Never has there been a better time to Grow Your Own and reap the benefits of producing your own fresh, healthy food. Making use of home gardens has always been a sensible thing to do, but now more than ever with genetic modification, predicted supermarket shortages and environmental damage, produce picked and eaten from your own plot has never been a better idea! Identified in a Belgian fruit farm as being a dwarfing sport, 'Little Conference' was discarded by the commercial growers because it was too dwarfing for their use. However, it throws normal size fruits and by grafting onto medium vigour stock we have ensured that it stays robust. 'Conference' Pear produces a large crop of fruits with clear white flesh that are ready to pick each September. The long, tapering fruits are packed with an irresistible sweetness and lip-smacking juice that will drip from your chin when you bite in to a ripe one! Because of its outstanding flavour, it remains the most popular pear grown in Britain by a long measure and this patio pear is a really good variety and dead easy for any gardener who is staring out in growing Patio Fruit. 'Conference' is largely 'self-fertile' and will be supplied on a dwarfing rootstock. Expected height at 5 years 1.5m. Supplied as an established tree in a 4.5L pot, ready to plant out.
We have unearthed something really different for you here- a most unusual patio fruit tree that is perfectf or smaller gardens. It's breeder, renowned British fruit grower Will Sibley, has been working on new and n ovel fruit trees for the British home gardener for years, and this is one of his latest discoveries. Medlars have been somewhat overlooked in the rush to grow fruit in the home garden. Yet their most unusual-looking fruit make great jellies, jams and sauces, and they have the most beautiful pure white blossom and attractive leathery green leaves in summer, too. Hardy and self-fertile, this variety is an easy winner. 'Sibley's Patio Medlar'is destined to stay small, so works well in a big pot on the patio or terrace, but make sure you water well in summer. It will also grow well in fertile garden soil in a sunny spot. The variety itself is naturally compact, and has been grafted onto a very dwarfing pear rootstock, so it will stay a manageable size and crop well for many years to come. After 4 low years, you should get up to 30 fruit each autumn. Medlars are not great eaten fresh from the tree. Leave on the tree as long as possible in November, but pick before the first frosts. Store for 2-3 weeks so the flesh softens brown, which is when they will be at their best to eat. Alternatively, they can be cooked straight after picking from the tree.
If you only have space to grow one fruit tree, grow this one! 'Stella' cherry is self-fertile (which means it does not need a second variety of cherry tree to pollinate it) and is a really heavy, reliable cropper because it has good resistance to late frosts. Unlike most other sweet cherry varieties, it will thrive in slightly exposed locations but can also be grown in a pot on your patio. The sweetly flavoured, dark-skinned, plump and juicy aromatic fruits will be ready to pick from mid to late July each year. From the third growing season onwards, you can expect upwards of 5kg (11lb) of sweet fruits per tree, which will save a small fortune compared to paying supermarket prices! Additionally, the beautiful cherry blossom, which appears from early March, will brighten your garden and mark the beginning of spring. Our grower-quality, multi-branched trees have been grafted on to G5 rootstock to provide a compact and manageable habit, which in this case will reach approx. 2m (6-7ft) tall.
This delightful cherry variety not only tastes sensational, it will look spectacular in your garden, wherever you plant it. Once the gorgeous spring blossom has faded away, 'Bigarreau Napoleon's' very large, slightly elongated fruits ripen to a warm, golden colour, blushed with deep, cherry-red, providing a beautiful contrast with the lush green foliage in mid-summer. When you pick one of these cherries from your own tree and pop it into your mouth, a rich sweetness will explode from the creamy flesh - simply tantalising for the tastebuds! The flavour is sweet but not as sugary as dark sweet cherries such as 'Stella'. They taste so divine that you will want to pick the whole lot and eat them straight away - so it is a good job it is such a heavy cropper! Growing your own cherries at home is not only deeply rewarding, it will also save you an absolute fortune compared with supermarket prices. And, of course they taste so much better!
Originally grown in France in the mid-19th century, and often known by it's French name 'Reine Clauide d'Oullins', the 'Oullin's Golden Gage' is a great, self-fertile, garden variety for anyone to grow. It prefers warmer weather than apples or pears, so will fruit later in the year, producing its attractive, golden-yellow, red-specked fruits in abundance in late summer. Very much sweeter and juicier than typical plums, it is a real sweet treat plucked fresh from the tree. There is no greater pleasure than picking a plump, juicy plum straight from your own tree and popping it straight into your mouth! The firm, aromatic flesh is packed full of sweet fruitiness and the juice will delight your tastebuds! If you can resist eating them all, these versatile fruits are perfect for use in cooking, and will freeze well for using later.
