Fruit Trees - Help Needed For Novice

[FettleOfKish]

A completely novice gardener here looking for advice from those in the know. We’ve never had our own outside space until we moved recently and now have a small patch of south-facing garden (and a larger area of north-facing hard standing).

DH is keen to transform it, learning as we go. So far we’ve dug out a border and planted some wild flowers as we don’t have the time to do much more before the summer’s out. Our wedding anniversary is next week and since one of the traditional gifts for 4th is fruit or flowers I’ve landed on getting him a small fruit tree.

I had a quick look at the local garden centre today and they seem to have a wide choice, raspberries including an autumn fruiting variety, blackberries, blackcurrants, rhubarb and others.

Can anyone suggest a fairly easy to manage starter that we could either stick straight in the ground or in a large pot?

For reference the south facing is narrow with high walls either side, so one side gets the morning sun and the other gets the afternoon sun, neither side has full sun all day. The area we’ve got the border in at the moment is up against a granite wall. The north facing side doesn’t get much direct sun at all.

For reference we’re in Jersey so largely warmish, very rarely get a hard frost in the winter. No idea what the soil make up is

Grateful for any advice! Many thanks in advance.

You can't go wrong with an apple or plum. Several of my most successful fruit trees have come from Aldi in the spring when they sell bare root.

I think you are past that now. Victoria Plums are prolific fruiters within 3yrs. I also love them!

What do you like to eat?

If you have space look at the cherry tree Lapins. Beautiful natural shape and fruit. Covered in gorgeous blossom. Ours got to about 4 or 5 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide. It is a perfect tree shape, if that makes sense. So far it has been resistant to pests - had a few different trees drop their trees but survive. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/77629/prunus-avium-lapins-(f)/details

If you like apricots or peach apricots the climate would support these.

If you like apples there are some column trees so you could have several.

Have fun choosing!

The fruit you mentioned are bushes not trees.

One thing to bear in mind with trees is that even the self fertile ones fruit better if there is a partner to cross pollinate from.

So if you have neighbours and they have fruit trees of the right sort then that is great but if not you may need to buy 2.

As you are new to this I'd suggest a small patio apple/cherry/plum or two (2 apples, or 2 cherries, or 2 plums), and keep in pots until the autumn and then plant them then to give them time to establish the roots. Don't plant now, it is too hot and they are likely to be unable to sustain the required root growth during the summer.

Apologies, this is how much of a novice I am, I probably should have said trees / bushes!

Thank you!

You need to plant them when they will get rain - autumn or spring.

Fruit trees: choosing the best | RHS Advice
Specialist Nursery Fruit Trees for Sale UK, Bushes Plants, Soft Fruit (just for ideas)
Grow Fruits | BBC Gardeners World Magazine | BBC Gardeners World Magazine
Greenery Awaits 🌿💚

Just bear in mind trees can take years to bear a decent harvest, whereas raspberries and blackberries can give you loads just in year 2. My favourite is to have thornless blackberries which are really robust, and need nothing other than chopping the harvested stems back after fruiting and hacking back anything that gets in the way. And much cheaper than a tree.

Autumn fruiting raspberries are a great buy because the fruit is so much better than what you get in shops.

for proper trees, wait until autumn to plant them.

Thank you thank you. We do like raspberries so that might be a win! I’ll buy him a punnet to eat now since he’s going to have to wait so long to get the benefit of his gift

Raspberries are the easiest, I planted three years back and now have about 20 as they send out runners and new canes appear. I've also got a thornless blackberry and gooseberries that produced kilos of fruit last year. I wash and freeze it and lasts for months. This year I've planted a tiny apple tree but not expecting fruit for years, had one set of blossoms🌸 a honeyberry (no idea what that is so will be a surprise) and a blackcurrant.

No need to pay garden centre prices though, all mine came from asda for very little.

Blueberries are easy as are strawberries.

You definitely don't need to pay £££. My best results are from trees or bushes bought in supermarkets or grown from cuttings.

Spend on nursery plants when you want trees that will stay compact. You pay for the dwarf root of the tree. Trees like cherries can grow very tall.

You might be able to grow a wider range of trees on Jersey.
I forgot to suggest a fig tree. Grow in a container.

I’m back! I’ve just been to another local place that seems to have the best options (and prices) so far.

I’ve convinced myself we don’t have a sensible place for a tree, so I’m looking at raspberry canes, either blackcurrant or blueberry or blackberry that can be potted if necessary, and probably also an established strawberry plant so we can see some fruit sooner rather than later.

Any tips for getting the most out of any of those most appreciated!

They have lovely small established kumquat plants that are in fruit and look amazing but I don’t think either of us like kumquat

Get the kumquat! Blueberry and blackberry will be OK in a pot if you look after them. They'll need watering.