Grow a sustainable mini orchard in pots

Cut your food miles to zero by growing your own delicious blueberries, peaches, apples (and more) at home: a miniature potted orchard of fruit trees and bushes in containers can be fitted into even the tiniest garden.

As long as the site is sunny and you're prepared to water your plants regularly, you'll have bountiful crops for years to come. Buy bare root plants during winter if possible, and pot them up in peat-free or home-made compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

while they are still dormant.

Chilean guavas (Ugni molinae) make fantastic container plants. Their aromatic fruit is a real autumn treat

Suitable fruit varieties for container growing

• Apple Ballerina®
• Peach ‘Bonanza’

RHS How to Garden the Low-Carbon Way

• Cherry on dwarfing Gisela 5 rootstocks
• Quince and Sibley’s Patio Medlar
• Figs
• Blueberries (planted into acidic ericaceous
  

  Plants that thrive in acid or ericaceous soil, which has a pH of less than 7 (neutral). You can measure your soil pH using a simple testing kit. Ericaceous or acid-loving plants include rhododendrons, camellias, heathers and blueberries.

  compost)
• Chilean guava (Ugni molinae)
• Raspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’
• Blackberry ‘Dart’s Black Cascade’
• Strawberries

More low-carbon gardening ideas

How to grow a low-carbon garden

Using sustainable materials

Planting a low-carbon garden

Make a low-carbon wildflower meadow

Grow your own garden sundries

Low-carbon container growing