To Be - Fruitful

Mouth watering catalogue pages

Shivering in my layered-up puffa coats and fleeces I have found it hard to think  about what to grow in the garden this year.  I enjoyed growing the veg last year but I think I'll cut down on some of them and maybe think more of having a fruit garden - would that be an orchard? No, because I still want to grow a few vegetables and lots of flowers.   

Confronted by all the catalogues I simplified things this week  by just concentrating on fruit. Fruit does well in this garden and I am gratified when I count up how much I already grow. There's the big Bramley tree in the middle which always produces lots of apples, then, going clockwise  round the garden, 

              Fiesta Apple Cordon                                                                 Victoria Plum Cordon

I have a rhubarb plant, a red currant, two gooseberries, a Victoria plum, a blackcurrant, summer and autumn raspberries, Fiesta and Pinova apple cordons, a Concorde pear cordon and a miserable dwarf peach  which flowers beautifully but can't produce a nice peach. Oh, and there are the wild strawberries which create a sort of overall carpet, taste delicious and keep fruiting throughout the summer. 

Gooseberry Hinnonmaki Red                Wild Blackberry                         Concorde Pear    

So what  to add? I have my favourite catalogues and they are so full to bursting with ideas and pictures of healthy produce it's easy to get carried away. Another rhubarb would be good, but they are big and I can't justify having two; some of the hybrid berries that look so enormous and juicy might be interesting but I'm happy with my raspberries and anyway, I think the wild blackberries would soon get the better of them. I have room for another cordon or two, perhaps more apples or a cherry, but that will have to wait till autumn. So what about a fig? I've always wanted one and now you can get them as standards so they won't spread too much. Brown Turkey is the most popular in this country - it doesn't mind a bit of cool, but there's a new one called Chelsea, apparently found growing on the banks of the Thames near Chelsea Bridge, which I find very appealing 

But what attracts me immediately is the idea of growing blueberries. I love eating them and they are really expensive to buy. I know they like an acid soil, but my soil is on the acid side and I've already bought two bags of ericaceous compost and two lengths of bamboo edging to create raised beds for them. You can get dwarf  versions that only grow about 1m tall so now I just have to get around to ordering them.

These are two of the catalogues I enjoy and have successfully bought fruit from: 

D.T.Brown, Fruit and Vegetable Growers: mail order online: www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk; 

0845 371  0532. Established in 1908: really interesting catalogue, full of  helpful tips and information. 

Pomona Fruits Ltd, Pomona House, 12 Third Avenue, Walton-on-Naze, Essex CO14 8JU; www.PomonaFruits.co.uk: 01255 440410.  Specialists in fruit; informative catalogue; excellent service.