best fruit tree for UK

[Woodmister]

looking at planting 2 fruit trees in my front garden.

looking to see whats the best for our uk climate, currently we have some crab trees but they are dead

any ideas on what to replace them with?

cheers

 

[LeftHandGuy]

I would go with cooking apples. Since you are only planning on 2. With cooking apples you get a useable crop even if it’s only small and it’s easier to use a damaged cooking apple. That’s my feeling anyway.

 

[gixer1]

I plant cherry, plum, pear and apple and all seem to do well up here in the north.

regards,
Gixer

 

[Buchan]

Cookers as English eaters don't keep that well and a damson/plum

 

[Alantoo]

Do you know what killed the Crab apple trees?...maybe wise to make sure any cause is dealt with before planting more.

As to choice, one must be a Bramley or even both...we can't grow Cox's Orange Pippin on Cotswold Limestone soils but that would be the eater if you can grow it.

Alternatively look for local varieties which thrive on your geology and climate.

Alan

 

[hairycow]

You are best off googling for a nursery that specialises in fruit trees and discuss your location soil type and weather exposure with them to get a much more informed view as to what fruit tree is best suited.

 

[Woodmister]

Do you know what killed the Crab apple trees?...maybe wise to make sure any cause is dead with before planting more.

As to choice, one must be a Bramley or even both...we can't grow Cox's Orange Pippin on Cotswold Limestone soils but that would be the eater if you can grow it.

Alternatively look for local varieties which thrive on your geology and climate.

Alan

probably didn't help when i started to chop it down lol

 

[shakey jake]

id go for two family trees one apple one pear, three varieties on each trunk. more variety, longer season and better chance of fertilising themselves. if you can find heritage varieties that are local all the better

 

[gixer1]

I find apple and plum trees are hardy so and so’s…the below trees I hacked back savagely, they were so laden with fruit that I was worried they were going to uproot in high winds so I thought I’d give a reduction (in April 202 bash and if they lived - so be it.

you can see how heavily cut they were and the top pic is how they came back and are today.

How they look today -

Pre- reduction

Post reduction (thought I’d killed them! )

The crop they usually produce!

 

[Sampo]

Got pear, apple and cherry at home and whatever you choose, buy local so that it is climatised and good to go. Also better to plant it during the dormant season, preferably in early spring to allow it to grow roots faster as now is the time it seems to want to push out as much fruit as possible before it gets cold.

If you want a challenge, you could also try grapes and prune it extensively so that over a couple of years it starts looking like a tree with big bunches of grapes. I like the challenge of attempting to grow crazy stuff as a hobby, so thats just me.

 

[Mungo]

Potato

 

[Shabz]

Entirely depends on the site and it’s location.

 

[john_little]

This little lemon tree produces plenty of fruit, great if you don’t have much space
For the money, this does nothing, and would have been 100 bottles of quality gin and tonic, perfect accompaniment for a slice of lemon

 

[Dunwaters]

A couple of cherry trees, they don’t get too big and don’t live too long, you get both fruits and blossoms.

 

[steve sxs]

A money tree like what the vaccine producer's have got but make sure it's on high ground for chance of flooding and some sort of fire wall

 

[Alantoo]

A couple of cherry trees, they don’t get too big and don’t live too long, you get both fruits and blossoms.

Bit different to our cherry trees then, which have been 8 metres plus high since we moved in 20 years ago. We sometimes manage to rescue a few of the cherries from the bottom branches but the birds generally have 99% of them...

Alan

 

[finnbear270]

Self pollinating Pear.

 

[steve sxs]

Self pollinating Pear.

I like a nice formed pear

 

[Dunwaters]

Bit different to our cherry trees then, which have been 8 metres plus high since we moved in 20 years ago. We sometimes manage to rescue a few of the cherries from the bottom branches but the birds generally have 99% of them...

Alan

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Small for a tree, big for a bush. The birds do take the **** a bit.

 

[Alantoo]

Small for a tree, big for a bush. The birds do take the **** a bit.

I built a 5 x 5 metre square aluminium pole kit soft fruit cage...now reduced to 2.5 X 2.5 metres since some idiot forgot to take off the small mesh summer netting over the roof before a fall of wet snow in the third winter collapsed it...but even with 6 square metres we have had a brilliant crop of red and blackcurrants just by excluding the birds.

Alan