Sam Sparrow

David, thanks for your replies.

First off I am not 100% sure I follow you when you talk about growing 'fans'? Is this essentially espalier? I am curious to know what your thinking.

Also, I am in a 6a/6b US hardiness zone. I do not think figs do well planted in the outdoors here due to the potential for some seriously cold weather (-21 - 2 years back).

Hello all.

This spring I am planning on developing a long narrow corridor along the north side of my home. Because I live in the high south western desert (6500' elevation) this really is an ideal space for me to plant fruit trees as it will help prevent early blooms becoming susceptible to the many late frosts we receive.

My issue is the space - it is narrow and I would need to plant the trees close to one wall so they could grow and overhang the open space. I honestly do not know how good this would be for the trees though and so here I am asking. What do you all think? Could I plant my 2 or 3 trees within 2 feet fo a wall and prune them to grow up along the wall and out over the open space with out doing them harm? I really would prefer to not use espalier.

Any feed back would be great, thanks.