Read the Site Before You Choose a Tree

Coastal gardens are generous in some ways and brutal in others. You will probably escape the hardest frosts, your soil may be light and workable, and the season can run a fortnight ahead of inland neighbours. Against that, you have salt-laden wind that scorches leaf edges, dries out buds and rocks young trees until their roots snap underground. Salt can travel several miles inland on a strong onshore gale, so even a plot that feels sheltered still needs planning.

Spend a winter watching where the wind actually hits. Walk the plot on a blowing day and note the spots where foliage on existing shrubs is browned on one side. Look, too, for hollows where cold air settles on still spring nights — a low corner that collects frost will strip blossom from early-flowering plums while the rest of the garden is untouched. A gentle south-facing slope with a hedge between you and the sea is close to ideal.

Varieties That Shrug Off Salt and Wind

Choose tough, traditional sorts rather than the fashionable supermarket varieties. Old cultivars were selected in exposed places and they show it.

• Apples: Egremont Russet, Discovery, Keswick Codlin, Lord Derby, Annie Elizabeth and the Bardsey Island apple are all reliable in salty air. Ashmead's Kernel and Cornish Gilliflower cope well in the milder, damper south-west.
• Pears: Conference is the sensible backbone — self-fertile, heavy cropping and tolerant of wind. Beth and Beurré Hardy are good partners. Invincible is exceptionally hardy and worth a place on a windy plot, even if the fruit is modest.
• Plums and gages: Czar is self-fertile and very tough. Victoria, Marjorie's Seedling and Warwickshire Drooper all perform near the coast, and old-fashioned damsons will take almost anything the weather throws at them. Cambridge Gage prefers a little more shelter.
• Pollination: check flowering groups before you buy, and if you plant a triploid such as Ashmead's Kernel, include a crab apple nearby as a pollinator.

Rootstocks Decide How Much the Wind Can Push

Dwarfing rootstocks look tempting in a small garden, but very small trees on M27 or Quince C have shallow, fragile roots and suffer badly in exposed sites. For apples, MM106 is the best all-rounder in coastal ground, with M26 for something smaller. Pears do better on Quince A than Quince C. For plums, St Julian A or Brompton gives the anchorage you want on a windy plot, while Pixy suits a genuinely sheltered corner.

Bush trees on MM106 need about four metres between them; cordons and espaliers can be trained much closer against a wall or fence, which is often the warmest, most protected spot you have.

Build a Windbreak, Not a Wall

A solid barrier simply deflects the gale over the top and creates damaging turbulence behind it. You want a permeable screen that filters about half the wind, ideally planted two to three times its eventual height away from your trees. Native hedging — hawthorn, blackthorn, elder — is cheap and effective, and sea buckthorn, tamarisk, Griselinia and rugosa roses all tolerate salt spray. A mixed hedge is kinder to wildlife and less likely to fail all at once.

While the hedge is growing, rig temporary windbreak netting or fleece around new trees for their first two winters. It makes an enormous difference to establishment.

Planting Bare-Root Trees Well

Bare-root trees go in between November and March, ideally in late autumn while the soil is still warm, or in late February before growth restarts. Order from a reputable nursery and plant as soon as they arrive; if the ground is frozen, heel them into a temporary trench and keep the roots damp.

• Soak the roots for an hour before planting.
• Dig a hole wide enough to spread the roots fully, and no deeper than the old soil mark on the trunk.
• Work in plenty of well-rotted compost, but never fresh manure.
• Firm the soil in stages, then stake. Use a short stake for dwarf trees and a sturdy stake with a proper tree tie for exposed sites.
• Mulch with a ring of compost or bark, keeping it clear of the trunk, and fit a rabbit guard.
• Water thoroughly, even in winter.

The First Few Seasons

Water new trees well through their first two summers, and mulch each spring with garden compost or well-rinsed seaweed. Avoid high-nitrogen feeds, which push soft growth that salt wind shreds. Prune lightly in winter to build a balanced framework, and leave the leader alone until the tree has shape.

Expect a few apples in year three, a proper crop by year five, and rather more than you can eat by year eight. Watch for canker on damaged wood — cut it out promptly — and thin heavy crops in July so branches do not snap in an autumn gale. Planted well, a coastal orchard can crop for fifty years or more.