Fruit file

The fruit file

Sourced growing facts and a little history, fruit by fruit. Every fact links to its source, checked 31 Oct 2026. We stick to growing and history.

Apples

The RHS calls apples probably the easiest and most popular tree fruit to grow, giving harvests for decades. [source]
More than 60 apple varieties hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit, which shows they did well in trials. [source]
To grow an apple tree in a pot, the RHS says to choose one on a dwarfing M9 or M26 rootstock. [source]
The cultivated apple is thought to come from a wild apple, Malus sieversii, in the Tien Shan mountains of Central Asia, between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago. It reached Western Europe along the Silk Road. [source]
The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale Farm, near Faversham in Kent, holds around 3,500 named apple, pear, plum, cherry, vine and cob nut cultivars. [source]

Quinces aren’t edible raw, but they cook down into quince jelly, puddings and a quince paste called membrillo. [source]
Quinces are rarely sold in supermarkets, which is a good reason to grow your own. [source]
Quince trees usually start cropping when they are five or six years old. [source]
Quince trees are self-fertile, so one tree on its own can give a good crop. [source]

There are summer-fruiting, perpetual and alpine strawberries. Grow several types and you can pick from early summer through to autumn. [source]
Many strawberry plants send out new plantlets, called runners, so you can easily make more plants every year. [source]
Strawberries grow well in containers, and even in hanging baskets. [source]
The RHS says to replant a strawberry bed every three or four years, to stop disease building up. [source]
The “seeds” on a strawberry are its true fruits, called achenes. The red flesh is an enlarged part of the flower, the receptacle. [source]

You can grow figs in the UK in the right spot. The RHS says they crop best trained as a fan against a sunny wall. [source]
Fig roots are often boxed in with paving slabs set on edge. Limiting the roots cuts leafy growth and helps the tree put its energy into fruit. [source]
The fig was one of the earliest fruit trees to be cultivated. [source]
A fig is really a hollow, fleshy receptacle with lots of tiny flowers inside. [source]

Citrus plants won’t reliably survive winters outdoors, even in the warmest parts of the UK, so they are grown in pots and moved into a greenhouse, conservatory or glazed porch for winter. [source]
Some lemons are fine down to 5°C, but calamondin oranges need at least 13°C. [source]
Citrus fruits ripen slowly, taking up to a year. [source]
Citrus plants that haven’t been grafted may take up to ten years to fruit. [source]
Citrus plants are self-fertile, so you only need one plant to get fruit. [source]

Blueberries must be grown in acid (ericaceous) soil. If your soil isn’t acid, grow them in large pots of peat-free ericaceous compost. [source]
Blueberry bushes have small white bell-like flowers in spring that are great for pollinators. [source]
Most blueberries grown for fruit drop their leaves in autumn, after turning shades of orange, red and purple. [source]

Cherry trees give either sweet cherries for eating fresh or acid cherries for cooking. [source]
Sweet cherries want a sunny spot, but acid cherries will also crop well in partial shade. [source]
Many modern cherry varieties are self-fertile, so you only need one tree. [source]
Duke cherries are crosses of sweet and sour cherries. [source]

Peaches probably came from China and spread to the Mediterranean. [source]
Nectarines are peaches with smooth skins. [source]
Walled kitchen gardens of stately homes often had glass “peach houses”, with peach trees fan-trained against the back wall, long before refrigerated transport. [source]
Peaches flower early in spring, when few pollinating insects are about, so the RHS suggests pollinating them by hand. [source]

Blackcurrants are easy to grow. Once settled, they need little more than a quick prune each winter. [source]
Blackcurrant bushes usually grow to about 1.5m tall and wide, with 6–10 upright stems coming from the base. [source]
Modern blackcurrant varieties have been bred to flower later, so they suit cold places where frost at flowering time can spoil the crop. [source]

Damsons are close relatives of plums, and gages are a particular type of plum. [source]
Plums are among the earliest fruit to flower, and although the trees are hardy, frost can easily kill the blossom. [source]
Some plums, with firm flesh and lots of sugar, can be dried to make prunes. [source]

Two old favourites you’ll hardly ever see in a shop, plus the quince above.

Medlars were popular in medieval times but are rarely grown now. [source]
Medlars are picked in autumn while still hard and bitter, then stored for several weeks to “blet” until they are dark brown, soft and sweet. [source]

Ripe black mulberries look like large blackberries, and they are rarely found in shops. [source]
A black mulberry tree can take around eight years to start fruiting. [source]
Mulberries are hardy, slow-growing trees that can live for hundreds of years. [source]

Growing advice is the RHS’s general guidance for the UK. Planting and picking times shift with your area and the weather.

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For the garden, the patio or the allotment: Apple trees · Strawberry plants · Strawberry planters · Ericaceous compost for blueberries · Fruit cages · Secateurs · Fruit pruning books · Fruit pickers. These are Amazon UK search links, not endorsements of particular products. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.