Which Trees? How Many? Where From?

sam.hudson1984

Hi there, I'm a home brewer, generally cider. 
the cider I make is mostly turbo cider which is made for supermarket apple juice. 

I'd like to have a bash at making my own from fruit I've grown. No rush of course just keen to do it in the future so want to get planting. 

I have a fence which at the moment looks awful! it's the neighbours so I can't replace it, was thinking of either putting trellis infront of it and growing up that or merely putting stakes in with growing wire run horizontally and grow fruit up that instead. 

Either way, i'd be really keen to know which apple varieties I should look for
what spacing? 
where should I buy them i.e. any shop recommendations? 
mix of pears? or other? (making perry would be great)

additionally, we're possibly going to add berries around the garden as we have space and would like to eat things we grow where possible. 

suggestions appreciated. 

koyukano

I think you're a bit late in the season to be planting out bare root trees as most places will have sold out by now. I got 2 year old trees (M26-semi dwarfing) in Februaru from here and they are all growing well so far:

https://www.dutchbulbs.co.uk/

Cheap and were good quality but likely have to wait for winter now to order bare root apple trees I think. 

JennyJ

If you're going to grow cordons against the fence, they can be planted a lot closer than freestanding trees, see for example https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/cordon-fruit-trees-how-to-get-the-best-harvest-from-a-small-garden/

I've no idea which varieties would make good cider though, or whether cider varieties are suitable for cordons.

Dovefromabove

Lots of info here 
https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/search.aspx?ps=37

BobTheGardener

There is a ton of useful information on this site, even if you choose to buy from elsewhere:

https://www.orangepippintrees.com/articles/gardening/traditional-english-cider-apple-varieties

Given the current situation and time of the year, you will be very limited as to what you can get as they will have to be potted trees.  Spacing depends on rootstock used and training method - you can have 30ft trees or single cordons which can be spaced just a couple of feet apart.

You'll also need to get trees which will pollinate each other (the site above allows you to search for suitable pollination partners.)

For berries etc., the easiest are gooseberries and black/red/whitecurrants which will crop in most soils and conditions, as long as they get a reasonable amount of sun.

Dovefromabove

Snap! @BobTheGardener 😎 

BobTheGardener

@Dovefromabove

wild edges

Home brewers will tell you that you can press any apple for cider and while this is true it's also much harder to process some apples than others. I've got a Tom Putt tree that is a great multi-purpose apple tree but the fruit is large, juicy and soft which makes them a breeze to press. They're also a great cooking apple but as they're so soft they don't store for more than a few weeks before starting to rot. I cook and freeze a load though. I've also got other cooking apple trees which make huge fruit that stores well but seems to make a bland cider if pressed. It's ok to bulk out the amount of juice if you have a glut but make sure to get varieties with a good flavour and sweetness if you want a drinkable juice to mix it with.

josusa47

I've found summer-fruiting raspberries easy to grow.