Aldi - 23rd Feb

[Tigger]

Here I am again - I think I should get some sort of discount!

There are two year old fruit trees for sale at Aldi next Thursday for £3.99 each. I've got several, planted last year and the year before, amongst my (mega expensive) fruit trees in my (relatively) new orchard and they're doing fine.

[pigletwillie]

Hi Tigger

wheres your avatar?

Are these trees suitable to be trained as
"step overs" (or at least were the ones you bought last year)?

[Vivien]

What varieties of fruit trees will they have? I have ordered some new ones from Fruit & Veg co (apples and mirabelle plum), but I'm sure I could find room for another one or two! I dug out 3 very large gooseberry bushes and a redcurrant bush yesterday in preparation for the new arrivals. I'm quite glad it's raining today as I'm not sure I'd have the energy to tackle the remaining stumps today. Hope for good weather tomorrow for the final day off - there's a lot of couch grass to be dug out yet.
Happy gardening all.
Vivien

[Chantal]

The website just says "fruit trees" but the photo shows what looks like two sorts of apple, pear and cherry.

[Tigger]

Trees - there are cherries, plum, desert apples, cooking apples and apricots. As they are only 2 years old, they'll be suitable for any sort of training.

Piglet - your pictures are unrecognisable on my system, so still no Avatar! Perseverance. One of my admin says she'll cut and paste them, so look out!!

All - whilst you're at Aldi next week - can I recommend the Condiments with Grinder at 69p, especially the Pepper one. Great value and so useful.

[Jude]

Please pardon my ignorance(again!), but how long would it be before a 2 year old apple tree began to crop?

[Tigger]

You'll have some next year. The trick is to reduce the number of fruit this year so the tree concentrates on growing and then let it keep more next year, and so on.

[vivie veg]

Hi piglet,

This is a list of all the trees I bought last year:

Apples
Jonagold
Bramley
Granny Smith
Cox’s Orange Pippin
Elstar

Victoria Plum
Opal Plum

Conference Pear

I did not buy any Apricots as they are slightly tender and would need a south facing wall or fence so I don't know what variety they are.

I would also say that you would either have to have very long legs or bend the branches down as some of the trees had their first branches at about 18 inches to 2 foot above the previous ground level, but they are still quite supple so should train quite easily.

You will also need to get to Aldi at door opening time on Thursday, as I did last year to ensure getting a good choice, by 10 am my Aldi had sold out!

[pigletwillie]

Thanks Vivianne, I will get there nice and early and bag a dozen to make step overs with, for on the allotment.

Just like these

[lizzie]

What a clever Piglet you are.

Beauty and brains too. Hope Mrs Piglet realises how lucky she is to have bagged you.

[lizzie]

I remember when Aldi did horse riding equipment. They'd sold out in less than an hour.

I went to get one of those greenhouses they had last week but they'd sold out by Thursday afternoon!!!!

[pigletwillie]

Hi Vivianne,

I picked up 8 apples a cherry and two apricots, you are right the apples are a bit high to make into stepovers but I think that they will train nicely into cordons or possibly espalliers.

They are nice trees indeed.

[Chantal]

I've bought 6 apple, 2 pear and 2 apricot. I'm going to be one busy bunny, not least researching exactly what to do to turn them into espaliers!

[pigletwillie]

I have plans for 1 apricot and that is to put it in a tub in the tunnel,

The other will be grown on our sun deck and hopefully trained flat against a very suny wall or again put in a pot,

The apples may end up as cordons or espaliers along one side of the plot.

[Deb P]

Sent my OH down to Aldi yesterday, I was afraid the fruit trees would have been sold out by now, and I was at work so couldn't get there sooner, but he managed to reurn with five apples, a plum, a nectarine and a cherry- so far so good!

On closer inspection, all of the apples look to be cordons, really bent over above the graft to about 50 degrees, and side shoots pruned to 3 buds (the other trees are more like half standards); has anyone else's trees been like this, or have we just had a different batch? I've got some apples already trained as cordons in my back garden, but won't be able to fit another five along the fence, so I've just heeled them into a spare bit of ground until I can decide what to do with them!