The Fruit Box

In the large estates of the past, with their lovely walled kitchen gardens, acres of glass and abundance of labour, fruit was often grown in pots. Even exotics like oranges and lemons were planted in large planters provided with wheels, so that when summer came the trees could be moved out of the orangery into a sunny position in the open. Pineapples and grapes were grown under glass, and great was the pressure on the poor gardeners to provide early fruit for the table.

Today few of us have the time or means for allthis to-ing and fro-ing of pots and, besides, the shops are full of oranges and lemons, grapes and pineapples, usually throughout the year. You could have an orange or a lemon or a grapefruit tree in a pot on the patio and move it to a cool greenhouse or a conservatory during the winter, but even then the most you would be likely to see would be the occasional flower. Still, the plants will come, from pips (pits) sown in pots of moist compost kept close and with bottom heat if possible. In as little as three years you could have a 5 foot tree with attractive dark green shiny leaves. But fruit, no.

Date stones too can be sown in a plastic bag of moist compost kept in the airing cupboard and inspected regularly. At the first signs of sprouting the stones must be removed and planted and kept close for a bit. Eventually a long, drab spike of a leaf appears, followed by other long, drab spikes. But dates, no.

Avocado stones can be set, sharp end upwards, half in and half out of water until either roots appear from below or the water becomes stagnant and smelly and the whole thing has to be thrown away. If roots do appear, and this happens fairly often, they can be left to develop for a few weeks then planted in compost, the stone still not quite covered. The final appearance will be fairly spectacular and a real tribute to your gardening skills on the patio in the summer and indoors in winter. But fruit, you’ve guessed it, no.

Apples will grow from seeds, not into the Cox or the Ellison of the parent but into sour little crabs more than likely. Nevertheless you could have blossom in a pot on the patio in spring and the satisfaction of having raised a plant from a seed. Grapes, too, will come from seeds, and yet again these will not be luscious Black Hamburgs but grapes that can only be described as sour. You will have a vine, though, and vine leaves for making dolmades.

All sorts of fruit stones and pips (pits) can be tried and many will provide unusual greenery, to be regarded as decoration only. And if all this seems too much of a turn-off let me, before you throw the book down in disgust, move on to figs and strawberries. These are two fruits that are worth growing for their fruit, in pots, containers or, in the case of strawberries, in a box.

Figs, even when raised in the open or in a greenhouse, are best grown with their roots restricted. Outdoors this very often means digging a deep cement-lined pit, but a 12 inch pot could be just as effective in restricting root growth and preventing the development of over-lush top growth. Figs need the protection of a sunny wall or a corner between south and west walls and eventhen the pot will probably need to be wrapped in sacking and straw during the winter. In hard winters the whole tree may need to be protected by a curtain of sacking or heavy net, opened up to let the air in during milder spells. Quite a lot of bother but worth doing, especially if you are besotted about fresh figs, which many people are.

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