The Espalier Method of Growing Fruit Trees

19 March 2013, by gj

Gardeners have been pushing the limits of their growing area for many’s a year. Espalier refers to growing, pruning and training trees, most often against a support, in an effort to get more fruit in less space.

Here’s a photo we took at the Kylemore Abbey in Ireland in 2007. You can see the trees growing all along the brick walls. Not only does this save space, the bricks hold the days heat longer, improving the growing conditions in this temperate climate.

More fresh fruit in less space.

Nowadays trees are grown this way not only to save space and get a better harvest, it has become an aesthetic method as well.

Can you picture narrow rows of peach trees or pears in spring bloom?

Hopefully we can show you pics over the next couple of years. With a handful of new trees headed this way, we are going to try this method of pruning and staking. If all goes well we will have two rows of fruit trees where otherwise we would have had only one.

More on this as the plan ‘grows’.
Learn more about this method here.

Categories: gardening, techniques

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