Fruit trees/bushes and spot.
Okay so I have a stock of trees and bushes from xmas for my new patch :) and im trying to place them.
Of course i have more space in shady spots than sunny so I am trying to prioritise what goes in the sun
I was wondering how your fruit trees do in what kinds of spot?
From what i can gather they are from most shade tolerant to least
morelo cherry, raspberry, red currant, apples, gooseberry, blackcurrant, plum/greengage, pear
basically shall i save the sunniest spots for the pear and plums. ?
Thing is they arent the kinds of plants i can move if its not right and up until now ive not lived anywhere long enough to grow fruit! so could really use some advice. :)
x sunloving
Hello sunloving,
I'm busy with tree positioning, too. I've moved a redcurrant, blackcurrant and a gooseberry now, while they're still dormant and I hope they'll be fine. The red and black fruited fairly well in the shade, but the gooseberry didn't (even though it's a Whinham's Industry, which are supposed to).
I've had very good crops from my raspberries in the past (both summer and autumn fruiting), even though they've grown in the shade of an oak tree. So I'd say that if the shade is dry shade, mulch them well and keep them watered in hot weather.
A friend of mine successfully grew a morello cherry against a north-facing wall. It was in Berkshire, so in relatively mild conditions. It fruited like billio. I have one in the sunshine here in Hampshire that has yet to give me decent crop.
Apples, plums/greengages and pears are, I think, best off in sunny positions. In general, fruit bushes and trees need sunshine to ripen the branch-wood so that it will convert its resources to fruiting, rather than continuing to put on leafy growth.
I've decided to make over more of my garden to fruit and have got quite carried away buying new trees and bushes, so I'm taking a gamble by planting a couple in the shade. And a couple more will have to go into large pots.
Good luck with all your fruit - it's the most rewarding gardening of all, I think - provided you can keep the birds off! ;D
Gooseberries don't mind shade, got one that's still getting by planted on the north side of some very, very large conifers. It would probably be sweeter somewhere else but I still get bag-fulls of berries off it.
Thankyou both for you replys really helpful!
heres to yummy fruit filled autumn days!
x sunloving