SMALL GARDEN? NO PROBLEM

From apples and figs to strawberries and rhubarb, many fruits thrive in containers. David Patch shares his top tips for choosing, planting and caring for crops in pots, so you can enjoy harvests on even the smallest plot

- By David Patch

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 so-called experts like me try to 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 that apply to just about all container-grown plants.

The easiest plants to look after will be those that fruit on permanent branching. Once you have established this framework, there will be significantly 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.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT POT