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Here are just a few of the fruit trees and fruit canes you will find at Ashtead Park Garden Centre depending on the season and availability:

You too can grow fruit – even if you don't have a garden. Almost all fruit trees and bushes can be grown in&nbsp;containers, and more exotic fruits, like peaches and nectarines, do better in a pot as they can be protected&nbsp;more easily. Here are our top tips for growing fruit in pots:
Which container? Choose terracotta or plastic planters about 7cm larger than the plant's rootball from the&nbsp;range available in our garden centre. Re-pot into larger containers each year.
Which compost? Soil-based composts such as John Innes no 3 are available in our garden centre and are&nbsp;ideal for fruit as they hold on to nutrients for longer. Don't use garden soil as it doesn't drain well enough.
Which stake? Most container-grown trees need staking. Sturdy tree stakes and bamboo canes 8cm in&nbsp;diameter are available in our garden centre: sink to the bottom of the pot and tie in loosely.
Which feed? We have specialist feeds for potted fruit, such as citrus feed for lemon trees, in our garden&nbsp;centre, and also slow-release fertilisers such as Osmocote and pelleted chicken manure for other fruit trees.
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about growing fruit in containers.

Container fruit

Fruit trees are usually grafted – that is, the top, fruiting part of the tree is attached to roots which control the&nbsp;size and other factors like disease resistance. These are known as rootstocks, and it's important to choose&nbsp;a tree with the right rootstock for what you want to do. Here's a quick guide to those you'll find at our %locations%&nbsp;garden&nbsp;centre:
Apples: 
M27: very dwarfing, growing to 1.8m: the best choice for decorative 'stepover' apples.
M9: dwarfing, to about 2m: the best choice for cordons.
M26: general-purpose dwarf rootstock, to about 3m: great for minarettes, cordons and espaliers.
MM106: grows up to 5m and ideal for full-sized trees.
Pears: 
Quince C is usually the only rootstock for pears as it's suitable for almost anything. Grows to about 5m.
Plums and damsons: 
Pixy: dwarf roostock suitable for fans and cordons, with a height of 3m
St Julien 'A': the most useful for garden trees, and more vigorous than Pixy at about 5m
Cherries: 
Gisela 5 and Tabel: Dwarfing, growing to about 2m, and ideal for fans
Colt: produces a full-sized bush tree to about 5m tall
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about choosing the right rootstock&nbsp;for your fruit trees.

Rootstocks made simple

Squeezing fruit trees into a small garden isn't as impossible as it seems. Train fruit against fences and you'll&nbsp;not only fit in one tree – you can choose several from the mouthwatering range in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre. Here&nbsp;are some great ideas for fitting fruit into the smallest of gardens:
Minarettes: Vertical upright stems laden with fruit on short spurs. Great for growing in containers or for pretty&nbsp;vertical accents in your garden. Use for: apples, pears, plums and cherries.
Cordons: Also single-stemmed, but trained at 45º to encourage more fruit. Spaced 75cm apart you'll fit four&nbsp;varieties into just 3m. Use for: apples, pears, redcurrants, gooseberries
Espaliers: vertical stems with tiers of horizontal branches trained out at 30cm intervals along wires. A&nbsp;beautiful way to cover walls and fences. Use for: apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches
Fans: branches are splayed out from two arms at the base in an even fan across the wall. Use for: plums,&nbsp;cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots
Stepovers: like cordons but bent at right angles and trained horizontally to a wire at 45cm above the ground.&nbsp;They make wonderful edging. Use for: apples
Please ask the staff in our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;for more information and advice about growing fruit trees in small&nbsp;spaces.

Fruit trees for small spaces

Apples: Apples are easy to grow and there are many different varieties to be found. They do take a few years to crop but will continue to do so year after year.

Figs: Figs are large shrubs or small trees which do well in the garden, in a container, greenhouse or trained against a wall.

Berries: Raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, loganberries are all delicious freshly picked! Raspberries are best grown from bare-root plants in the autumn - there are many different varieties.&nbsp; On the whole they are harvested in early to late summer whilst others are grown for their autumn berries.

Tomatoes:

Peppers:

Chilli plants: Chilli plants are very varied in flavour from mild to very hot, they can be grown in the ground but are perfect for pots. Look out for our Chilli Festival in June!

