I have recommended some excellent nurseries from the links section, whose web sites have information which will help inform your choice of tree. I also have a very limited number of trees for sale, email hayes373(at)btinternet(dot)com but no mail order, you'll have to collect to order from us or farmer's market during the winter. I can also graft from your wood, so if you or a friend has a precious old tree, I can graft a bit of it onto a root stock so you can have a new tree of the same old variety, I have done this for several customers. Handy if you are moving house or have a precious tree of unknown variety.


A lot depends on how much space you have. If you have a tiny garden you can still grow an apple but you may have to be imaginative. If you want a small tree you must avoid Bramley as it's a big tree and doesn't like being restricted. You need a small rootstock e.g. MM27 if you are going to try growing a tree in a patio pot or a very small space. Ideally, grow 3 complementary varieties as bush trees on a medium sized rootstock such as MM106, spaced around 8-10 feet apart. If you want to try many varieties in a small space, cordons are the answer, but they are a lot of work and 10 cordons will cost a lot more than 2 bush trees which will give more fruit. Sunset and Margil are 2 good varieties which stay very small for a pot.

I discourage summer planting of container grown trees from the garden centre, you may get away with it if you water often enough, but it's better to plant bare-rooted trees in the winter. Smaller trees take best, although a large tree will be OK if you can get it direct from the grower and plant it the day it is dug up. A small tree suffers less transplantation stress.

Dig a big enough hole, break the soil up with a fork. DON'T put raw compost or dung into the hole, it will create air pockets as it decomposes (use it as surface mulch by all means), if you like a handful of bonemeal and 2 big double handfuls of composted forest bark mixed in with earth will help especially if the soil is dry. Place the tree in the hole and spread the roots out, the planting depth should be no more than 2-3 cm deeper than the tree was being grown in the nursery (you can see the soil mark on the tree if you look) trees planted too deep will die, or un-dwarf themselves if roots from higher up take over from the rootstock.

One of you (remember Lawrence Hill's advice "It takes two to plant a tree, and they should take their time over it because they cannot have anything more important to do with the time saved by haste") holds the tree straight and at the right depth, the other carefully crumbles and treads down the soil to gradually cover the roots. A useful trick is to get the spade or fork under the roots and jiggle/lever the earth up and down a bit. This lets the earth find its level around the roots and avoids air pockets around the roots, which is a bad thing. Don't stamp down hard or you'll break the roots, press the earth down progressively. Let the one holding the tree watch out the tree stays straight.

Should you stake the tree? not necessarily, but it is ideal if you have time. Small bush trees are less likely to need staking, tall standard trees do. Be careful to check and release tree ties or they can cut into and kill the tree as it grows. Old nylons or rubber inner tube are good or you can buy tree ties from the garden centre.

You have now planted your apple tree. Say a prayer, have a glass of cider, or like us do both!

Mulching with any organic material  is good (but don't pile fresh manure against the trunk as it may encourage disease), water in summer if dry (don't spray the tree with a hose, water the base, a good drenching once or twice a week is better than daily hosing.) A handful of growmore or similar inorganic NPK nutrient will do no harm, good farmyard manure or compost mulch is probably better, you can do both but don't overdo it-excessive nitrogen may lead to weak sapply growth. Potassium is the most essential nutrient. Seaweed supplies calcium, magnesium and other trace elements- give your tree a balanced diet. Do not allow grass or weeds to grow up to the base of the tree, they will compete for water and nutrient, also provide a hiding place for voles which nibble the bark and can kill a tree. Either use glyphosate, (a non-toxic biodegradable weedkiller), or polythene mulch to control weeds or your tree won't make much growth. When it is larger, this isn't so much of a problem, but make no mistake grass and weeds will seriously stunt the growth of a young tree.

PEST and DISEASE CONTROL can be a worry. Some say "leave nature alone and it'll probably be all right." and this is true to some extent. Most backyard growers will want to avoid spraying, we don't spray the trees in our back  garden although we do in the commercial orchard. You can minimise pests by careful pruning, grease bands (mind they don't cut into the tree as it grows), and a codling moth phereomone sticky trap. Sprays with garlic water, liquid seaweed, and soapy water have all been tried to control various pests, honestly there has not been enough proper research done to be sure how much use this is but they are all harmless and may do some good. Liquid seaweed will remedy trace element deficiencies and soapy water can help with aphids. The rosy apple aphid in particular is extremely destructive and will curl twigs as well as shrivel apples. I object to it being called the 'rosy apple' aphid, this sounds like a cheerful little fellow. It should be called the devil's piss aphid because of it's effect on trees- it is a devastating crop destroying, tree deforming pest no more to be tolerated than rats in your baby's bedroom.

Avoidance of pesticides will tend to favour a balance of parasites and predators (for example, ladybirds eat aphids, wasps and birds eat caterpillars etc) but this won't always work. Most gardeners will prefer to accept some fruit damage and a sub-optimal crop rather than use chemical sprays, but this is a personal decision. Smaller trees are more easily sprayed, if you are worried about your neighbours, spray at first light when they are still in bed. We hardly ever get a clean apple from our unsprayed back yard trees, the 'balance of nature' seems quite happy with a poor crop, heavy load of apple pests and a maggot in nearly every apple.