Hi there I would like to plant a few standard fruit trees in my garden but I am not sure if the soil which I have here will be sufficient to sustain a standard size fruit tree. I live in Rosswood (north of Terrace in northern BC). I believe we are in the growing zone 4. I am planning to order a few apple trees like Honeycrisp and Battleford, as well as some fruiting berries like Russian Haskapp Honeysuckle; Giant Nanking cherries and Sk. Crimson Passion cherries from T & T Nursery in Manitoba and they guarantee that all their stock is hardy to zones 2 and 3. My soil here is basically gravel and sand mix with the ground sloping to the south (good sun exposure). Will such soil sustain standard fruit trees or should I rather choose dwarf trees? What could I do to improve the soil? We live right next to a hemlock/spruce/pine forest could I use forest mulch, (rotting logs/leaves/needles etc.) to enrich my soil? I am concerned about forest bugs and viruses which I may accidently introduce to my garden. Thank you in advance for your help Anna W
Howdy AnnaW, In my humble opinion, most of the apples carried by T&T are good except Battleford and Norland. Battleford is very hardy (will grow to zone 2) but is very susceptible to Fireblight disease and does not taste as good as others. Norland is good but has an extremely short shelf life. My picks from that company are Honeycrisp, Norkent, Gemini. On the subject of Haskap, I would hold on for awhile. Those presently offered (Russian type) are not as good as another batch (Japanese type) that are been tested at the University of Saskatchewan. I believe these will be released in the near future. You will not regret including Crimson Passion with Carmine Jewel. CJ is a smaller bush that produces much more cherries than CP but CP has bigger and sweeter cherries. Peace Thean
Thanks Thean for your advice on Battleford apple and Haskapp Honeysuckle. I hope I will see the Japanese type of honeysuckle in the next T&T catalogue. Cheers AnnaW
