The best potted fruit plant options for small space gardens | Gardening 101 | Gardening Australia

Jane profiles some of the most productive fruit plants for container growing. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Dwarf fruit varieties are grown specifically for courtyards or for patios and they’ll only reach about 2 metres in height. They have the added benefit that when it comes to picking fruit and maintaining your tree, you don’t have to get up on a ladder! Jane takes a look at some varieties of fruit trees that are made for growing in pots!
Grapefruit and Lemon:
A normal grapefruit tree can grow 8 or 9 or more metres high so it’s too big for a pot. So when you’re looking for a dwarfed one, check the label that it does say dwarfed.
Grapefruit ‘Marsh’ will only grow about 4 metres and they’d be terrific in a large pot. You can even keep them pruned if you want.
A good dwarf variety lemon is the Lisbon lemon. Lisbon are popular because they are a true lemon that gives you that 'fish and chippy' sort of taste!
Cumquat:
Cumquat Nagami has a little tear-drop shaped fruit. Cumquat can tolerate a cold climate and the Nagami variety is a great choice because it’s a hybrid of a lime and a cumquat. It’s called a limequat and the lime gives the wonderful flavour, and the cumquat element gives it its cold tolerance. It’s perfect for growing in a pot.
Finger Limes:
Finger limes are a little bit thorny but they’re terrific and ideal to grow in a pot. They can grow to up to 5 metres high but can be pruned to keep them manageable.
Avocado:
Can you grow an avocado in a container? Yes, you can - especially if you look for a variety called Wurtz. Wurtz is a good sub-tropical plant but will also take a little bit of the southern climate’s cold. It’ll grow to be 3 to 4 metres high.
Avocado will need a large pot. Something like a wine barrel is ideal. They will take about 4 years to develop fruit, but with plenty of fertiliser and plenty of sun, you will be eating the most magnificent avocados from your own backyard.
Planting Potted Fruit:
Potting a fruit plant is really quite easy but there are few simple things that will really help your plant along. Your pot should always have drainage holes. There is a myth that you should put broken crock or bits of gravel down the bottom to cover that hole, but with the quality potting mixes that we have these days, there is no need to do that. In fact, covering the hole raises the water level of the plant and so you’re going to get the plant roots sitting in saturated soil which can cause them to rot. Use a premium quality potting mix, as these contain plenty of fertiliser and will feed the plant for at least 6 months.
Featured Plants:
GRAPEFRUIT ‘MARSH’ - Citrus cv.
LEMON ‘LISBON’ - Citrus cv.
CUMQUAT ‘NAGAMI’ - Citrus japonica cv.
LIMEQUAT - Citrus japonica x aurantiifolia cv.
FINGER LIME - Citrus australasica cv.
AVOCADO ‘WURTZ’ - Persea americana cv.
Filmed on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country | Bulleen, Vic
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[@ErraticPerfectionist]

I thought I recognised the background. They filmed at Bulleen Art & Garden! Fantastic nursery, especially for the varieties of different plants and trees.
Bit far from where I live to visit regularly, which is probably just as well for me 😆

[@herculespuri]

Great information, looking forward for guava, olives and berries in pots as well

[@catey62]

Loved watching this. I only have a tiny little courtyard in my rented home, but I have 4 dwarf trees in large pots now. a dwarf Navel Orange, a dwarf Mandarin Lime, a dwarf Lisbon Lemon, and a mini Nectarine thats only meant to grow to 1.5 metres tall. as well as these, I also have a finger lime in a large pot, mine is the 'Pink Ice' variety..it has some fruit on it at the moment and I'm really looking forward to trying those once they're ready. and I also have 2 Olive trees in pots too. I wish I could find more native ones to grow, but I seem to have trouble finding them here in S.A.

[@elizabethscott7660]

Try Daley's online. They ship live plants to SA and have dwarf fruit plants and Aussie natives

[@catey62]

@@elizabethscott7660 Thank you for that, I'll have to check them out . :-)

[@mefrommyglass]

Coming soon to a garden near me. This programming is where the ABC excels.

[@augustinekopa6560]

Love citrus and yes dwarf fruit trees is amazing

[@shitzuation]

Fabulous vid!! 🍋🍊😋

[@NewMindGarden]

Amazing sharing.. 👌👌🌷🌷🌷

[@lesliedevlin8501]

Great show people just picked some blue berries from my 🌲👍👍👍👀👀👀

[@catey62]

Lol,, I have a Blueberry in a pot here as well that I planted just before last winter. and today I picked my first crop..well, it was only 2 berries, lol....but they were delicious. hoping I'll get a better crop next year once it matures more.

[@alanshrimpton6787]

Do you need root prune when in the size of pot you want? Could you do a video on that and how often?

[@FahrulFahrul]

Very nice

[@urbanrat84]

Great topic!

[@catpony1720]

Lovely!

[@jamshidnikkerdar2074]

Great 👍 👌

[@mysmallgardening]

Lovely video 👌👌👌

[@GardeningAustralia]

Thanks 🤗

[@MrPrinceCards]

Any tips for growing an almond tree?

[@katehoffacker937]

I’ve watched and read a tonne about growing citrus in pots - some say feeding monthly, others twice a year. Our 1 year old finger lime looks pretty happy but so much soil has gone about 4-5 inches from a pot with a 80cm diameter (self watering) Can we add potting mix to the top or do we need to repot - take out the plant, add more soil and sort of replant?

[@yhliu6083]

Just wondering why use gravels instead of mulch on the top?

[@justbecause3187]

Looks, longer lasting, although probably not as good for the plant as organic mulch.

[@Sousyned]

Citrus can be pretty susceptible to damp and disease, especially in pots, so that might be why. Chip mulch could potentially introduce disease (if there is citrus wood in the mulch) and it can hold some extra moisture near the surface and stem.
Using chip or other types of mulch is usually fine though, just want to keep it away from the stem.

[@yhliu6083]

@@Sousyned thanks, good to know.

[@lifeisbeautiful_nz]

How different between Limequat and Kumquat. Which one better tarty taste

[@gardeningperth]

Would love to grow them but they are so expensive.

[@GurpreetSingh-dt9ug]

Hi @GardeningAustralia, thank you for the wonderful video. Can you pls add the name of the nursery to the credits? Thx

[@margaretshi9683]

It's Bulleen Art and Garden in Victoria

[@jeanettewilkinson6362]

Gardening Australia
would putting stones on top as mulch still be ok when using vasilis black grit?

[@whatbringsmepeace]

I was thinking stones might be way too hot in tropical Qld. I use organic sugar cane mulch to hold in moisture. It doesn't hold the heat like stones would.

[@girrig97]

So much of this information is wrong. I believe she's confusing the desert lime with the fingerlime for one. Alot more than just citrus to choose from too yet we always have videos on them

[@catey62]

Maybe because they're the most common dwarf ones you can get?

[@JScarper]

You mean the long finger-like limes they're showing here aren't fingerlimes?

[@girrig97]

@@JScarper it is but where are native to in the continent is different

[@girrig97]

@@catey62 then stop using fruit and start using citrus instead in the title

[@d.joseph2059]

Can you say what's the root stock for the citrus