Fruit to grow over an arch

[ExistentialThreat]

We have just installed an arch in an area of the garden for DD6. She is keen to grow something she can eat over it (!). I think it needs to be something quicker - and cheaper - than waiting for a tree to get that big. Can you recommend other ideas of fruit she can pick and eat this summer?

Foe picking and eating this year you'll have more options with veg than fruit. Peas and climbing beans grow fast, and some varieties have very pretty flowers.

For fruit, cucamelons might work if it's a warm spot. I've only grown them in a greenhouse.

grapes - might take a while but relatively easy.

Something like a blackberry or tayberry would start fruiting next year onwards if started this year but would provide plenty of berries once it gets going and the flowers are pretty. I'd choose a thornless variety. I've got a thornless tayberry and it's beautiful. You could always plant something perennial (two plants one either side of the arch) and then grow an annual like peas or cucumber just for this year while the fruit gets established.

A grape vine sounds nice but in my experience you get mainly leaves unless it's in a greenhouse.

If you want something for this year, borlotti beans are easy to grow and very pretty. You will probably be harvesting Sept / Oct but prior to that you will have flowers. They are a delicious easy to cook bean and keep well too. You could serve them in a tomato based sauce as your own home made version of baked beans.

Grapes take about 5 years, and are too heavy for most garden arches.

We’re in the midlands and a bit of a frost pocket do too cold for grapes. I like the idea of Tayberries long term and beans etc to fill the gap this year. Any off the wall suggestions also welcome!

For a 'harvest' she could do sweet peas, and pick the flowers.

I can only think of tall peas and beans for this year edibles, or cane fruit blackberry/tayberry/loganberry/boysenberry typenehichnif you p,ab5ed this year, would give you fruit next year. Then bulk up each year.

A kiwi? But unreliable. You'd probably need a male and a female.

Wow, my typing!
If you plant the cane fruit this year, you'd get fruit next year.

Purple French beans might be a good option for this year (go green when cooked) or purple mange tout. We grow both.

I'm not sure tayberries would be any good over an arch, as you prune back the old growth each year.

It it is a sturdy arch, squash or miniature pumpkins - my children love growing pumpkins for autumn.

cucumbers as well - have had good success growing marketmore variety outdoors after starting them inside.

Japanese wineberry.

Both ornamental and edible, Japanese Wineberry makes an attractive climbing shrub for a wall, fence or trellis, with bright red, furry stems in winter followed by lime green foliage studded with delicious, bright red fruit.
Ready to harvest in August, Wineberries are great for closing the gap between summer and autumn raspberries. The juicy fruit has a sweet and tangy taste and is delicious eaten straight off the bush although it can be cooked like raspberries.
Japanese Wineberries are still an unusual crop in the UK but they are incredibly easy to grow, just treat them the same way you would a summer raspberry. Plants are self-fertile and their furry bristles deter insects, so they’re rarely bothered by pests.
Height and spread: 2-3m (6.5-10ft).

Baby boo pumpkins would be perfect for this!