Would fruit trees survive and fruit if planted in a large plastic builders bucket or galvanised bin?
Large earthenware containers are outside my budget. As long as you choose a fruit tree that has been grafted on to a dwarfing rootstock, you’re laughing. All should be labelled with their rootstocks, so on apples look for M27 or M9, on plums for Pixy, on cherries Gisela 5 and on pears Quince C. Builders’ buckets and metal bins are plenty big enough for any of these little beauties to grow, fruit and thrive in. Two things to check, though: that the container will afford sufficient drainage and that the metal bin won’t overheat. You need to make really decent-sized holes in the base and to cover them with hunks of broken pots. A layer of gravel over this will also help stop the holes from becoming blocked with compost. Line the metal bin with cardboard or bubblewrap before planting, too, to prevent the compost getting too hot in summer. We have a reproduction red-and black-tiled Victorian path that slopes away from our front door. The tiles were laid 10 years ago and have a smooth surfac
