Barrels of Fun!

(L) Fig  (R) Winesap Apple

            

 Most wine barrels are about 100L when cut in half. I buy mine locally and are pre-cut. When I get them home, they are filled with water if I'm not planting out straight away. This helps to prevent the wood warping and to help leach out any winey residue. I love that wine barrel smell!

When I'm ready to pot up, the water gets tipped into the garden. 4-5 drainage holes are then drilled into the base, put the barrel in place (hopefully I've put it in right place first go, but it's unlikely!!)They are heavy to move once filled, but can be done with the help of a sack trolley and a friend. The barrel gets lifted off the ground by using some of those fancy terracotta pot feet (about 6 to hold the weight), but they are expensive. I've use underneath few of mine some old paving off-cuts. Cover the drainage holes with a scrap bit of shade cloth, so the soil stays in the barrel and not sieve through to the floor.

I use a mix of REALLY good potting mix about 2-3 bags, a bag of Vege Concentrate, and a couple of shovels of my own compost. Or, I do half-half of potting mix and compost. These two potted up in the pic have had some a couple of handfuls of Bentonite Clay added. The fruit trees seem happy enough in this mix I've been using. Oh,and water often and mulch well. 

All the fruit trees in my barrels are full size trees - no dwarfs here! 

Others I have in barrels are

Mandarin - Imperial. 

 Orange - Washington Navel

 Fig -   White Adriatic
 Apple - Winesap  

 Lemon - Meyer