A Bug's Life

I've been doing a little light research on espalier fruit trees... I presume you'd prefer to buy them already trained? The 'season' for planting them appears to be November to March, but to get the varieties which you want, early ordering is required. Espaliers are best planted at 3m spacing, but small cordon espaliers can be at 1m or even less ...

As Rustat Road runs almost directly N-S, as you know (Bob), you have N & S-facing fences (low thermal mass), and E & W facing walls (high thermal mass). Peaches and apricots are best grown against south-ish facing walls, but you might be able to get away with one on the kitchen wall? Apples and pears are best on east/westish aligned walls, but a south-facing fence should do fine too. Morello cherries love north facing aspects.

I'm thinking of planting some espalier cordon nut trees in my garden, as we already have a standard pear tree. We've planted a rowan, too - cooked rowan berries make a good 'jelly' to accompany food, apparently. I'd love a wild service tree, but we don't have the space... the fruit of these are chequerberries of PM's The Chequers fame...