coastal gardening

I went on the Point Loma Garden Tour back in April and went to one garden that opened my eyes about growing apples. They had a great vegetable and fruit garden in a pretty small space, including apples that had been trained to espalier.

I had a great conversation with a few weeks back with Dan Lammers at the Coronado Farmer’s Market (he grows rare fruit and is very knowledgable about a lot of things) and he said to look for a couple different kinds of apples that will grow well on the coast, meanly mostly that I need to pick plants that need a low chill factor since we don’t get very cold on the coast. He suggested Anna’s (originate from Israel) and Dorsett (found growing in the Bahamas originallly) apples because they cross pollinate well. It’s been on my mind ever since and I caved in yesterday when I was shopping at Andersen’s Nursery and bought two.

I found a small Anna’s and a Fuji apple at Andersen’s that I bought. The Fuji is a good self-pollinator and will grow well on the coast. There weren’t any more Dorsett’s in stock but I was told they will come in bare-root form in January so I’ll put in an order to get one of those later. I will have a well-rounded assortment to choose from once they start bearing fruit. I had a good conversation with Kurt who has worked there for a long time and learned a lot about summer trimming for shape. He showed me one of the grafted trees that had Anna’s, Dorsett’s and Fuji’s on one tree. Wow! So, as usual, I went over for about $20.00 worth of stuff and spent about $150.00. I can’t help it!

Tagged as: coastal gardening, espalier, Fruit trees

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