Feeling fruity: you can grow fruit trees in the city — even on a small London balcony

Fruit thrives in a pot on the smallest balcony and loves the city heat.

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Harvest on high: pick apples from your own tree, even if your only outdoor space is a balcony.
GAP Photos/Friedrich Strauss
Alex Mitchell15 September 2017

Don’t think you have space for a fruit tree? If you’ve a wall, a fence or somewhere to put a pot, think again. A fruit tree gives any outdoor space a whiff of romance and longevity. Think of a couple of old apple trees in blossom with a hammock slung between, an espalier pear trained against a brick wall, or a sprawling fig in a terracotta pot.

The city is ideal for fruit trees. The “urban heat island” effect means fruit is more likely to ripen, giving you the chance to grow exotic apricots, figs, peaches and nectarines, and there are plenty of other trees around to ensure good pollination of apples and pears.

A terrace, balcony or roof can be the perfect spot for a potted mini orchard. If you move house, just take it with you.

If you want a classic, freestanding fruit tree to hang a swing from one day, go for a plum, cherry, apple or pear. You can even keep your lawn and grow fruit trees, as long as you have a strip of soil around the edge.

Espalier and fan-trained fruit trees look stunning against a wooden fence or warm brick wall, with blossom in spring and the tracery of their branches in winter. It’s best to buy a mature trained tree, since they take a few years to get going.

Pears, apples, peaches, figs, cherries and plums can all be grown this way, taking up minimal space while clothing fences or walls in beauty.

For patio or balcony, Richard Borrie, of online fruit tree supplier Orange Pippin, recommends a fig or an apple tree on a dwarfing M27 rootstock so it won’t grow taller than about a metre.

Try Rubinette, Braeburn, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Red Devil, Red Falstaff, Red Windsor, Scrumptious or Sunset. Go for three and have your own mini orchard.

Don’t skimp on the pot. You’ll need one that can take 40-60 litres of compost. If weight allows, a Dolly tub-style metal planter (Large Vence Planter, £50 at Garden Trading) is a great focal point. Fibrecotta, a terracotta/fibreglass blend, is a good lightweight bet (Kadamus Round Planter, two for £89.99 at Primrose). Perhaps the ideal apple or fig pot is the Loft Urban, 50cm with in-built wheels and a reservoir so trees never dry out (crocus.co.uk; £35.99).

Other tree fruits need a bigger pot, for about 100L of compost. With pears, you’ll need to check it’s on Quince Eline rootstock, and Beth, Concorde, William and Louise Bonne of Jersey are all good choices. A cherry (Stella or Sunburst on a Gisella 5 rootstock) or a quince is also ideal for a container this size. Nectarines, peaches (try Peregrine) and apricots (Safon) work as long as they are described as “dwarf trees”. Plums are not for pots, preferring open ground.

Charlotte Mendelson, novelist and author of London gardening memoir Rhapsody in Green, laments: “The only fruit I’ve had any success with is my fig tree because they’re the only thing in the world that likes being restricted.

It’s in a big pot, against a warm wall and this year I got seven figs. I’m incredibly proud.” For the risk-averse fruit grower, Mendelson recommends sticking to a container fig, olives and Morello cherries, her tree bought for £3.99 from Poundstretcher currently rampaging up a north-facing wall.

Mark Diacono, owner of Otter Farm which specialises in unusual and exotic edibles, says you can’t go wrong with a mulberry, a medlar or a quince. “They look gorgeous and the fruits are hard to get hold of in the shops.”

Diacono thinks mulberries are the finest fruit there is. Having raided a tree in a local car park for the past two years — and no, I’m not telling you where it is — I can absolutely agree.