Which fruit tree to plant?

[Han&Matt]

Hello all,

My chap and I are buying a lovely new cottage - mid terrace in a conservation area. We have a small front garden (currently paved but not for long) bounded by a 3 foot beech hedge. Boundary is only 3 metres max from front elevation of cottage. I would love to plant a fruit tree in the front garden but need some advice:

Will the roots compromise the cottage foundations when the tree matures?
Will any fruit develop if there is not a companion tree nearby to cross pollinate?
Which tree would be best - would love some blossom and usable fruit (like making jam)?

Any bright ideas?

Thank you,
Hannah

[Millymollymandy]

That's a hard question! I would have thought a dwarf tree would be best as that isn't a lot of space given the size of most fruit trees when mature! Is it south facing? With the hedge it sounds sheltered so maybe an apricot or a peach - they can be pruned to keep within a reasonable size.

Without Googling I don't know which fruit trees don't need pollinators - I think all apples do but plums maybe not?

I can see from lack of response it's a hard question. Maybe do some Googling?

Good luck with the cottage anyway!

[greenbean]

Hi Hannah, I am currently doing the same research for my front garden and have pretty much decided on getting a quince tree, they self pollinate, have lovely blossom and scented fruits (a bowl of quinces in a room will fill the room with a wonderful scent) and you can use them in jellies and jams (a little quince in apple pie is excellent), as far as I can tell in my research so far, they don't get huge. In our last garden which was a town house small garden, we planted a crab apple tree which had the prettiest blossom and the birds loved the crab apples, it seemed to get pollinated OK and there wasn't another crab apple tree nearby. Your root question I can't answer, but to be honest I wouldn't overly worry, have you looked at your neighbours gardens to see whether they have mature trees? Hope this is of some help. Rgds, Pam.

[Han&Matt]

Pam & M3

Thanks for your posts - I remember a quince tree/bush in my parent's garden when I was a child and it had the loveliest salmon pink flowers as well as really dark brown wood, a great combination. Thanks for the idea, I shall investigate further and put onto my 'wish list'!

I love crab apples but they do get rather large and I don't want to block out any sun into the front bay window - it is east facing...

Am so excited - but still have mortgage stuff/valuations etc to sort so fingers crossed...

Hannah