With more and more people now feeling inclined to step it up when it comes to growing their own food, fruit trees have come into the spotlight. Plant them once and they’ll produce bigger and better harvests each year, making them a no-brainer for any edible garden.
That said, if you only have a small amount of space to work with, you may find yourself limited in terms of the fruits that you can grow. Fortunately, there are several fruit trees that do extremely well when grown in pots, making them suitable for gardens of any size. Here are four to get started with:
The Mango Tree
Mango trees can grow to over 100 feet in height, making many assume that they’re not suitable for container growing. This is where you would be wrong – growing a mango tree in a pot restricts its size, but not in a bad way. It gives you better control over the tree, while ensuring that any fruits are within easy reach.
Yes, fruit production will be less compared to a mango tree in the ground, but it also means less wastage for those who don’t want to be picking hundreds of mangoes each year.
The Olive Tree
Being a slow-grower, olive trees are well-suited to pots. You won’t need to repot your tree too often, and, even when you do, the size of your new pot won’t need to be too much bigger.
Since the olive tree is drought-tolerant, it will cope just fine if the soil in its pot occasionally dries out. That said, you’ll need to consistently water and feed your tree if you’re hoping for a big olive harvest come autumn.
The Avocado Tree
Although a popular superfood, avocados have the reputation of being very environmentally unfriendly to grow. One way to get around the environmental impact that commercially grown avocados have is to grow your own at home. You don’t need much space to do this either, since this is a tree that thrives in a pot.
In fact, rather than constantly repotting your avocado tree every few years, you can keep that tree in the same GRC pot for all of its life. Granted, you’ll need to replace the top 5cm of soil with fresh compost each year, but not having to repot the tree will save you so much time!
The Finger Lime Tree
Citrus trees are commonly grown in pots all over the world, simply because most people don’t live in a climate that’s suitable for growing citrus outside year-round. Growing one in a pot allows you to move your tree around depending on the weather, enabling you to give it the perfect temperature throughout the year.
There’s nothing wrong with traditional oranges and lemons, but, if you want something a little different, give the Finger Lime Tree a try. These citrus fruits contain tiny, caviar-like pearls that burst open in the mouth to release their tangy flavour. They’re a culinary delicacy, making this tree well worth having in your garden.
Summary
Fruit trees are so rewarding to grow, and most of them are very low-maintenance too. Even better, most fruit trees will do just fine when grown in a pot, allowing you to add diversity to even the smallest of outdoor spaces.