Why old varieties earn their place

The apple you buy in a supermarket has been bred for shelf life, uniform colour and the ability to survive a lorry journey. The apple you pick in your own small orchard has been bred for flavour, and for the British climate. That is the quiet argument for heritage fruit: hundreds of varieties raised over centuries in our damp, unpredictable weather, and selected because they cropped well here without coddling.

Plant a traditional variety and you gain more than fruit. You gain a tree that flowers at a time that suits our bees, that often shrugs off scab and canker better than modern dessert types, and that will still be standing when your grandchildren are learning to climb it. Old apples, pears, plums and gages also stretch the season wonderfully: something to pick in August, something to store until March.

Match variety to site, soil and space

Before choosing a name, choose a rootstock. This determines the size of the tree and is the single most important decision in a small orchard.

• Apples: M27 (about 1.5m, needs permanent staking), M9 (2–3m), M26 (2.5–3.5m), MM106 (3.5–4.5m), M25 (4.5m and up, for vigorous standards).
• Pears: Quince C for a compact tree, Quince A for roughly 3–4m.
• Plums, gages and damsons: Pixy for about 2.5–3m, St Julien A for 3.5–4m.

Almost all fruit trees need sun for at least half the day; pears and plums are happiest with a little shelter from cold wind, as early blossom is easily damaged. A gentle slope is ideal, since frost drains away downhill. Waterlogged clay will kill stone fruit, so if your soil sits wet in winter, plant on a slight mound or improve drainage first.

Traditional apples worth planting

For a family orchard of four or five trees, mix a cooker, a keeper and two dessert varieties.

• Bramley's Seedling – the great British cooker, huge crops, stores until spring. Triploid, so it needs two other varieties nearby.
• Ashmead's Kernel – small, russeted, intensely flavoured, keeps until February.
• Egremont Russet – nutty, reliable, excellent for a small garden.
• Discovery – bright red, early, crisp; eat it within a fortnight of picking.
• Sunset – a Cox-like apple that crops far more generously than Cox's Orange Pippin.
• Worcester Pearmain – heavy early crops and lovely pink blossom.

Remember pollination groups: varieties flower in overlapping windows, and most need a partner flowering at the same time. Bramley, Ribston Pippin and Blenheim Orange are triploids, so they cannot pollinate anything and need two companions of their own. If in doubt, look for what grows well in your county — local varieties are usually the most trouble-free.

Pears, plums and gages for British gardens

Pears are slower to settle and crop later than apples, but a well-sited tree lives for a century. Conference is the most dependable, partly self-fertile and good on heavy soil. Doyenné du Comice has the finest flavour but wants warmth and a pollinator; Beth and Beurré Hardy are generous croppers. Pick pears slightly under-ripe and ripen them indoors — left on the tree they turn soft and grainy.

For plums, Victoria remains unbeatable for reliability, though it crops so heavily that branches need thinning. Czar is a good early culinary plum, Marjorie's Seedling a late one that stores well. Add a Cambridge Gage for that honeyed green fruit, and a damson such as Merryweather for jams and gin. Most plums are self-fertile, which makes them ideal where space allows only one tree.

Planting and the first three years

Bare-root trees, lifted and sold between November and March, establish far better than potted ones and cost less. Order in autumn for the widest choice of varieties.

• Dig a hole wide rather than deep, and fork the base to break up any pan.
• Set the tree so the old soil mark sits at ground level, then firm it in well.
• Stake for the first four or five years, using a short stake and a soft, loose tie.
• Mulch with well-rotted manure, keeping it clear of the trunk, and keep a metre of bare soil around the tree.
• Fit a spiral guard against rabbits, and water generously through the first two summers.

Remove any fruit in the first year so the tree puts its energy into roots, and in the second restrict it to a light crop. Thereafter, thin apples in July to one fruit every 10–15cm — this improves size, flavour and next year's crop.

Pruning, pests and long harvests

Apples and pears carry most fruit on short spurs, so winter pruning between November and February keeps them open and productive. Plums, gages and damsons should be pruned in June or July, because silver leaf spores are most active in the dormant season. Little else is required beyond removing dead, crossing or diseased wood.

Expect some codling moth grubs and woolly aphid, and tolerate a little scab and canker on heritage varieties — russeted skin is a feature, not a fault. Pick up fallen fruit, and let birds and hedgehogs do much of the pest control for you. Planted well and left largely alone, a small orchard becomes the most generous part of the garden: blossom in April, shade in July, and a store cupboard that carries you through to spring.