So ... what have you decided about trees? What fruit do you most like to eat? How much work do you want to do in improving your soil yourself, and how much are you prepared to spend on Someone What Does to do it for you? :-)
A tree would be nice. It should probably be one that is happy to stay under 6' tall (i.e. the height of our fence) and which should need no more than a foot or so of soil. It should get plenty of sunlight where it would go, though. Soil is going to have to be substantially brought in anyway as I will have to create a raised bed to get any sort of depth at all.
Oh, and we like apples and pears.
NB - the minor landscaping this involves has still to be done, so shall we let you know when we're in a position to plant?
As I discussed with bugshaw, the first step is to decide which species, and the second, which varieties, and which training pattern (cordon is probably ideal) and then to order those varieties from the nursery. Depending on fertility patterns, you may need at least three carefully chosen varieties of apples to get them to set fruit, for example.
Then comes the landscaping - I wouldn't call what is needed 'minor', in the sense that you need to excavate a pit in whatever rubble your builders called soil that is deep enough to contain the roots of a cordon-trained dwarfed tree) at a bit of a distance from the wall/fence that is going to protect each tree. Then you need to dig deeper, and replace the rubble with a mixture of soil and soil improver down to a total depth of at least 60 cm (I'm still not sure whether that's below the depth of the roots, or measured from the surface). G and I are here to tell you that could be a lot of work with a pick and shovel, and you might need to pay someone :-)
Wanna discuss kinds of fruit and tree varieties some more?
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 02:09 pm (UTC)Oh, and we like apples and pears.
NB - the minor landscaping this involves has still to be done, so shall we let you know when we're in a position to plant?
MC
no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 11:26 pm (UTC)As well as morello (cooking) cherries, apples, pears, apricots and peaches, you could consider plums and gages, and even figs...
Shall we move this discussion to email?
The time is come (and some)
Date: 2004-09-07 11:25 pm (UTC)As I discussed with
Then comes the landscaping - I wouldn't call what is needed 'minor', in the sense that you need to excavate a pit in whatever rubble your builders called soil that is deep enough to contain the roots of a cordon-trained dwarfed tree) at a bit of a distance from the wall/fence that is going to protect each tree. Then you need to dig deeper, and replace the rubble with a mixture of soil and soil improver down to a total depth of at least 60 cm (I'm still not sure whether that's below the depth of the roots, or measured from the surface). G and I are here to tell you that could be a lot of work with a pick and shovel, and you might need to pay someone :-)
Wanna discuss kinds of fruit and tree varieties some more?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 01:26 pm (UTC)