Easy fruit options for your garden:

Healthy and supremely tasty, fresh-picked fruit from the garden is one of the real luxuries of growing your&nbsp;own. A British climate is perfect for growing so many different types from tart rhubarb in early spring to sweet&nbsp;summer strawberries and crunchy autumn apples.
We stock a huge fruit range in our garden centre in %locations%: look out for container-grown bushes and trees to buy all&nbsp;year round, or in winter bare-root plants which establish in double-quick time.
Fruit trees to enjoy in your garden include traditional apples, pears and plums – we stock many traditional&nbsp;heritage varieties with outstanding flavour and fascinating histories. Look out for unusual fruits, too, like&nbsp;mulberries, quinces and medlars in our garden centre.
Berries and currants are superb value, producing years of plentiful harvests from just a few plants.&nbsp;Gooseberries are first, fruiting from May, while currants (black, white and red) take over in summer.
Bare-root stock gives you a great choice of varieties. In our garden centre from November onwards, you'll&nbsp;find bundles of raspberry canes, fruit trees and strawberry crowns sold this way to plant as soon as you get&nbsp;them home.
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about growing fruit.

When space is really limited, gardening needs ingenuity. With a few clever tricks and some innovative gadgets, though, you can turn even a balcony into a productive garden overflowing with fruit, vegetables and herbs.
You'll find plenty of useful gear to help you build your balcony garden in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre, from planters to dwarf apple trees specially bred to grow in restricted spaces. Here are our top tips for balcony success.
<ul>
<li>Use large planters wherever possible, so they act more like raised beds than containers and give your veg a longer root run. Generally, the larger the container you give your veg, the happier they'll be: if your balcony is high-rise, though, get a structural engineer in first to check it can take the weight of containers full of damp compost and plants. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Use successional sowing to keep your pots working hard all year. As soon as you harvest a crop, re-sow the container or replant with vegetable plug plants for a really quick replacement. That way you'll always have new crops growing up as you eat your way through the ones you sowed earlier. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Grow container veg varieties which are better suited to growing with their roots restricted. Good choices are Courgette 'Patio Star', Aubergine 'Ophelia', Broad Bean 'The Sutton' and Pea 'Bingo' – all grow small but have bumper crops for their size. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Don't forget the fruit as there are plenty of long-cropping varieties which grow quite happily in containers including gooseberries, blueberries and blackcurrants. Strawberries do better in pots, as they're off the ground away from slugs; and you can even grow 'Minarette' apple and pear trees, trained on a single stem. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Take care over feeding and watering as your plants depend entirely on you for their every need. Automatic watering systems share the load: you'll find timers, hoses and dripper systems in our garden centre. Add a weekly liquid feed when you water: liquid seaweed acts as a general-purpose tonic, but when plants are flowering a high-potash tomato feed encourages plenty of fruit.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;for more information and advice about growing fruit and vegetables on a balcony.

Growing fruit and veg on balconies

Hanging baskets make a bright splash of colour against a wall or fence, filled with brilliant scarlet pelargoniums or tumbling begonias. But don't just stick to bedding plants this year: try planting baskets which are productive as well as beautiful.
Edible hanging baskets are a great way to squeeze a little more produce out of your garden. Several types of fruit and veg do better raised off the ground: strawberries, for example, are kept well away from slugs, so you get to pick your crop unmunched and perfect.
Mix several different types of edible in the same basket to create a vibrant display of contrasting foliage and fruits: you can even create an 'instant dish' by planting complementary veg together, like tomato and basil for all the ingredients you need to make a flavoursome Mediterranean sauce.
You'll find everything you need to create an edible hanging basket in our garden centre in %locations%, from the baskets themselves to liners, compost, water-retaining gel to cut down on the watering workload, and of course plants and seeds. Here are some great varieties to try growing up in the air this year:
<ul>
<li>Tumbling tomatoes cascade fetchingly in jewels of red and yellow. Choose a container variety like 'Gartenperle' or 'Hundreds and Thousands'. Keep well-watered and feed with liquid fertiliser once a week.</li>
<li>
Chillies are Mexican firecrackers which love a hot, dry spot and don't mind restricted roots. Try multicoloured 'Numex Twilight' or tumbling 'Basket of Fire'.
</li>
<li>Peas: mangetout peas ('Shiraz' is a purple-podded variety) and dwarf types like 'Bingo' or 'Little Marvel' do exceptionally well in hanging baskets and don't need any support. Choose a larger basket and water well.</li>
<li>
Strawberries: fill a hanging basket with two or three strawberry plants and they'll froth joyously over the edge. Prolific varieties include 'Cambridge Favourite' or intensely-flavoured alpine 'Mara des Bois'.
</li>
<li>Herbs: Mediterranean herbs love conditions in hanging baskets. Hang your basket right by the back door for easy picking. Herbs that do well in hanging baskets include thyme, marjoram, basil and summer savory.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about creating edible hanging baskets.

