Gardeners Think Ahead

Gardeners Think Ahead

Here in southern England we have had a very odd summer – lots of rain in a cold spring, then a summer so hot flowers came to full bloom and died off very quickly, and now we are into an early fall (autumn) so hopefully we’ll have extra time to enjoy the autumn salads and fruits we planted in spring.

Gardeners are always planning ahead and figuring what will be a miracle of perfection for next year and I’m no different to the rest!
We have decided just for fun to plant some of the bigger pots with the miniature fruit trees that have been raised by specialist nurseries in the last few years. Looking through the catalogues which are starting to fall on the front door mat it’s easy to see that the plant breeders have been busy and there is now a fascinating range of bushes, trees and plants available for the gardener with not very much space.

We have had a lovely time planning and what we’ve decided on is a mini orchard of six of the best pots sitting in nice big pot saucers, in between which we will plant short lavenders in a piece of ground that is sunny but fairly dry so pretty useless for anything else. 
The trees we have decided on are an Apricot (prunus armeniaca), a Cherry (prunus avium ‘Compact Stella’), a Nectarine (prunus persica var. ’nucipersica’), a Plum (prunus domestica), a Pear (pyrus communis ’Williams’) and a lemon – a true miniature called(citrus limon ‘Tipico Toscano’) – although as the suppliers, being honest, say it may well take two or three years to bear fruit, we’ll just have to be patient. There are of course many more little trees to choose from – most people think of apples, and I have seen blueberries, currants and even gooseberries grown this way.

Each pot will have the best compost we can find and be well laced with organic bone meal to give the small trees a good start – and we will look forward to next spring – well isn’t that what gardening’s all about!
As always, 
Happy horticulture, 
Diana