Last year, I designed and built a couple of vintage-style trellises to add some interest to a large blank wall of siding on the front of our house. (You can find plans and a tutorial HERE.) When I started the project, I wasn’t sure what kind of trellis-loving plant I was going to grow on the trellises, but I moved ahead, confident that the right solution would present itself. I was surprised to find some espalier apple trees at Home Depot, of all places! I didn’t want to buy them on impulse, so I waited a couple of weeks. In that time, I started thinking about those trees to the point of obsession. They’ll sell out, and I’ll miss the chance to get them! I finally stopped at Home Depot one morning after dropping the boys off at school and bought two of the last three trees.
I was initially planning on planting vines on the trellises, so I had to move some plants around, but it was worth it. The apple trees are perfect. Because I was working on eradicating Bishop’s Weed in this garden bed (among others), I decided to plant the apple trees in oversized terracotta pots for the summer. I gave them lots of water and fertilized them with fruit tree fertilizer, and they did well, despite the fact that it was a poor summer for gardening in our area.
Apples grew on the trees last fall, but the squirrels nesting in our large maple trees stole all of them. I would’ve been perturbed, but I figured they needed the food more than I did. I just laughed when I saw a brazen squirrel running off with a bright green apple almost too large to carry.
I didn’t want to leave the trees in the pots over the winter, though. I was concerned that frost and freezing temperatures would damage the roots and the pots. In early November, Jeff helped me transplant the espalier apple trees into the ground, making sure they were nice and snug.
I was still concerned about them over the winter and started checking for buds in early March to see if they made it. They did!
The trees are leafing out and have some blossoms on a few of the branches. They look a bit more impressive in the pots, but I know they’ll be happier in the ground. One upside to potting them and moving them after the first summer is that I was able to see how much the roots have grown. I didn’t do much beyond watering them well and putting on some fruit tree fertilizer as the package instructed, but I still felt proud of my little espalier apple trees.
Even though these are dwarf apple trees, people who know what they are talking about when it comes to apple trees told me these can get quite large. I’m expecting I’ll need to add to the trellises as the branches spread, but I’ll deal with that when it happens.
There is so much gardening stuff I need to work on that it’s a little overwhelming, but seeing my work from last year pay off is rewarding.
In other exciting gardening news, my snowball viburnum bushes have exploded with little green pompoms.
I am going to do a Bishop’s Weed update in about a month when I get a better feel for what worked last year and what didn’t. (You can read about my war on Bishop’s weed/goutweed HERE.) I tried several different approaches in different garden beds so I could report back what was most effective. I’ve had a section of the front garden covered in black plastic for a year, and I’m going to remove that, start planting, using conventional weed prevention (cardboard, mulch, and hand weeding), and see how it goes. I’m on Bishop’s Weed watch, though, and pluck any little sprigs I see to deprive the root system of light and nutrients.
20 Responses
You can prune your apple trees in late winter to keep them to the size you would prefer to keep them more manageable and proportional to your growing site.
Be sure to check your spacing of the trunk from the house, because that little 2″ diameter stem is going to be 10″ in diameter in several more years!
Yeah, I planted it as far away as I could while still being able to tie the branches to the trellis. I hope it just figures it out as it grows!
I bought those solar owls against my husband’s wishes. He called me to the window one day. A squirrel was sitting on one of them. Not a word was spoken.
I was going to ask if the deer showed up to enjoy the apples but it sounds like the squirrels beat them to it.
I have never seen deer in this neighborhood. We had an issue with deer eating things in our MN yard, but not here!
Your trees look great! I wondered Where you bought the terra-cotta pots.
I got them at Home Depot as well! I had to get them from one an hour away, so if you don’t see them at your local store, look around. The great thing is they were surprisingly affordable. I want to say they were around $40/each.
I love this project! I pinned it to my Garden board with hopes of some motivation coming soon!
Prune the trees in spring to the stems only. The better and compact they grow. Plants love torturing; the better they react. My Wisteria Floribunda was ripped off the back of my house last year. I was lucky as the storm took down whole fronts of houses, damaged cars, and ripped out trees. I cut it back to the big stem, and to my surprise, it has hundreds of flowers. You would think that impossible after such damage, but here it is. I believe you are too optimistic thinking Bisschop weed will be gone after a year. I have lived here for 10 years, and the inherited border full of Bisschop weed keeps coming back, even after covering it for years. Terrible stuff.
I don’t expect I’ll ever get rid of Bishop’s Weed entirely, but I hope I can keep it under control. I agree. It’s terrible stuff!
This is wonderful! I have never once thought of planting apple trees but I have been intrigued by espaliered trees that I’ve been seen in botanical gardens in different cities. Your post has got me thinking…
I’m curious: How will you keep the squirrels from squirreling away the fruit in the future?
I’m not really sure! To me, these are more decorative and any apples I get are a bonus.
I love those trees and exactly how you’ve done them. Whoo hoo – so exciting.
Your trees are lovely! You can try large rubber snakes or the plastic solar owls if the squirrels irk you too much. Sometimes they’ll keep less ambitious rodents away. (I’ve had luck keeping them out of the pots on my porch this way.) Both can be found on Amazon.
Can you somehow cut off the back side and bottom of a terra cotta pot and then set the remaining pot “around” the apple tree trunk so it “looks” like it’s potted? (Or am I smoking pot?}
Ha! I think cutting it would be difficult, but even if we could get it cut without breaking it, the apple tree is planted in the ground and the pot is about 24″ tall. It would sit at the wrong place on the tree. Interesting idea, though!
The vision of the squirrel running away with an apple made me laugh. One year we had a small garden that included some corn plants. On day I was stunned to see an entire cornstalk gracefully flying across the yard….on second glance I saw the squirrel underneath it. He was so proud and I was laughing for days.
How wonderful you must feel at training these young apple trees! a little bit of Adams County back with you.
nice thank you