Fruit Tree recommendations

I have almost cleared a patch of (approx 10m / 15m) at the back of my garden. It was full of weeds, 40ft hazels and a 1/2 dead elder (still to be felled and dug up). I am aiming to plant some new fruit trees in the space as the older fruit trees in the garden are not very tasty or dying. Given the shape of the area, I probably can plant around 4-6 trees, once pruning / topping / felling of some seriously overgrown shrubbery is completed.

I am probably looking at a mixture of plum, pear, apple, I would love to plant a Kordia cherry, but I guess I will need another cherry to pollinate rather than hoping the pears / apple / plum will work.

1) What varieties do people recommend?
2) Is it better to get bare rooted / pot grown? (I hopefully will have the ground prepared in time for bare rooted)
3) Any recommended root stock / shape to aim for? (I probably want to go for low maintenance and not train an espalier / fan)

 

Hope this link can give you some ideas: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dailey/volkfruit.htm

Cherry trees are far from low maintenance IMHO

 

Thanks for the link

Yes I thought cherry trees would not be easy, but they taste so good and cost so much to buy I thought it might be worth a go.

 

nice link black tulip..

Not a wealth of info but only bought mine last year, got 3 fruit trees and all are self-fertile, didn't want to faff with pollination groups yet, a morello cherry is in the ground, conference pear and a James grieve apple are in 55cm pots, the cherry and apple were bareroot and on colt and m27 rootstock respectively and the pear pot grown , no idea what rootstock, apparently a "patio" but it has leafed out brilliantly, me and another on here wondered if the branches were cut to be "patio" sized, all from from Asda. All have leafed out so far, cherry was bit slow.

 

Thanks Linz,

I never knew Asda sold trees, I had a look earlier in the spring at what B&Q, homebase etc sold, generally was very disappointed as very few trees, no plums / cherries, generally poor looking specimens. It could be the store was too small, but I assumed I would have to goto a large garden center or specialist.

 

Quentin, we have bought trees from supermarkets, and done ok-ish.

However, last year we splashed out and ordered some 1 year old maidens from Keepers nursery, on the recommendation of @wiseowl - http://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk. The website explains the difference between the different rootstocks, and the pollination groupings are also fairly straightforward to follow.

We planted the bare-root young trees in winter, and have been delighted with how they have taken. Every apple tree, and the damson tree, have all got fruit, even though they are so young. They have also grown really well. We will definitely be buying any more trees from them!

 

They normally start selling the around Oct and they were 5 quid last year and around 4 foot, the pot grown was around early spring time and 10 quid. Also in tesco, lidl and aldi.. but read they have been mislabelled and turned out awful.
If your impatient for fruit then get an older one from Keeper's like Sian suggested, which is what I'm going to do with the next fruit trees I buy. Came across them not so long ago and look a good company

 

black tulip your link is someones notes growing in Pennsylvania in zone 6 USA.. I should have read the top before scrolling to the table

 

In fact, @Linz, the maidens are actually very young trees, literally one year old. The supermarket trees tend to be a little older, and are stressed in the shop. I was really surprised that the trees have cropped, as they are on a relatively large rootstock, so normally take longer to crop...

 

Yes. UK is about zone 7-8 I think. If they can survive Pennsylvania winter they can certainly survive here

 

Definately go for bare rooted trees; you will save money. Maidens are cheap but......slow to bear fruit. I would go for 3-4 year olds.

Research the rootstock and decide what you have space for and also ultimate size. Pruning and picking fruit is definitely more difficult if a ladder is required.

You mentioned cherries. 'Stella' is a self fertile variety and grown on the 'colt' rootstock it doesn't get too big. I have experience of this variety going back 35 years. It is tasty but perhaps not the most delicious but I do recommend it if the soil is not really heavy. A really wet spring one year on very heavy clay and the tree never really recovered. I planted another one in a new garden a year ago.

One apple I really recommend is 'Lord Lambourne'. It looks and tastes like a 'Cox' but doesn't suffer the growing problems that 'Cox' has but it doesn't keep as long either. I would say go for the apple varieties that you like the taste of.

 

I would advise going to your local garden centre and have a chat with the plantarea manager, he/she will know what fruits best in your area.

 

@Quentin Jackson
I would always recommend going to a specialist fruit tree nursery or a good local nursery for fruit trees.
I see you are in Gloustershire I have used Ashridge Trees https://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/ in Somerset. I was very pleased with their service and response to a query I had.
The West Country tends to be to wet for Cox to do well.
I grow Oulins Golden Gage and Victoria plums on Pixy rootstock, the Gage does better. Concorde and Comice pears on Quince C rootstock and Bramley, Ashmeads Kernel, Spartan and Discovery all as cordons on M9 rootstock.

 

Thanks for educating me @Sian in Belgium thought maiden were the ones with branches about 2-3 yrs old, on par with supermarkets but better looked after. With a bit of luck I may have fruit next year then
I always think of the USA as being one or 2 zones better than us..suppose it depends where.