Which fruit tree would you choose for your garden?

[Renonewb1e]

I have a voucher to use and I can't decide between an (eating) apple tree or a peach tree.

I have a spot against a south facing wall which is where I'll plant it, and nearly all the gardens near me have apple trees (both my direct neighbours have multiple) and we have a bramley so not too concerned about pollinators for an apple tree.

Waht would you go for? Or would you go for something entirely different?

To add, we buy apples most weeks as the kids love them, but I spend a small fortune on the summer on peaches 😂

I think a peach tree is a nice idea but with less guarantees of fruit. I'd probably get the apple as more dependable, unless you're like me and just want to try stuff out? (My apricot tree died this year but it wasn't in a particularly sheltered spot). But then you can usually pick up cheap apple trees from Tesco if you don't mind what variety you get.

Cherry. Mine is now Four years old, small due to its variety but gave 2kg of fruit this year. Lovely to eat and made loads of cherry jam. Sunshine in a jar!

I wouldn't bother with peach as I doubt you'd get much fruit (in the UK).

Apples are a crowd pleaser and easy - you can choose from tons depending on what you want.

Other ideas:

• fig: no flowers but this year we have had a bumper crop and I LOVE eating them off the tree (still going in November!)
• crabapple: loads of blossom and very pretty little fruit
• medlar: lovely gnarled tree shape; pretty blossom, autumn leaf colour, interesting fruit
• quince: fabulous fruit, they literally scent your rooms

I'd get a plum tree.

I'd get a plum tree too

@Bookworm16 i did consider cherry, but I'm not sure we'd really eat them & I worry about the amount of mess the birds will make with them 😂

@BaronessBomburst we already have a plum tree :), it produced fruit for the first time this year, and every single one had little moth caterpillars in them

A couple of blueberry shrubs, they fruit really well and blueberries are expensive!

We have apples (cooking and eating), pear, russet, medlar, plums (3 varieties), cherry, nectarine and walnut.

Apples are always the easiest and who doesn’t like apples!

Damson!

@InMySpareTime i treated myself to two blueberry shrubs last year, and thy both died 😩, I will try again one day but i think I'll invest in more mature plants .

@KrooopJarn - you're right, apples are probably the way to go!

Plum or a bramley apple tree (cooking apples)

I can’t imagine a peach tree would be productive.

we have greengages, fig (brown turkey), bramley apple, and two eating apple trees - figs are monsterous and need lots of pruning, greengage is yum but not a huge amount of fruit- and I prefer supermarket apples to the eating apple trees we have- cooking apple tree is a winner.

My parents have a plum tree and get huge amounts of fruit

Ah!
Was coming on to say plum as well.
So pretty when flowering and I love ours so much-as do the darling flock of sparrows that hang out there.

Plum crumble a big fave here and although the yield varies wildly we always get some 😍

edited to say I doubt a peach would yield much but may be wrong as global warming continues to change the climate...

Fig

Mulberry or quince.

Quince trees are beautiful - fuzzy, silvery buds, pretty blossom, lovely shape, leaves go vivid yellow with red threads on autumn, big golden fruit on the branches until November, and the fruit scent is amazing.

Mulberries are delicious.

@Spendthrifting we already have both a plum and bramley apple tree, so just looking for something extra :).

@MrsMitford3 I've heard Peach trees are hardy in the UK, but with the crazy weather we have now who knows!

If you already have a plum, then I would say apple or fig. Pears take a really long time to start bearing fruit.

Mulberries are indeed delicious but can grow really big. I have had a medlar and it's a pretty tree but the fruit aren't worth it. You can make medlar jelly but it's a tortuous process.

It's so easy and affordable to get good apples here. It's hard to get ripe peaches and I doubt we can grow them well - of course if you haven't had the chance to compare the peaches we get here to the ones in the southern US then you might not know what a peach really can be!

My favourite of our fruit trees are the cherry and the plum, which you already have. What kind of plum is it? Our plum is an old fashioned make, small yellow things. Both the plum and the cherry make the best jams and the sweetest most enjoyable fresh fruit!

Blueberry plants need ericacious compost and so if your soil is not suitable will just die. Mine is in a pot and I get a lot of fruit from it. If you are having problems with pests you can buy a wash and put it in a spray bottle and use over winter before the buds come. I would think about spraying all your fruit trees as I have found that pests tend to spread.

Don't panic too much about the worms in the plums, it was a really bad year for them!

If it's on a south facing wall, peach hands down.

My grannie had one and in a fine summer, the fruit was generous and the tsste and scent sublime. Similarly our opposite neighbours had one.

Sun warmed fresh peaches always take me right back to my 60s childhood.

Good summers are worth the poorer crop in a dingy one. I can smell the peach mingling with horse and hay and the juice running down my arm, just thinking about it.

Where in the country are you OP?

We are costal south east and a friend runs/owns a specialist tree nursery. He said peaches are tricky, but would have more chance inside a greenhouse. He said a 'Moorpark' apricot would be more reliable.

We have a fig, currently in a large pot, but will go into the ground when renovations have finished. My in laws also have one which is very prolific.

What about a pear? Or something less common like a self fertile kiwi fruit or persimmon (sharon fruit).

I have a plum and a greengage tree. I've just ordered an apricot, a cherry (to replace one that got damaged by heavy winds) and a Bramley. I'd have gone for another apple tree, if we didn't have them up the lane already, and if I had an even bigger garden! (Mine are dwarf varieties).

I have no luck with blueberries, either, but Reka blueberries are supposed to be hardy, so I'm getting some of those next time!

A white heart cherry tree! Prolific fruiter and the cherries are beautiful!