Kitchen Garden Forum

Does anyone have any experience of growing these? I have admired them enormousyly whenever visiting any large kitchen gardens, but I don't know what variety is best, how long they take, how best to train them, etc...
Any help would be much appreciated. It's still raining down here in Bournemouth!
Vivien

Hi vivien
I grow minarette apples rather than step overs, but you are right, they look fantastic and I aspire to be able to buy some one day. Try www.kenmuir.co.uk for advice on these things. It is a retail site but has and excellent and very comprehensive help and advice section. Theres not much Mr Muir doesnt know about growing apples

Step-over?

Looks like a truncated Espalier to me.

Aaaahhh, the great god marketing, presumambly soemone has that name registered and it sounds different, so lets charge more for a two year old single storey Espalier.

Apologies for the cynicism.

They are truncated easpaliers, grown on dwarfing rootstock, but I don't think anyone's copyrighted the name. They are called stepovers just because you can, as fans are called so because they are trained in the shape of a fan.

Step overs do look great. I've seen them used as edging around a lawn at a garden we visited a few years ago (can't remember which one. In Cornwall somewhere) It makes good use of all the available soil that you have.

Why not try it on a small area and see how you go. you could then always extend if you were happy with the results.

I would recommend the Ken Muir site as well. They are just as happy to gove advice as they are to sell you plants. It seems to me that it's just a matter of training the plants over a wire, like the type used for raspberries and then keeping it pruned to keep the shape.