You Can Grow an Espalier Fruit Tree
Do you love fresh, organic, local fruit, but lack the yard space, or even live in an urban environment with little room for growing? You might want to consider growing an espalier fruit tree. No, this isn’t some new exotic type of fruit, rather it is a method for growing trees in a hedge-like manner that enables people with even the smallest yards to be able to grow fruit trees.
The definition of espalier is “a trellis or framework on which the trunk and branches of fruit trees or shrubs are trained to grow in one plane”.
Essentially what it means is progressively pruning your tree to grow in a flat plane along a fence, side of a building, or existing hedge. This approach will take several years of continuous pruning as the tree grows, as well as yearly maintenance when you perform your winter pruning and late summer thinning, but will leave you with a space efficient tree that should produce an abundance of fresh fruit.
Imagine the possibilities!
A few years ago, when we started getting our garden together my wife wanted to have a trellis for some roses to climb on. We looked at various options. There are pre-built or kit trellises, but those are expensive. We could build one with wood, but it would need to be treated with preservatives (nasty chemicals) and would need maintenance. We ended up deciding to build one using simple copper pipe.