Edible hanging baskets

Of all the fruit you can grow in the garden, a grapevine is among the most productive and beautiful. All you need is a sunny wall, fence or pergola for it to scramble up and it'll cheerfully cover the whole thing with big elegant leaves turning brilliant colours in autumn, and of course fat clusters of fruit dripping with sweetness.
There are dozens of varieties of grapevine and we've got a great selection in our %locations% garden centre. For sweet fruit for the table, go for a dessert variety: 'Brandt' has small but very sweet dark-skinned grapes (and spectacular autumn colour) while 'Phoenix' is a reliable modern variety good for both eating and winemaking.
If it's a vineyard you're after, there's an even wider choice. 'Seyval' makes a light, fruity wine; while 'Pinot Noir' ripens well in a good summer for a classic deep red claret.
Here are our top tips for growing successful grapevines:
<ul>
<li>Choose a sunny site, ideally a south- or southwest facing wall and sheltered from the wind. Vines do best in free-draining soil like sand or chalk: if you're gardening on clay dig in a barrowload of grit before planting.</li>
<li>
Add well-rotted farmyard manure (found in our garden centre) to improve soil before planting, as grapevines are in the ground a long time.
</li>
<li>Add a handful of slow-release fertiliser like pelleted chicken manure or bonemeal to keep your plant happy all season.</li>
<li>
Plant when vines are dormant – from late autumn till early spring, as long as the ground isn't waterlogged or frozen.
</li>
<li>Put up a sturdy training system before you plant: stretch wires 30cm apart up a fence, or attach trellis. You'll find all you need in our garden centre.</li>
<li>
Water thoroughly in dry weather: if grapevines get parched at the roots they're more likely to suffer from mildew, ruining your crop.
</li>
<li>Prune each winter once the vine has dropped all its leaves and is completely dormant to remove some of the year's vigorous growth and keep the plant productive and healthy.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;for more information and advice about growing grapevines.

Growing grapevines

'One generation plants the tree, another gets the shade' – so goes the Chinese proverb. The fruit trees you plant today will grow for many decades into the future, though luckily you don't have to wait till your kids take over to enjoy the fruit.
Once you've selected your tree – traditional apples and pears, or perhaps cherries, apricots or a fig, all available from our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre – give it the best possible start to its long life by getting the planting right. Here's how:
<ul>
<li>Choose the site carefully: some fruit trees, such as cherries, will fruit in partial shade but most need a sunny spot that's reasonably sheltered. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Dig your hole: the size is important so your tree grows at the right height in the soil. Make your hole a third wider than the rootball, and the same depth as the container the tree is growing in (if your tree is bare-root, look for the 'soil mark' just where the roots meet the stem). 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Use a garden fork to lightly loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole to let the roots get through easily. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Bang a sturdy tree stake, available in our garden centre, into the bottom of the hole at 45° to vertical, pointing into the prevailing wind. It should cross the trunk about halfway up. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Now place the tree in the hole next to the stake, spreading out the roots evenly if it's bare-root. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Back-fill the hole with soil, treading it in gently as you go so the tree is well anchored in the soil. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Water thoroughly, so the moisture sinks right down into the root zone, and top with a nice deep mulch of well-rotted farmyard manure, pulled back from the trunk so it doesn't encourage rotting. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Finish by tying the tree to the stake with a specialist rubber tree tie. You'll find these in our garden centre: they work in a figure-eight between tree and stake to prevent rubbing and allow the tree trunk to expand.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;for more information and advice about planting fruit trees.

