How to grow dwarf apple trees in your backyard

Whether you have a small garden or are running out of room, these dwarf apple trees are space-saving and can double as a hedge.

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Small they may be, but these mini apple trees (stepover apples) produce enough full-sized fruit to keep your family happily crunching through late summer until early winter.

They don’t just provide something sweet to eat; apples are a part of the rose family so they have a perfume that reminds you of spring-blooms. So why not plant an apple tree in your ornamental garden so you can appreciate both its rose scent and the autumn fruit?

Plant them beside herbs, leafy greens, and tulips and come spring-time, your garden will truly be something to behold.

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How to grow dwarf apple trees

Stepover apples are grown from dwarf apple trees and include favourites such as Cripps Pink, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Snow Apple, Fuji and Royal Gala. It will take about 2-3 years for trees to fruit, but they can be grown near your vegie plot or in an ornamental bed.

Planting

Run high-tensile wire between garden posts, then plant your trees 1.2-1.5m apart. Select the two branches on each tree that will naturally grow into the top of a T-shape and cut off the others. Gently bend the two branches to follow the wire and secure with soft tree ties.

Climate

Plant one-year-old bare-root trees in late winter in a climate with cold winters and warm summers. Give them shelter, such as a wall or shrub, as you don’t want your spring blossoms blowing away before they’re pollinated.

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Water

Water regularly for at least six weeks after planting. Once the trees are mature, water regularly during spring and summer as fruit forms.

Pruning

Encourage more fruiting spurs by cutting back the length of each arm by a third in winter, and by cutting back new shoots that appear on the stem so just one bud remains. For a damage-free tree, trim it with the Cyclone Heavy Duty Bypass Pruner which you can pick up from Bunnings.