Episode: #3 16/09/2006
Presenter: Kim

Go to your local garden centre to check out the mouth watering range of fruit trees just waiting to be planted in your garden this spring.

When it comes to peaches, go with the yellow fleshed and superbly flavoured Elberta. While the ever reliable Satsuma, with its dark red flesh, is a good choice for a Plum.

If you love apricots, stagger your crop by planting an early ripening variety like Moorpark along side a late fruiter like Story. You will be picking apricots all season.

If space in the garden is a problem then look for varieties grafted onto a ?Dwarfing Rootstock?. These trees still produce the same sized fruit but on a smaller, more easily managed plant.

While on space, multiple planting allows you to plant 3 trees in a very small area. Choose similar type varieties ? 3 different Peaches or 3 different Apples for example. Dig 3 holes 30cm apart and plant each tree. Water in well and feed. They will all grow into each other and create your very own fruit salad corner! Brilliantly compact!

If you are looking for pears then the right royal ?Duchess? variety will do well. As for Nectarines, the ?Goldmine? is really hard to beat.

Pollination is critical to producing fruit. Many plants like Kiwi Fruit need two different types to help the fruit actually develop.

A simple way round this is to buy a tree that is self pollinating, meaning it can do it all by itself, like the Stella cherry. Check the label, it will tell you what type of pollination is needed.