Lucy Chamberlain’s Fruit and Veg

with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert

Bottom inset: Alamy

Cherries such as this ‘Morello’ also grow well with a fan-trained shape

Peach ‘Rochester’ is an ideal candidate for shaping into a fan-type framework Stepover shapes are ideal for apples like this ‘Discovery’

Focus on ... Training new trees

If you want to grow fruit in a small space, why not shape your tree as a fan, espalier or cordon? It can make crops easier to pick and even extend the harvest season, says Lucy

EARLY spring is a time of optimism, so how better to encapsulate that than by planting a new fruit tree or bush? With many of us having limited space for full-sized trees, let’s look at the options for small-space growers…

Joy in the small things Does growing fruit in a small space limit your enjoyment? Absolutely not! A mature fan, espalier or cordon (see page 18) is incredibly ornamental. Training trees in these ‘restrictive’ shapes allows us to grow many more varieties. This extends the fresh harvest season, brings diversity to our taste buds, and allows us to flex our horticultural skills. Tied in stems are easier to pick, especially if the stems are thorny. Plus, picking fruit from small trees is a synch: no ladders needed!

How to yield fruit When training trees and bushes, there is one fundamental aspect to grasp: how that plant bears fruit. Some, like apples and pears, predominantly produce their fruit buds on short, stubby spurs that arise from main stems. This makes them ideal for espaliers, stepovers and cordons where stems are trained into permanent positions. Initially the objective is to build up these ‘framework’ stems, then maintenance consists of thinning the spurs annually. Plums, peaches, gages, cherries, nectarines and apricots (collectively stone fruits) bear fruit along the length of one- and two-year-old wood. This habit is ideal for fan training, where fulllength stems are tied in for a few years, then cut out partially or completely to let younger wood crop in their place.

“ Training gives a chance to extend the harvest season”

with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert

Lucy’s picks

Three of the most common tree shaping forms for you to try…

Fan: Here, the stems are literally fanned out against a wall, a fence, or a system of posts and horizontal wires. Keep the left and right sides equally proportioned for the most aesthetically pleasing look.

Cordon: A basic cordon consists of one vertical stem off which fruiting spurs arise. Two stems are called a double cordon, three a triple, and so on. Main stems tied in at an angle (instead of upright) are called oblique cordons. Espalier: This consists of a single vertical stem off which long permanent arms or ‘tiers’ are trained. To look their best, train the tiers in pairs, one to the left and one to the right of the main stem. You can train in multiple tiers. This Apple ‘Blenheim Orange’ is an example of espalier training

Step by step

Start off a young fan-trained gooseberry bush

1Begin with a multi-stemmed tree or bush (here, gooseberry ‘Invicta’). Make sure your support wires are sufficiently strong and taut, and then tie two, four or six equally spaced bamboo canes to them using twine.

2The idea with a fan is to splay pairs of long branches against your wall or fence. From your plant, select the best-placed, longest stems and tie these onto the canes – again, using twine (not wire).

5 quick jobs

1Give greenhouse glass a thorough clean to ensure light levels reaching young seedlings are at a maximum at this gloomy time of year. 2 If you didn’t have time in autumn, lift and divide any congested clumpforming herbs such as oregano, mint and lemon balm now. 3 Be space-savvy with your heated propagator: sow veg and herbs into seed trays or small modules rather than large individual pots. 4 Potted gooseberries, currants and blueberries may be starting into life. Make sure they are not congested or dry, repotting now if necessary. 5 The soil in most regions will still be too cold and wet for direct sowings, but put cloches in place to speed soil warming and drying.

Grab hearty, robust veg like leeks and chard while you can, for their season will soon be coming to an end. As it warms up, leeks, parsnips, carrots, kale, winter cabbage and Brussels sprouts will throw up massive flower spikes, which often run through the centre of the harvestable parts. So use them up now while you can!

3Once your chosen pairs of stems are tied in, here comes the harsh bit: any stems that are surplus to requirements must be pruned out completely. Be brave: this removal will give you the perfect fan framework.

It’s time to start sowing early peas

Next week: Plant garlic, prune mature fruit

trees, avoid damping off in early sowings, thwart replant disease, try Cape gooseberries. Main image: Alamy

Make an early sowing now, two peas per pot or cell

WHILE it’s too chilly to start off peas outside, gardeners with a greenhouse, conservatory or spare windowsill can sow hardy varieties now, ready to transplant outside during March. I’ve always found peas do far better from early sowings. They like a cool, moist root run, and sowings made later in the year often don’t have sufficient time to develop extensive roots before summer heat strikes, leading to smaller plants and far fewer pods. A very early sowing made now, plus one outside in the first half of March and a final one not much later than mid-April in the south and late April in the north, will give you huge, robust plants with the potential to form masses of pods. ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ is my go-to variety. It gives long, slender pods packed with deliciously sweet peas. Sow two seeds per 3½in (9cm) pot of multi-purpose compost if starting under heated glass.

“ Peas will do far better from early sowings”

Pea ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ is a great choice for early sowing

Lucy’s top tips

How to deal with snowfall

If you’re in the grip of a winter freeze, how do you deal with the white stuff? Here are a few pointers for when you’re on the plot:

Why not try..?

Elaeagnus multifl ora

1While a light dusting can be tolerated, steady snowfall can soon build up to create quite a strain. Carefully brush this off a glasshouse roof, fruit cages, coldframes and cloches so they don’t buckle under the weight.

2A layer of snow can be quite insulating if a prolonged chill is forecast. Crops underneath won’t suffer, especially because those outside now will be fully hardy. If the crop can take the weight of snow, leave it be.

3The case for removing snow from your crops can be argued if the weight will damage them. Lofty, rosette-forming brassicas like kale may be vulnerable to snapping, whereas narrow leeks (pictured) will be unharmed.

Conserve historic fruit trees

DO you have an ancient apple tree in your garden? Perhaps it’s one that holds sentimental value, or an unknown but delicious variety grown from a pip years ago. If you are worried that it’s starting to decline in health, or you have friends desperate for a plant themselves, why not look to a grafting service to help you? Many fruit specialists offer the service; brogdaleonline.co.uk, keepersnursery.co.uk and orangepippintrees. co.uk to name a few. You simply send them off some cuttings, establish what rootstock you’d like them grafted on to, and wait for your fruit tree to arrive a few months later. Grafting itself is a specialist process (usually the whip and tongue graft is used in early spring) so it is far easier to allow expert nurseries to carry

Main image: Alamy You can keep enjoying the fruits of this ancient apple tree if you send off some cuttings (inset) to a fruit specialist

Alamy

Cherry-sized fruits of E. multifl ora

MANY of us grow one or two Elaeagnus in our gardens, either as hedging plants (like E. x ebbingei) or as ornamental shrubs (like E. angustifolia ), but why not look to other species for inspiration in the kitchen? E. multiflora is a hardy deciduous scrambling shrub that’s happy on most soils –especially those that are light, sandy or stony. Small flowers will appear in late spring, with the deliciously honeyed scent that Elaeagnus are well-known for. In midsummer, cherry-sized fruits will ripen –just be sure that they are fully mature before eating them, to guarantee the sweetest flavour. They are red in colour and easily seen amongst the foliage. Pruning isn’t essential, but it will keep the plants tidy. Just shorten any wayward stems to a well-placed sideshoot in late winter.