victoria a plum tree. My grandma had one which was ancient and the plums were the best I have ever had.

What about a nut tree of some sort? I don't know how long they take to bear fruit but might be something different to have.

Yes, I forgot fig! Very worthwhile. Probably less recognisable as food to the average bird.

There are newer varieties of apricot for the British climate.

Figs are best grown by making a restricted space for their roots - otherwise they can get very out of hand! https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/figs/grow-your-own

Check the rootstock size for the cherry and plum and also whether the cherry needs another cherry to pollinate it.

Apricot, friend here in the north west has one in a large greenhouse and does get fruit, but has to hand pollinate it.....

Our best fruiting tree (sussex, not far from the coast) is a damson variety with very small dark fruit. Makes fabulous jam. That says the other trees might start to do better now we have banned the deer from the garden.

I planted 50 fruit trees of every variety I could get my hands on a couple of years ago.

The prettiest ones now, and starting to get a tiny amount of fruit are the mirabelle, the apricots and the cherries. The quince is doing well but hasn't flowered yet let alone fruited. The apples and pears are still sulking and mostly looking fairly sorry. The persimmons have died. Everything else is trundling along not doing very much, but I can see will get there in time. The peaches are looking rough, but seem to be actually setting some fruit and their blossom was very pretty.

Mirabelle plum ... Really pretty, common in france yellow fruit fab to eat and also jam.....think maybe a gage rather than a plum ... I got one on dwarf stock as have tiny garden and great crop 2nd yr...
Should be fine in Kent ...

Also a quince fan... Blossom is gorgeous..

Would also recommend blackcurrants.. fresh they ard amazing and smell fab easy to grow and look after... White currants v pretty and less usual but slightly less hardy than white currants..

If your near Malling its apple central! But also pears you can get some less common varieties

Unless you want to net it (and still lose a lot) I'd be cautious about a cherry. The squirrels and pigeons absolutely strip all the fruit as soon as the green appears.

The quince a PP recommended is a beautiful tree, and the unusual fruit are a bonus. Victoria plums and damsons are usually prolific and tolerant of many conditions.

Thank you for the additional comments! it makes sense about the cherries being tempting for the birds!