Gardener's World with Paraic Horkan NDH

Fruit information weekend.

This coming weekend marks the start of the fruit-planting season at Horkans Garden Centre Castlebar.

Soil conditions have been very wet over the past number of months making it very difficult to plant many of the soft and top fruit varieties but soil conditions have improved and the time is right for planting young fruit trees.

Special Fruit weekend.

This weekend is fruit planting weekend at Horkans Garden Centre, we have organised a beautiful range of fruit bearing plants ideal for our growing conditions.

Dr Pat mc Donnell a fruit specialist will join the team in Horkans to give advise on suitable fruit trees for our soil type and the after care to bring out the best in your trees.

Dr mc Donnell, who has a life time experience in growing fruit trees will be on hand this Saturday and Sunday to give you the best advise on selecting suitable fruiting trees for your garden.

Everyone is welcome to this very special fruit weekend at Horkans.

Soft Fruit.

A wide range of soft fruit plants are now available for planting including gooseberries, rhubarb, black and white currents, loganberries, tayberries, sweet blackberries and strawberries. Rhubarb remains one of the most important soft fruits in any garden, it forms a strong clump, which produces reliable pickings from march to July.
The very best variety of red sticked rhubarb has to be ‘timberely early’ super red sticks are produced from early spring providing you with sweet rhubarb from March to mid July.

Horkys tip: Add organic Westland compost into the planting hole for rhubarb.

Logan and Tay berries have become very popular for jam and dessert purposes. Tay berries produce a high quantity of delicious sweet fruit ideal for adding to mixed fruit desserts.
Sweet strawberries are always welcomed in any household, the large red fruits been produced from June to September.
Strawberries are easy to grow providing reasonable pickings from just a few plants.
They can be grown in the open ground or in planter containers and window boxes.
Strawberries are ideal for children to grow providing a quick crop this summer.

Horkys tip: Plant six strawberries into a 16” hanging basket with Westland nursery stock compost for a terrific crop of fresh strawberries all summer.

Top Fruit.

Apple trees remain the popular choice of top fruit for most Irish gardens, however we can also grow a wide selection of other top fruit trees including Pears, Plums, Sweet and cooking cherries, and gages.
Apples trees are one of the easiest of all fruiting trees, they bloom in spring providing a terrific display of pink colour, which is followed in mid summer and autumn by a rewarding crop of sweet and culinary apples.

A new bred of apple trees have been produced especially for our Irish conditions by dr pat mc donnell in Tipperary called the Coronet. Coronets offer a reliable choice of free flowering and fruiting varieties, which have been bred and grown here in Ireland to suit our Irish conditions. They are dwarf growing by nature and fruit as young trees providing you with homegrown apples the year after planting.

Coronets come in a range of varieties including popular choices like ‘ coxs orange pippin’, James grieve, the beautiful red ‘Katy’, egremont russet, laxtons superb and jonagold to name but a few.

Coronets are ideal for planting in small and medium gardens and because of their compact size they are perfect for growing in containers. They require little pruning and will grow to a maximum of between five and six feet but still produce anything from thirty to sixty apples per tree.

For the greenhouse or patio.

If you’re lucky and have the benefit of a greenhouse, polytunnel or the protection of a covered patio then consider growing a nectarine or peach tree.
Both produce beautiful bright pink flowers in march, which are followed in mid summer by large sweet fresh fruit – ideal for eating straight from the tree.
Peaches and nectarines are easy to grow and fruit as young plants

Horkys tip: Plant a nectarine or peach in a large tub now and enjoy some fresh fruit this summer.
Strawberries can also be grown under the cover of a greenhouse or patio and will produce full sized fruit several weeks earlier than those grown out of doors, again they are ideal for planting up into containers or baskets.

Sweet and succulent grapes.

Fruit of the vine is another ideal plant for the larger greenhouse or tunnel. Large bunches of grapes in either black or green can be grown, under the protection of a greenhouse, here in the west of Ireland Grapes are vigorous plants and need extra space to develop and grow.

Horkys tip: growing fruit under the cover of a greenhouse and tunnel is very rewarding providing you with fresh fruit several weeks earlier and providing you with additional fruiting plants to choose from.

Remember this weekend, Saturday and Sunday is fruit planting weekend at Horkans Garden Centre and everyone is welcome.

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