It was a huge disappointment this year when the cherry - Summer Sun - on the plot failed to produce a single fruit after being loaded with blossom.
I know Summer Sun is only partially self fertile but we have had cherries from it in the past and they are delicious - just ask the blackbird!
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Anyway browsing the website reminded me of our intention to buy a cherry to grow in a container so I made the most of the contact and asked for some advice on whether this was a viable proposition and what type of tree I should buy.
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Our plot neighbour has a cherry which may help with cross pollination - one of the advantages of growing on an allotment site - I think the problem this year was that when the flowers needed pollinating there were few insects about on pollination duty!
This year's disappointment forced us to consider the idea of growing a cherry in a container in the garden. We figured that here we could keep it better sheltered and give it more protection if and when it fruited. We hadn't really got round to making a decision until a few days ago when I was introduced to a website that I hadn't come across before namely Orange Pippin Fruit Trees. Someone from the company had been browsing the internet and come across my website and had emailed me to ask whether I would place a link to their site on mine. Now like a lot of you probably do, I get lots of this type of request and only add links to sites that I really like. When I checked out this website I was impressed and thought it was a site that I would be happy to share. Even if you don't want to buy a fruit tree it's worth a browse as it also has information and advice about growing fruit trees.
The recommendation was a variety called Stella which is self fertile and so won't mind being kept in the garden without a friendly pollinator. Orange Pippin offer this variety on a Gisela 5 rootstock that makes it suitable for container growing and also had a 2-year patio-trained bush/tree grown in a pot available for sale. Information on the site tells me that cherries grown on this rootstock should fruit after 3-4 years so hopefully we shouldn't have long to wait before we get some cherries.
Anyway the tree is now ordered and due to arrive the last week in September. As a bonus, as a thank you for the links, Orange Pippin have offered a 5% discount on any tree ordered by visitors to my website using my links if the voucher code GLALLOT is quoted when ordering. The company ship to various parts of Europe and also have a sister site that is US based. The 5% discount on the US site is exclusive of delivery charge. Oh ... and in case you are wondering what was in it for me? I have got my tree at discount too. Now I just hope my tree lives up to expectations - I'll let you know.
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Fingers crossed for your pot-grown fruit. Will toddle over to the supplier and have a look - I've a space planned for some Victoria Plums . . .
ReplyDeleteWe have a Victoria plum on the plot, BW - delicious. Fingers and toes crossed for the cherry - I love cherries fresh from the tree - I love any fruit fresh from the tree
DeleteI have had a look through,it looks like a nice site. I was so excited I forgot the actual size of my small garden. I really can't find the space for a cider orchard. I might be able to squeeze a plum & a hazelnut in the front though.
ReplyDeleteA cider orchard is a bit ambitious awpol
DeleteMy cherry tree is a Stella and it's on dwarf rootstock. The first year I had it I got one cherry, three the following year, and a great harvest the year after that (last year). This year it hardly produced any cherries, and those it did produce got eaten by the birds. It wasn't worth netting it as there were so few cherries on the tree.
ReplyDeleteI think this year has been a bad year for lots of fruit, Jo. What did the cherries taste like?
DeleteThese are perfect for me. They looks so fresh and tempting to eat. Those cherries doesn't look like they're striving.
ReplyDeleteicrib
The cherries in the photographs were the year before last's harvest Kate
DeleteI want a couple more trees, so thank you for posting the link, I will definately take a look..the 5% discount is good too.
ReplyDeleteThank you
My pleasure notjustgreenfingers
DeleteOh dear....what a bad news! Hope you have good ahrvest next season!
ReplyDeleteMost of the fruit trees it your garden can't be planted in my place....We buy them very expensive here....sigh....
I hope so too Malar. A bit like we can't grow oranges and bananas
DeleteThe cherries were delicious, Sue. Leave them to really ripen and then they're beautifully sweet.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to that then Jo - the Summer Sun were the same - the first year we picked them too early but they actually continued to ripen off the tree.
DeleteI have a Stella cherry...bought it this year...hope it fruits well for both of us. Nice to get a link with a perk...I will check out this site when I have more time!!
ReplyDeleteSo do I Tanya - good luck with yours.
DeleteThat's good timing, my next buying challenge is the fruit for the garden, and although I plan to use a local company for the apples, pears and plum, this could be a good source for the cherry and/or nectarine and/or apricot I am pondering...
ReplyDeleteI liked the range of fruits Janet even though I ended up buying a common variety of cherry - I'll let you know what the plant quality is like.
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