Tart red currants nibbled straight from the bush, blackberries tied along a lattice of rods, a grapevine throwing wide-leaved shade across a pergola: a surprising amount of fruit fits onto a balcony or into a few square metres of garden. Give these small trees and bushes a good place in the sun and they crop in abundance, even in pots.
Small fruit trees are often very productive and quite easy to care for. They’re the perfect solution for a small balcony or urban garden where it is otherwise impossible to grow larger trees from traditional orchards.
Here is a selection of small fruit trees for picking during the entire summer and fall.
Each of these fruit plants copes with a container or a narrow bed, but they ask for different amounts of room and different kinds of support. Use the table to match the plant to the space you actually have.
| Plant | Where it fits | Training or support | Best known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberry plant | Pot, open ground or balcony garden box | None | Sweet berries eaten fresh, over a long picking season from late spring to mid-autumn |
| Red currant bush | Almost anywhere, very hardy; trains vertically | Little needed, maintenance is reduced | Tart red berries raw, in pies, wine or sherbert ice cream |
| Grapevine | Along a wall, a pergola or a gazebo, in full sun | Latticed and pruned, with simple pruning in late winter | Grapes plus wide leaves that cast shade |
| Blackberry | Small garden or container, against a support | Tied to a lattice of long rods set up beforehand | Soft sweet berries fresh, as jam or jelly |
| Bilberry | Best in the ground, still good in pots; stays under 5 feet (1.5 m) | None | Violet-blue berries for pastries, cakes, jelly and jam |
Beyond these five, dwarf apple and pear, container orange and even olive will crop reasonably well on a deck or terrace.
Strawberries are undoubtedly one of the favorite small fruits of all, because their incomparable taste and sweetness is a treat for all!
Easy to care for with a harvest that can extend from May to October depending on the variety, this is a great plant to grow.
Whether it is in a pot, in the ground or on a balcony garden box, it is also one of the plants that require the least space.
→ Here is what you need to know about strawberry plants.
Red currant bushes offer delicious tart little red berries that are as delicious nibbled on raw as they are baked in pies or processed into wine or sherbert ice cream.
Red currant is high in vitamin C and usually grows profusely on the red currant bush, so growing it shouldn’t give you any difficulties because care and maintenance are reduced.
Very hardy, this fruit shrub can be grown most anywhere.
→ Here is what you need to know about red currant.
A grape vine is perfectly suited to growing latticed along a wall or climbing atop a pergola or gazebo.
Its wide leaves make it the ideal fruit tree to produce shade when it runs along a pergola.
As for care, it is very easy-going because all it needs is a good place in the sun and simple pruning at the end of winter.
The advantage of grapevine is that it can be pruned repeatedly, so invasiveness isn’t an issue, even on a balcony.
→ Here is what you need to know about grapevine.
Blackberries is a thorn bush, and if this might displease you at the beginning, simply think of how delicious soft, sweet blackberries taste and you’ll easily cope with that single small inconvenient.
What is best is to tie your thorn bush to a lattice formed of long rods you’ll have set up beforehand, to ensure proper growing and light for all your fruits.
Lastly, the blackberries you’ll harvest will be as delicious when you pick them as they will be when prepared as jam, jelly, or other berry-based desserts!
→ Here is what you need to know about blackberru.
The bilberry is a little violet-blue berry that sometimes is grouped together with lingonberry which is a lot redder.
Often used to prepare pastries and cakes, it also makes for supremely delicious jelly and jam.
Considered a sub-shrub, bilberry bushes never grow higher than 5 feet (1.5 meters). It’s best grown directly in the ground, but it still yields good results in pots.
→ Here is what you need to know about bilberry.
Lots of other plants grow small and don’t need much space.
Here, on a balcony, even leaf plants like Moringa oleifera and fruit vines like kiwi grow fine!
There are a number of small orchard tree varieties that bear fruit in abundance, even when growing in a pot.
Aside from the typical container orange tree, you can also find dwarf apple and pear varieties, too.
Even such fruits as olive will bear reasonably well on decks and terraces.
