Growing Your Own FruitFriday, 18 December 2020 | Lewis Whether you’ve been growing your fruit and veg for years or you’re a newbie to it all, there are many benefits to growing your own produce. Whether it’s the health benefits it bestows to more monetary-based benefits, growing your own fruit is always a great idea, even in winter. After a year of uncertainties and maybe more up ahead, many people have started growing fruit in their garden to combat the risk of new lockdowns, food shortages and uncertainties of fruit prices after Brexit. Having your fruit readily available in your garden or allotment makes a variety of fruit easily accessible, opening the door to a wide range of different recipe ideas. The team at Kedel have created this handy guide to help you get started on growing your own fruit this wintertime, as well as offer advice on planters and what’s best for your plants.
What fruit can you grow in Winter?Winter doesn’t signal the end of the fruit growing season, rather, winter is the best time for many fruit trees to be planted ready for the upcoming season. We recently wrote about how to prepare your garden for winter, so if you are yet to make the final preparations, now is the time to do so.The following fruits are best planted between November and March:
Where to plant & how to care for growing fruitWhen you choose your fruit to grow, it’s important to think about the following:
When looking at where to plant your fruit, think about the following:
Planting domestic appleA popular choice, you can opt for either self-fertile varieties or ones that require you to plant more than one tree so that they can cross-pollinate. Growing conditions required: fertile soil that’s well-drained, sun or partial shade Planting Crab AppleA good tree for attracting wildlife to your garden, Crab Apple trees are a source of food for caterpillars, with flowers attracting insects. Birds and mammals will eat the fruit, as well as thrushes, voles, foxes, badgers and blackbirds. Growing conditions required: sun or semi-shade can grow in most soil types and dryness Planting blackthornProducing sloes, the berries will attract birds to your garden. It is hardy, so can cope well in exposed sites as a good windbreak. Growing conditions required: well-drained, moist soil, and full sunlight Planting bird cherryProduces bitter cherries and provides beautiful white blossoms in springtime. It will become an early source of nectar and pollen for bees, with its cherries eaten by birds. Growing conditions required: well-drained soil, full sunlight Planting wild cherryWild cherry provides bright red fruits that are edible and ornamental. Growing conditions required: well-drained soil, full sunlight Caring for growing fruitFruit trees should be planted with a guard to protect them from the likes of dogs, cats and rabbits. This will help them grow without disturbance. During the wet, winter months, it’s unlikely that your fruit should need to be watered. However, once it gets to dry months in the new year, you will need to regularly water your fruit well, but not enough to waterlog them. Once leaves are present, if they are a dark green colour then the tree is doing well. Any other colour requires special care. The best planters for growing fruit and vegetablesIn recent years, the discussion of what planter material is best has been talked about frequently amongst gardeners. Pressure-treated wood has been used in gardening for years, as it rots a lot slower than normal wood. However, at the beginning of the decade, most of the pressure-treated wood was found to contain chromate copper arsenate which transferred arsenic to soil, fruits and vegetables and then humans during consumption. Now that this type of wood has been removed from the market, the safest and more reliable option for garden planters is to opt for those made from recycled plastic products. Kedel is proud to offer a wide variety of recycled plastic planters that are ideal for growing the likes of fruit, vegetables and flowers in. The benefits of using recycled plastic planters instead of timber planters
Browse the full range of recycled plastic lumber and products from Kedel today and discover the perfect furnishings and equipment for your garden or public space. From recycled plastic fencing to recycled plastic palisades, Kedel offers maintenance-free alternatives to timber that maintains high-quality appearances throughout its lifetime. |