Discover how easy it is to grow fruit and which types to try in a minute
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| Even citrus trees require just basic care to thrive in the garden
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'Blueberries and cranberries are easy to grow and among the few fruits to stand actual waterlogging.'
Little work needed
Fruit is quick and easy to grow and very good value. Fruit growing in the garden (not in pots) needs very little work as it is naturally over-productive. If you did nothing to this fruit, it would still produce yields. If you prune and thin however, you will increase the size and quality of the harvest.
Thinning also removes diseased- and pest-ridden areas, so controlling many pests and diseases. Dispose of these thinnings by burying, burning or composting.
Grown in pots
Most fruits can be grown in big pots, although raspberries are not happy for long. With pots you can create different soils and grow both blueberries and apricots, for instance, which you could not grow together in the same ground. Water pots religiously and feed and top-dress them. Pots may produce earlier, heavier cropping.
Bring potted lemons, oranges and other citrus under cover during the frosty period from late autumn until late spring. Keep through to autumn.
Fruits that like being out in the cold in winter include grapes, figs, peaches, cherries and apricots. Bring under cover once they are about to blossom to protect from frost. Under cover, they will fruit much earlier in summer than if left outdoors.
Bob recommends you try...
Blueberries and cranberries are very easy to grow and among the few fruits that withstand waterlogging.
Given any ground, a 'Boskoop Glory' grapevine is essential. For an early apple, choose 'Discovery'.
Try growing lemons and satsumas in a frost-free greenhouse, to bring outside in summer, and some peaches
and apricots in tubs in late winter, to put outside after cropping.
Popular stalwarts include raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants.
Grape tips
Hard prune grapes in autumn when they go outside, then bring them inside in early spring as they won't take up much space until they grow back.
Most greenhouses can house only one grapevine planted in the ground, but you can stand a half dozen or more in there in pots because each one remains dwarfed.
* Adapted by Sarah Brocklehurst.
* See Related Articles below for more on organic gardening from Bob Flowerdew.
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