Spacing is the decision a fruit gardener makes once and lives with for years, and it is the decision most often got wrong. A garden looks empty at planting time, and a small tree looks lost in a big space, so the temptation is to plant everything close together and sort it out later. Later never comes easily: a tree planted too close to its neighbour grows tall and thin reaching for light, the fruit is small and shaded, the leaves stay damp and disease spreads, and moving a tree that has been in place for five years is a major job. Plant at the right spacing, and the garden looks empty for a year and then fills in exactly as it should.
Spacing is decided by the mature size of the plant, not the size it is when you buy it. A dwarf apple that will be eight feet across needs eight feet of space; a raspberry row that will be three feet wide needs a path beside it you can walk down; a blueberry bush that will be five feet across needs five feet. The label on the plant will tell you the mature size, and the spacing that follows from it. If the label does not say, ask the nursery — and if you are choosing between two spacings, choose the wider one. Fruit always grows bigger than you expect.
Spacing matters for three reasons: light, air and access. Light, because fruit needs sun to ripen and sweeten, and a shaded fruit is a sour fruit. Air, because leaves that dry quickly after rain do not get fungal disease, and leaves in a crowded, still planting stay wet for hours. Access, because you need to reach the fruit to pick it, the tree to prune it, and the ground to weed it — a planting you cannot walk through is a planting you cannot look after. If you are unsure about a variety, a spray, or a diagnosis, check your local extension service — its advice is matched to your climate and soil.
Fruit tree spacing: dwarf, semi-dwarf and standard
The spacing of a fruit tree is decided by its rootstock, which controls its size. A dwarf apple on a dwarfing rootstock will be six to eight feet tall and wide, and needs eight to ten feet between trees. A semi-dwarf apple will be twelve to fifteen feet tall and needs twelve to fifteen feet. A standard apple will be twenty feet or more and needs twenty to twenty-five feet. Pears are similar to apples, and a little larger. Peaches and plums on semi-dwarf rootstock need fifteen to eighteen feet, and on dwarf rootstock ten to twelve feet. Cherries need the most room of all the common fruit trees: a sweet cherry on a vigorous rootstock can reach twenty-five feet, and needs twenty feet or more, while a dwarf cherry needs ten to twelve feet. Figs are vigorous and need twelve to fifteen feet unless they are pruned hard and kept small. Citrus in a mild climate needs eight to twelve feet, depending on the variety. If you are planting a row of trees, the spacing between rows should be at least as wide as the spacing between trees, so you can walk and work between them. Our plant spacing calculator can help you lay out a planting before you dig.
Berry spacing: raspberries, blueberries, currants and strawberries
Berries are planted closer than trees, but they still need their space. Raspberries are planted eighteen inches apart in a row, with rows five to six feet apart, so you can walk between the rows and pick from both sides. Blueberries are planted four to five feet apart, in rows six to eight feet apart, and they need room because a mature bush is five feet across. Currants and gooseberries are planted four to five feet apart, in rows five to six feet apart. Blackberries are the most vigorous berry and need six to eight feet between plants, with a strong support. Strawberries are planted twelve to eighteen inches apart in rows two to three feet apart, and they will spread by runners to fill the space — which is why you should not plant them closer, or they will crowd each other within a year. For all berries, the row spacing matters as much as the plant spacing: a row you cannot walk beside is a row you cannot pick, prune or weed. Our growing guides for raspberries and blueberries give the spacing for each type.
Grape, melon and fig spacing
Grapes are planted six to eight feet apart along a row, with rows eight to ten feet apart, and they need a strong support — a post and wire, a pergola or a fence — from the start. A grape vine will fill its space within a few years, and a vine planted too close to its neighbour will tangle with it and produce shaded, diseased fruit. Melons are planted three to four feet apart in rows five to six feet apart, because the vines sprawl widely, and they need the space to spread without smothering their neighbours. Figs are planted twelve to fifteen feet apart, or kept in a container or a restricted root run if space is short — a fig with restricted roots fruits better than a fig with room to grow into a huge tree. Citrus in a pot needs no spacing to its neighbours except room for the canopy, but a citrus planted in the ground needs eight to twelve feet. Kiwis are the most vigorous fruit vine of all and need fifteen to twenty feet between plants, with a very strong support — do not plant a kiwi where you would plant a grape.
