You can pretty much grow any fruit you like in a container - so if you have a hankering to grow a peach or even a pineapple, don't let socalled experts like me try and put you off. The only limit is your imagination and, crucially, the amount of time and effort you will have to devote to your prized specimen. Some fruit is undoubtedly much easier to grow in a container than others, so be realistic at the outset about the amount of care and attention you are willing to give.
Some plants will need watering twice a day in the summer months, fleecing when frost is due, and a careful eye given to feeding in order to get good crops. Others will fare quite well on a much less intense regime, so choose wisely and you are more than halfway to your goal.
Before we go on to consider some specific fruit that should be towards the top of anyone's list of patio fruit, there are some general rules which apply to just about all container-grown plants.
The easiest plants to look after will be those that fruit on permanent branches. Once you have this framework established, there will be a lot less effort involved in feeding, watering and pruning. Contrast this with plants that mainly fruit on new growth (raspberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, rhubarb and all the stone fruit), where you have to provide enough water and feed all through the growing season to get not only a crop of fruit, but lots of new growth for subsequent crops.
With these plants, the demands on the plant (and consequently on you looking after it) are much higher - so unless you have lots of time and are happy to dote on the plants, they are probably best avoided.
POT CHOICE/SIZE
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2024-Ausgabe von Kitchen Garden.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2024-Ausgabe von Kitchen Garden.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
EASY DOES IT!
As the growing season gathers pace there's one thing often in short supply: time! Ever feel like you're chasing your tail? Benedict Vanheems offers some tips to save valuable time and effort
A NEW Kitchen garden!
It's time for sowing and planting in the new garden and while Martin is busy with that, Jill is making a tasty asparagus soup
OUR PLOTTER OF THE MONTH
Kitchen Garden readers rose to the challenge when we asked for pictures of their plots to appear in the magazine this year. It's time to meet another of our talented competition winners
MANAGING WEEDS, NATURALLY
Weeds are never far away but you can keep them at bay without recourse to weedkillers
Meet the apple doctor
KG editor Steve Ott chats to Glyn Smith, head gardener for the National Trust's Erddig estate in Wrexham, about his career and love of the garden he has tended for 38 years
A CORNUCOPIA OF COURGETTES
It's time to sow a first batch of tender crops such as courgettes for picking through the summer months. KG editor Steve Ott has some tips for a super harvest
FLAVOURSOME FRUIT CURRANTS
you If I want to plant some soft fruit that is easy to grow and will give you plenty of flavour, how about trying currants?
TRY AMARANTH! The dual-purpose veg
Garden Organic's research manager Anton Rosenfeld extols the virtues of amaranth and how to grow it
A SPACE APART
Instagrammer James Martin shares his love of gardening and how much it has helped him and his family both mentally and physically under very difficult circumstances
HITTING THE SWEET SPOT
Welcome to the wonderful world of sweetcorn as Rob Smith takes a look at both old and newer varieties, with some growing advice too