Monthly Archives: September 2009

To Fedge or Not? Whether tis better in willow….

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Willow fedges are living structures made from closely planted willows.  Ornate structures can be built up; chairs, houses, pergolas and so on, but in its simplest form a willow fedge is just a living fence.

Willow is a fantastic tree, it has adapted to survive where most trees will not – it will grow in water and in the driest dust.  It is resistant to a host of diseases and pests and it is generally easy on the eye.  All of which makes it ideal for any number of purposes.  BUT – dear reader – the one thing willow does not do is grow slowly. Let me repeat: Willow is a racehorse amongst trees.

And therein lies the problem.  You buy your willow cuttings (or setts), or if you are really in a hurry you can get rooted cuttings.  You plant them (following your plan) at 6-9″ intervals and you elaborately weave them in a beautiful criss-cross fence, or maybe even an igloo.

Living Willow Fedges

Living Willow Fedges

Perhaps a bit like this one. Please note that the picture was taken only a couple of months after planting.  These things, once they get growing can put on 6-8 feet (approximately 2 metres) every year. So, on the one hand, for the impatient amongst you the results are fast. On the other hand, however, maintenance is huge.

If you do not keep your fedge under control, within an amazingly short period of time it will have turned into a thicket.  And then a forest.

So your time budget for a fedge should include trimming it hard about 3 times a year.  Do that, and a fedge hedge is without equal in its strength and rapidity.  But don’t turn your back or it might get away from you!

If you fancy a shot at a willow fedge use something like Salix viminalis or salix britzensis for greens and yellows, or combine salix daphnoides and salix purpurea for violet and purple bark.  Why not have a look at our range of willows for fedges

Fruit Trees and the Mile High Club

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You will often hear people say that you can’t grow apple trees at more than 500 feet above sea level.

While there is a germ of truth in this – as in many old wives’ tales – it is only a germ.  I know of an enormously successful commercial orchard that grows at beween 800 and 850 feet above sea level and crops heavily every year.

So here are a few, rather random, thoughts about where to put your trees if you are thinking about planting an orchard.

Think hard about “the slope”.  The worst thing that can happen to your average fruit tree is to be frosted while in bloom. No fruit that year. Period.  So the first, and most important tip is to plant your fruit trees on a slope.  Don’t go silly and try to plant them where only eagles dare, but make it a slope. You do this because cold air is heavy and falls. It comes to rest in valley bottoms and in hollows and dips where it can fall no further and gets trapped. That is where you get late frosts. Oddly, in falling, the cold air drives out the warmer air that was there before and pushes it UP. In so doing it creates what is called an “inversion” layer.  On cold nights this generally exists at between 100 and 300 feet above sea level.  When fractions of a degree are the difference between crop life and death, the temperature gradient is measurable and can be critical.

Think hard about the wind.  One of the major drawbacks of slopes is that parts of them can be really windy. And wind is bad for fruit trees; pollinating insects work hard enough as it is without battling with head winds.  Bees are not the most aerodynamic at the best of times….  Therefore only plant an orchard on a south-west facing slope if it is sheltered or if you can plant a shelter belt to break up the wind.  This is important as the prevailing winds tend to be at their strongest at almost exactly the time fruit trees are in bloom.  A sheltered north facing slope is preferable to a windy southerly incline.

Think height. Because of frost pocket risks, don’t plant too low and recognise that it does get colder as the land gets higher (at a rate of about 1 degree farenheit for every 300 feet). This temperature fall off delays the day fruit trees come into flower and so reduces the time available for them to ripen their crop. I have mentioned shelter belts and these help enormously in raising ambient temperatures, but unless your position is remarkable, don’t try to grow fruit at much more than 700 feet above sea level and try to chose varieties that crop (as opposed to flower) early.

Think soil. People are always surprised when they are told that the human body is more than 80% water. Well, given how solid the body is and how juicy a ripe apple or plum can be, it is not surprising to learn that fruit is generally more than 90% water. So while fruit trees like nourishment and can be productive in relatively poor soils, they cannot do well without enough moisture. The key to moisture retention with plants is soil structure.  Fruit trees will die if their roots drown in winter, so there must be drainage and their fruit will be undersized and deformed if there is not enough water in summer.  If the soil is thin, or if it is heavy clay, be prepared to incorporate masses of well rotted organic matter. Don’t just put it in the hole (in fact on heavy clay, don’t put any in the hole) either work it in all over the orchard or just spread it as a mulch and let the worms do their thing. Soil that is in good condition can both allow great drainage and hold an astonishing amount of available moisture.