Spacing for light, airflow and disease
The reason spacing matters is not tidiness but health. A fruit tree that is crowded shades its own fruit, and shaded fruit is small and sour. A berry row that is crowded stays damp after rain, and damp leaves are where fungal disease starts — scab on apples, grey mould on strawberries and raspberries, mildew on grapes. A planting with good spacing dries quickly after rain, and that alone prevents more disease than any spray. Spacing also decides whether you can prune, pick and inspect the plant: a tree you cannot walk around is a tree you cannot prune properly, and a berry row you cannot reach into is a row where diseased fruit stays and spreads infection. If you inherit a planting that is too close, the remedy is to thin it — remove the weakest plant, or prune hard to open the canopy — rather than to let it stay crowded. It feels wasteful to remove a plant, but a planting with room produces more fruit than a crowded one, because every plant in it is healthy and lit.
Small gardens: spacing when space is short
A small garden does not mean no fruit, but it does mean choosing the right fruit and the right form. A dwarf apple in a pot, a blueberry in a tub, a strawberry tower and a raspberry in a narrow bed will give a small garden more fruit than a standard tree crammed into a corner. Espalier and fan training let you grow apples, pears, peaches and plums flat against a wall or a fence, in a strip of ground a foot wide — the tree is pruned to a flat shape, and it fruits well because every branch is in the sun. A cordon is a single stem grown at an angle, and several cordons can be planted three feet apart along a fence. A step-over apple is a horizontal cordon a foot off the ground, and it makes a living edging for a path. All of these forms need more pruning than a free-standing tree, but they let a small garden grow fruit that would otherwise need a field. For a small garden, one well-spaced dwarf tree is worth more than three crowded ones.
Planning your layout before you plant
Draw the garden on paper before you buy anything. Mark the sunny spots and the shady ones, the frost pockets and the windy corners, and then place each plant at its mature size, not its nursery size. A circle drawn to the mature width of each tree, on paper, is a sobering sight — and it is far better to be sobered on paper than in the garden five years later. Leave paths wide enough to push a wheelbarrow down, and leave access to every tree from at least two sides. Plant the tallest fruit — standard trees — on the north side of the garden, so they do not shade the smaller fruit, and put the sun-lovers — peaches, figs and grapes — on the sunniest wall. Keep a copy of the plan, with the variety and the planting date for each plant, and you will thank yourself in five years when you cannot remember which apple is which. The garden planner and the plant spacing calculator can help you turn the plan into a planting.
Frequently asked questions
How far apart should I plant apple trees?
Dwarf apples need eight to ten feet between trees, semi-dwarf twelve to fifteen feet, and standard trees twenty to twenty-five feet. The spacing follows the rootstock, which controls the mature size.
How far apart do I plant raspberries?
Eighteen inches apart in the row, with rows five to six feet apart so you can walk between them and pick from both sides.
Can I plant fruit trees closer together in a small garden?
You can use dwarf rootstocks, espalier or cordon training against a wall, and containers — but do not simply plant standard trees closer together. Crowded trees grow tall and thin, fruit poorly and get more disease.
How far apart should blueberry bushes be?
Four to five feet apart, in rows six to eight feet apart. A mature blueberry bush is about five feet across.
What happens if I plant fruit too close together?
The plants shade each other, the leaves stay damp and disease spreads, the fruit is small and sour, and you cannot reach the plants to prune or pick them. Thin a crowded planting rather than leaving it.
Spacing is a promise you make to the future: plant at the mature size, leave room to walk and to work, and the garden will repay you with healthy plants and full harvests. Draw the plan, check the mature sizes, and plant once, properly. For the spacing of individual fruits, see the growing guides, and use the plant spacing calculator to lay out your planting.