Quince 'Vranja' is a fantastic tree that will provide all round interest and produces abundant crops of highly-fragrant, golden fruits, ready for picking each October. Breathtaking pink blossom literally covers this gorgeous quince in the spring, followed quickly by the richly-flavoured fruit, which has an incredible perfume that will fill your garden. Their intense, tart flavour makes them perfect for cooking and making delicious quince jelly! Supplied as a bare-root tree, ready to plant, this relatively rare but easy to grow beauty will give you great pleasure for many years to come.
'Doyenne du Comice' is perhaps the very best pear for eating raw! Its sumptuous flavour, fruity aroma and fine, fleshy texture makes this wonderful variety really stand out from other pears. Best eaten fresh from the tree, 'Comice' is also delicious cooked - imagine making your own pear tart with your very own freshly picked pears! This brilliant variety will give masses of fruit from September through to February each year. It will even fruit from next season! Supplied as an established tree, approx. 90-110cm tall in a 5L pot, ready to plant out.
One of the best-sellers from world-leading Dwarf fruit tree breeder Zaiger, Peach Amber is a really special tree for your garden. Starting with a beautiful display of rose-pink blossom in Spring, it is self-fertile so will produce crops of sumptuous juicy peaches, with a deep golden amber flesh (hence it's name), and lovely red skins. Amazingly sweet in taste, it really is Perfection in Peaches, and performs really well in the UK. As with all peaches here, best results can be obtained by helping pollinate the tree by using a simple soft artist's paintbrush, and rubbing it from flower to flower when it in blossom. They blossom early, and there aren't always enough bees on the move at that time of year. Keep foliage dry in Spring to avoid Peach leaf Curl - under a canopy is fine. You will be rewarded with amazing crops of juicy, amber-fleshed peaches - they just taste sublime picked warm form the sun on their backs, straight form the tree.
'James Grieve' is an absolutely incredible variety that is perfect for all gardeners! If you pick the elegant, red and green, satin-sheened fruit in early to mid-September, they are refreshingly acidic, sharp, and perfect for cooking scrummy apple crumbles and pies. However, if your wait a few weeks longer, the delicious flavour mellows, becoming mild, sweet and truly excellent picked straight from the tree. The soft flesh is literally packed with juice and glistens tantalisingly when you bite into it. If you can resist eating your whole crop, they make truly incredible juice! Supplied as an established plant, 90-110cm tall in a 5L pot, it's perfect to plant into your garden now.
Now you too can grow this ever-popular variety - but much better tasting and at a fraction of the cost of supermarket-bought apples! 'Golden Delicious' is brilliant for growing in your garden. Its fruits have exceptionally sweet, rich flavour and a distinctive golden-green colour. They will look wonderful as they ripen on your tree. It is heavy-cropping and easy to grow - what more could you want? This highly versatile variety will store really well. Use your abundant crops to make delightful desserts and yummy puddings as well as keeping them to eat as they are. Your home-grown harvests will be incomparable to the bland, tasteless apples in the shops. The key is to let them mature on the tree and pick them once they have turned a rich, golden colour. Best of all, your tree will produce bumper crops each year, saving you loads of money compared to supermarket-bought apples over its long life of over 50 years. Enjoy! Supplied as an established tree, 90-110 cm (3-3½ ft) tall in a 5L pot, ready to plant out.
This excellent garden variety will produce its mouth-wateringly juicy, super-sweet fruit each year in early autumn. It is very similar to Cox with its rich, complex flavour. It is simply wonderful eaten fresh, but will also keep well too in a cool place. 'Gala' is very easy to grow, and is one of the most widely grown apples in Europe. It gives good crops almost everywhere in the UK, so is unsurprisingly very popular with gardeners of all abilities. Supplied as an established plant, 90-110cm tall in a 5L pot, it's perfect to plant into your garden now.
This delicious variety is widely regarded as being the tastiest of all apples! It is perfect for growing in the UK and produces fabulous crops of its medium-sized, golden-red fruits that can be picked from September onwards. The fruits will look great on the tree as well as in your fruit bowl, and each one is tantalisingly crisp to bite into, with complex, sweet and tangy juice - yummy! Perfect for eating straight from the tree, 'Cox's Orange Pippin' is highly versatile, so you can make your own excellent cider and juice or use your harvest to make preserves and chutneys. First grown in the 1820s, this brilliant all-round winner is nearly 200 years old and still as popular as ever. Best of all, you will save tons of money by growing your own instead of buying them from the shops, and, of course, they will taste so much better! Supplied as an established plant, approx. 90-110cm tall in a 5L pot, ready to plant out.