Planting a fruit tree

Flowers and foliage are often the first thing gardeners think about when choosing plants for the garden, but many plants have another explosion of colour that's every bit as spectacular as blossom or elegant leaves. Berries can smother a tree or shrub in a good year, often in late autumn and early winter when there's not much in the way of other colour around.
Visit our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;in autumn and you'll find dozens of plants in full berry, and it's quite a sight. Here are our top picks for a spectacular autumn display.
<ul>
<li>Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is a really easy to grow shrub that just keeps on giving. Covered in pale straw-coloured flowers in spring, it follows with brilliant red berries and orange foliage in autumn. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Cotoneaster come in all shapes and sizes, from horizontalis, with herringbone branches which can be trained against a wall, to serotinus, an arching shrub to 1.5m tall. All are smothered in berries in autumn. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Firethorn (Pyracantha) comes with red, orange or yellow berries: plant all three for a firework display of densely-clustered berries in autumn, and train against a wall for a sculptural garden feature. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Holly (Ilex aquifolium) only has berries if you plant a male and a female plant: if you haven't room, there's a self-fertile variety called 'JC Van Tol'. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Rowans (Sorbus) are small trees whose berries are much loved by birds. Sorbus cashmiriana has pearly white berries, while 'Joseph Rock' fruits buttery yellow. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Beauty berry (Callicarpa bodinieri) has perhaps the most extraordinary autumn berries of them all: in an iridescent, jewel-like violet purple there's nothing else quite like them in the plant world. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Elder (Sambucus nigra) follows its frothy dinner-plate flowerheads with striking sprays of black berries: pick them as soon as they're ripe and you can make elderberry wine. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Species roses are the ones which produce ornamental hips in autumn to follow a riot of summer flowers. The hips of Rosa moyesii are sealing-wax red and waisted, like flagons of wine, while R. spinosissima has fat, spherical black hips.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about plants with good autumn berries.

Autumn berries

No garden should be without a tree: they add height, structure and a feeling of permanence and timelessness. But if you have a small garden in %locations%, it's hard to imagine shoehorning in a tree as well.
Well: that depends on what kind of tree it is. Of course if you plant large trees in small gardens they swamp the space and make it difficult to grow anything else – but there are dozens of smaller trees which never get much more than 7m (25ft) high and behave themselves perfectly.
You'll find a superb selection of smaller trees in our garden centre: to help you choose, here are our top ten favourites.
<ul>
<li>Japanese maples are all fabulous choices. Acer griseum has curling cinnamon bark, A.&nbsp; palmatum var. dissectum has filigree leaves that turn scarlet in autumn, and low-growing A. shirasawanum 'Aureum' has broad, graceful leaves in brilliant yellow. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Silver birch (Betula utilis var jacquemontii) has pure white bark that shines out in a winter border: grow a multistemmed specimen for maximum impact. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Crabapple (Malus x robusta) has the bonus of a heavy crop of edible fruit in autumn for making delicious crabapple jelly. 'Sentinel' is brilliant red, while M. x zumi 'Golden Hornet' has yellow fruit. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) is the one to choose if you don't have enough room for the big magnolias: it stays to a compact 1.5m tall and still has big, pure white whirligig flowers in spring. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) gets its name from the fat red fruits it produces in autumn. It's great value, with glossy evergreen foliage and small bell-like white or pink flowers in spring. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) is an easy-to-grow small tree about 5m (16ft) tall. It looks good most of the year, with white blossom in spring, good autumn colour and vibrant red berries. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Snowy mespilus (Amelanchier lamarckii) is another hard-working tree, with delicate white blossoms arriving at the same time as the coppery young foliage in spring, followed by spectacular autumn colour.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our garden centre for more information and advice about choosing trees for small gardens.

Fruit Trees and Fruit Canes at Ashtead Park

A selection of Fruit Trees and Fruit Canes at Ashtead Park

Selected Shrubs

Fruit Trees and Fruit Canes at Ashtead Park

A selection of Fruit Trees and Fruit Canes at Ashtead Park

Apple Trees

Raspberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Gooseberries

Yellow Raspberries

Redcurrants

Rhubarb

Vines