Think protection.  Orchards are a magnet for scrumping children, theiving adults, sheep, horses, goats and the like.  You can’t keep them all out, but not having a fence is asking for trouble. They are also a magnet for wildlife and in this ever industrialising world orchards are now recognised as crucially important safe havens for an enormous range of animals that are under pressure elsewhere.  So leave a little room for some brambles, make a log-pile, have a bit of a pond if you can and cut down on those chemicals (of which there is more coming soon).

Sit back and watch your fruit trees grow.

Were you a Derby Day loser?

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We are getting a few enquiries about box blight from customers (and non-customers) who are worried that their box hedging might have contracted the dread disease.

When we are sent samples only about a quarter prove to be suffering from box blight which probably means that it is not as serious as people think – more “scare” than “there”. Where it is box blight, almost invariably the gardener concerned followed the old saw about never clipping your box hedge before Derby Day.

A lot of work has been going on researching the causes, treatments and outcomes of box blight.  We know that it is caused by two fungal organisms working in concert, that it spreads by infecting cuts on leaves and stems and that it is most likely to do so in warm, damp weather.

A lot flows from that:
1. Clip your box hedges so that the tops are NOT flat. Make them domed or pointed as this stops water resting in the leaves and creating a moist microclimate for fungal infections.

2. Try to clip them when it is COLD. At Highgrove they have had good results clipping their box at…..  Christmas. When it is cold and blight is sensibly sleeping. (It is at its most active in May-August, so it makes sense to clip outside these months if you can).

3. Spray your box hedging to prevent an outbreak.  Alternate copper fungicide and Scotts Roseclear3 and spray to 2-3 sprays a season.

4. We think box “grows out” of blight. There is a lot of evidence to that effect, but it need to lose a lot of top growth first.  The good news is that it will probably survive if you get blight.  The bad news is that box hedging grows so slowly that if you have blight in an established hedge it is going to look pretty grotty for quite a while.

Who will buy my apples?

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Guide to fruit tree rootstocks
It is about this time of year that the signs go up in nurseries and garden centres around the country, announcing the arrival of the main apple harvest.

And thousands of people boldly go forth to buy their apple trees (if you recognise the parallels with Star Trek here, it will be a source of enormous relief to know that there is an Enterprise apple.  Just don’t ask what it tastes like…)

One of our intentions has been to help educate gardeners people in buying fruit trees wisely.  There are four basic components to successful cropping of almost anything

  • Buying well
  • Planting Well
  • Tending well
  • Good luck

This article is really all about buying fruit trees. UK grown fruit trees are among the best in the world and there is no reason why you should not find high quality stock easily.

Don’t every buy anything weak and weedy. If it is sickly when you get it from a grower who is supposed to be an expert, who has access to the right soil, perfect irrigation and chemicals the average amateur can only dream about, then it will probably stay sickly. Pick it out carefully if you buy at a garden centre and send it straight back if you bought it from an online nursery if you do not like the look of it.

Get your rootstocks right.

There are already posts up on this site about rootstocks, but it pays to understand at least the principal. The rootstock is the engine that drives your fruit tree.  A weak rootstock makes it grow slowly and small. A vigorous one make sit grow fast and large.

The picture below will give you the general idea (click on the picture to enlarge or you can see it full size on our rootstock sales page):

Guide to fruit tree rootstocks

Guide to fruit tree rootstocks

Make sure you have enough pollination

Fruit tree pollination is a subject for several books, but for the average amateur gardener it is not hard to get it right.  Just hang on to the following thoughts. Trees that do not flower at the same time cannot pollinate one another and with very few exceptions apples, pears and cherries FRUIT MUCH BETTER if they are pollinated by another variety.  You can read a lot more about (and choose compatible varieties) in our guide to fruit pollination pages.

Buy Bare rooted fruit Trees

Well we would say that, wouldn’t we (although, our potted fruit trees are more expensive…).  It is also true.  If you can, organise you schedule so you plant in the winter months, and buy bare root fruit trees from an established, reputable grower.  If you can’t plant in the winter, then you have no choice but to buy pot grown. Bare root fruit trees should be bigger and healthier than pot grown – the root system in particular.  They have had all the advantages while they were being raised; space to grow, unlimited root runs, steadier moisture levels.

Good luck – buy well, plant well and sit back and watch your garden grow.