"Growing Cherry Trees"

The biggest offender of growing cherry trees in your garden is the weather. Cherry trees are very particular about their climate.

-They don't like long hot summers.

-They need a chilling out period during the winter.

-They don't need a late frost!

The other garden enemy of the cherry tree is birdlife. Growing cherry trees will guarantee a huge garden bird population flocking to your garden.But if you want to eat the cherries you will have to guard against the birds. They can strip a tree in less than half an hour. (Wildlife friendly netting is avalable in most garden centres)

Decide on the site for your tree/s some months in advance of planting.Soil Ph should be between 6.2 and 6.8. Check and adjust accordingly.Land must be well-drained. Cherry trees can't tolerate wet feet. Check the site throughout a rainy spell:Dig a hole 2 or 3 feet deep. If the rainwater stays in the bottom of the hole for any length of time, the land isn't well-drained enough for growing cherry trees.

Dig over the soil, remove all weeds and dig in well-rotted animal manure if available.

Choosing Cherries!

From the small wild cherry thousands of years ago, man's enjoyment of cherries has developed and we now expect to eat sweet varieties whenever in season.

We have wild cherry trees popping up everywhere in our garden. Thanks to the birds spitting out the pips on their own doorstep! Tut!

Because cherries are sooo particular, many varieties have been developed to cope with different temperatures and viruses.

When you buy your cherry trees check instructions for:

Pollination requirements: as a rule sour cherries - the wilder varieties - are self-pollinating. Sweet cherries generally need cross-pollination and should be planted near a compatible variety.

Regional Compatibilty Double check the variety is suitable for your region. Growing cherry trees in extreme temperatures will require a very special variety.

Planting Instructions Growing cherry trees in your garden requires a little fore-thought. They are trees after all! There are a few dwarf varieties on the market and these may have specific planting instructions.

Here are a few different varieties available online, there are many more!

'Stella'

This link will take you to their homepage. Crocus.co.uk Choose 'plants' from the menu, then under 'plants by type' choose 'fruit'. There are loads of amazing mouthwatering fruits to drool over including this glorious cherry variety.

Growing cherry trees at Nature Hills 'Montmorency' available for U.S. deliveries

Growing cherry trees at Nature Hills'Stella' available for U.S. deliveries

Nature Hills have many different cherry varieties. Well worth a browse!

Planting

As mentioned above, instructions should be double checked before you plant your cherry tree.

Here is a rough guide to growing chery trees in your garden;

Dig a large hole in your prepared soil, 18-24 inches (45-60cms) depending on the age and variety of tree.

Tease out the roots of your tree, unless instructions state otherwise.

Place the root ball at the bottom of your hole and fill in with soil. Press down firmly. When all soil has been packed back in the hole, use your heel to firm the tree in place.

If required, place a stake in the ground next to the tree.

Water well.

Growing cherry trees - After Care

It's easy to forget to water trees in the garden. New trees, especially fruiting trees, need lots of water until they are established. During hot summer periods your cherry trees will still require water to 'swell' the cherries.

Netting is considered dangerous to birdlife and it's true, birds do get caught in nets sometimes.

One way round this is to build a cage type affair to put over your trees when they start fruiting.

Build a square wooden frame that will sit over your tree and stretch very fine netting round all four sides and over the top. The very fine netting will stop the birds getting caught up, and you can enjoy a healthy crop of cherries. (There are wildlife friendly nets available at most garden centres and suppliers.)

This system works well when growing cherry trees on a small scale. If your trees are big or you have many of them, other methods such as bird scarers may be more appropriate.

Growing cherry trees - The Harvest!

Pick the fruit as it becomes ripe. Eat fresh off the tree or bake cherry tarts and pies.

Fresh cherries will store well for a number of days in a cool place.

Growing cherry trees successfully does need a little time and energy - but worth every delicious mouthful!

Happy Gardening!

Grow Your Own Winter Food: A good diet incorporating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables is a must if you want to stay fit and healthy and keep the bugs at bay during the cold winter months.

Growing your own winter food is just one way of ensuring you get the freshest, tastiest produce packed with goodness straight from the garden to the kitchen table. This easy-to-follow self-sufficiency book shows you how to grow your own fruit and vegetables for winter use and includes facts on each fruit, vegetable or herb as well as nutritional value, recipe ideas and storage suggestions.

Before the days of computer games and electronic pets, children used to have fun without rummaging about in the fridge every five minutes. Enjoy a few rainy-day games and crafts of yesteryear with today’s kids. They’ll love it and so will you! Granny's Book Of Good Old Fashioned Common Sense

"Have you grown cherry trees from pips?"

Have you grown cherry trees from pips? I've tried and tried but never had any luck. The birds seem to make a good job of it naturally but a pip in a pot never seems to work - Well, not for me anyway... Have you got a cherry tree you started from a pip? I'd love to know how you did it! Share your cherry tree success with gardeners all over the world....

"More Cherry Tree Stories"

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