Well I've got my "fruit corner" ready for action. I wanted a cherry tree and an apple tree so off we went to choose them yesterday. Not as easy as I thought. I chose a self fertile one - James Grieve - but was told that even though it's self fertile, I'd need another one. So, I asked about cooking apples instead. They, I was told are triploid, and that I'd need 3. I can home Nd checked the RHS site (because I'm such a doubting Thomas) and it said more or less the same thing. It did mention that if there were crab apple trees in the area I would be OK. Round the corner in the next lane there are a lot of crab apple trees, probably about 200 yards away. Would these be close enough to pollinate my tree? I only have room really for 2 trees and I really wanted a cherry and an apple, but I'll forgo the cherry if necessary. So, are any of you apple tree growers and if so, what do you recommend? T.I.A.
If the cherry tree you want is to be a sweet cherry, and you want the fruit, you'll need a Morello to go with it. Unless a neighbour has a cooking-cherry tree near enough to cross-pollinate. Morellos don't need another cherry, though. And Morello-cherry jam is magnificent.
Blossom's not bad, either, but any cherry tree grown for fruit will need to be netted.
If you want fruit and have little space, why not try raspberries ? No need for cross-pollination, few diseases that I know of, no need to net the plants, and raspberry jam is our favourite !