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Wikimedia commons by KVDP
Urban gardeners, here's an idea. Whether you want to add a fancy touch to the garden, decorate a blank wall, or simply save space, consider the espaliered (or trained) fruit tree. Trained trees? No, they don't jump through hoops, but you might see them at the botanical garden or even in your neighbor's backyard. Espalier is a technique for shaping trees in two dimensions, for growing flat trees. The method has roots in the middle ages. It comes in handy where planting space is limited, like in a medieval castle courtyard.
From dwarf apples to full sized figs, all kinds of fruit trees respond to the up-against-the-wall treatment. Espalier is a garden art form, but it's also very practical. If you're impatient with the idea of waiting for a fruit tree to mature and bear fruit, get a "ready trained" tree from the nursery. You will save a few years of training and pruning.
Pick a sunny fence or wall. Dig a planting hole about six inches from the fence. Trained trees perform better when they have sun and well drained soil. They also require trellises or horizontal wire guides and support for their branches. A heavy (14 gauge) horizontal wire attached to the wall at intervals of twelve to eighteen inches provides the guide for the simplest espalier design, the cordon. Pruning to limit growth to the vertical leader and the regular intervals of horizontal branches comes next. An espaliered tree is not a low maintenance garden item. It needs pruning three times a season to keep it flat. That might seem like a lot of work, but when you're biting a crisp, juicy apple from the tree you planted next to the garage, you'll be glad you tried it! It's quite an elegant way to grow-your-own.
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This is so pretty -- I want one!
The branches of the fruit trees in our little orchard are now festooned with half gallon jugs, partially filled with water, to weigh down the limbs and shape the trees. This is, I think, an improvement over the time when husband used tools for weights. I used to find the hammers and big wrenches hanging from the fruit tree boughs.
Apples and Pears are particularly amenable to trellising.
Vero, I love the look of these trees too. Bonnie Manion provides a link to a .pdf document that shows many of the traditional espalier patterns, and provides advice on pruning:
http://www.vintagegardengal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/0...
Betty Jo, there's an irony in your method. You bend the boughs down in the spring, and then by the harvest you have boughs so heavy with apples that you have to prop them up. I think we should all plant low maintenance dwarf trees and spend more time swinging in the hammock. I've meant to talk with "husband" about grafting. He is so successful growing different varieties of apple on the same tree. I want me some of that.
Frank said: "You bend the boughs down in the spring, and then by the harvest you have boughs so heavy with apples that you have to prop them up."
well of course you do. then again, they surely are pretty in that vase-like shape, and husband says
there is a better yield with more sun getting to the branches. Which, of course means that there
is more thinning to do from all the extra fruit. what can I say - keeps the old guy entertained...
Re grafting: Bet there's a scion swap meet near where you are. Everyone brings some bags of scions from their favorite trees and then trade them. Might want to warn Beth before she opens the veggie bin in the fridge to find it full of bags of sticks.