How To Plan And Maintain A Beautiful Garden

EXPLORING EDIBLES

FUN WITH FRUIT TREES

To help prevent the roots from developing crown rot fungus damage, don't plant too deeply Place the trees in the ground at the same soil level they were in when you brought them home from the nursery. To provide good air circulation, dwarf trees require at least 2.5 meters of growing space, and standard trees should have about 8 meters in which to stretch out.

Choosing cherries

Most sweet cherry trees require another sweet cherry tree as a pollinator. The pollinator tree doesn't have to be in your garden, but it certainly helps to have one nearby Acid cherry trees, producing the kind of fruit used in preserves and pies, are self-fertile. The varieties I've chosen to feature are all trees producing sweet eating cherries. Some can be found as dwarf trees, such as Compact Stella, which produces more fruiting spurs and a heavy crop for its smaller size. Dwarf cherry trees are self-fertile.

Good cherries for beginners

• Compact Stella — this has all of the basic properties of the most popular sweet cherry It readily forms spurs. The fruits are large, dark , red, and are ready for picking around late July.

• Early Rivers — a variety that was introduced over 100 years ago and is still popular. The fruits are sweet, very large, and nearly black. Cropping is heavy and regular and the cherries are ready for picking around mid-June.

• Governor Wood — this yellow-fleshed cherry has a good flavor. Its sweet, medium-sized fruit have dark red skins, flushed yellow. They ripen in early July

• Merchant — a newer variety of sweet cherry with large fruit and bacterial canker resistance. Ripens early July

• Merton Bigarreau — large, black cherry with dark red firm flesh and an outstanding flavor, a heavy cropper with high vigor, it ripens around mid-July

• Merton Glory — large, yellow cherry ripening in late June. It has firm, white flesh and heart-shaped, rather than round, fruit. Growth is distinctly upright.

• Napoleon Bigarreau — renowned for its firm, very sweet flesh, pale yellow fruits, flushed with dark red. It's a heavy cropper that's ready for picking in early August.

• Van — reliable cropper with sweet, large, dark red fruit and firm, dark red flesh. Not a good choice for a small garden. Is ready for picking in late July.