Allotments 4 All

I noticed today that my local pound stretcher had apple trees (Discovery, James Grieves. ) for only £5.99 has anyone bought fruit trees from there before and would these two types go well together in the garden?

Both varieties flower at the same time, so they are very compatible.

BUT I'm always suspicious of these bargain trees because they tend to be second class specimens from big commercial nurseries in places like Hungary.  They'll grow all right, but you've no idea what rootstock they're on, and they may rapidly become enormously tall even for an allotment!

Mmm that's not good then as its to go in my small veg/flower garden. Shame thought I was gonna be getting a bargin.

They tend not to have particularly good root systems. I planted several supermarket trees, and while they all got moving in the end, some of them needed the fruit removing for a couple of years while they established themselves. It's well worth paying the extra and buying from a specialist nursery.

Lidl ones tend to be on small root stock and my have always done well.  No experience of pound stretcher.  Make sure they have not sprouted in the shop, it is rather late for them with the weather being so warm.

I have a discovery and a james grieve and they seem happy together.   Discovery is a very early apple but does not keep well.  It is a bit like marmite you either love it or hate it,   My BIL says it is his favourite apple, but otherwise I struggle to give them away.   I would suggest you try one before you plant.

James Grieve also not a keeper and mine produces too many fruits on each bunch and it is a pain picking off all the excess fruit or I end up with tiny apples.

Got a couple from Adli this year and they had excellent roots.  They are now sprouting nicely.

ah ok thanks. Can anyone recommend a good `small` sweet desert tree for my garden?

I've grwn a lot of Lidl and Aldi fruit adn it's been pretty good, though it might take a year longer to get going adn the bare-root mortality is a bit higher... all the other stuff i'vbe got has come from specialists adn it shows, they're much better plants and generally take a year less to get going.... but they did cost 4x as much in most cases.... I've got 4 poles under fruit, I couldn't have afforded to do that from a specialist....