Fruit trees are the ultimate double-duty plant, providing food for you, for birds and insects as well as plenty of places to shelter and nest.

They’re easy to plant, between October and March, but will add another dimension to your growing area. Plus, the birds and insects they encourage will help you deal with your garden ‘pests’. Did you know a family of bluetits can eat 100,000 aphids a year?

Here are some great reasons to get planting…

1. Homegrown fruit

Very little can beat an apple picked straight from your own tree. You know exactly what has gone into each fresh, nutritious and organic fruit, and you’re reducing food miles. Plant a community orchard and even more people can benefit from free food and access to nature.

2. Beautiful blossom in spring

Fruit flowers look lovely, but they also serve an important purpose early in the year, providing nectar for pollinators. Plums and cherries can flower as early as January.

3. Creating an ecosystem

One apple tree can become a vital part of your garden ecology, providing homes for earwigs, spiders, moths, beetles, birds and much more. Fruit trees develop hollows and crevices, decaying wood and fungi earlier than other trees (around 50 years compared with 300 for an oak), which means they’re also a ‘priority habitat’ for rare species.

4. Fallen food sources

Windfall apples are a great food for birds and small mammals such as hedgehogs. They also offer a sugar boost for late season butterflies.

5. Supports a healthy environment

All trees, big and small, absorb carbon from the air and release it as oxygen. They can also help to mop up pollution and reduce soil erosion. In urban environments, they can help with storm water management and reduce flooding.

6. Help with drought tolerance

Trees provide shading, and through transpiration help your garden stay cooler in the summer. If they shade your house, they could also help reduce your energy costs. Slow-growing trees adapt to local conditions as they age and, in this way, can become more resilient to changes in the climate.

7. Low-cost, low-maintenance, long-term food production

Compared with other food plants, these deep-rooted, long-lived perennials are low cost – especially if you plant from bare roots - and pretty much look after themselves. You just need to water them weekly between March and September in the first two years, especially if the weather is very hot, and prune them in winter.

8. All sizes great and small

Your fruit trees don’t need to be big; you can grow dwarf rootstocks in large containers, grow them as a hedge or train them as step-over apple trees at an allotment. These have a short vertical trunk and a T-shaped pair of branches low to the ground.

And a few more good reasons….

9. Autumn colour and silhouettes against a winter sky.

10. Lots of amazing colours and types of fruit to choose from. There are 2,500 apples species alone!

11. Make homemade jams, jellies, cider, wine and vinegar.

12. You can attach a bird feeder or nest box to mature trees.

13. They support mistletoe, which helps several insect and bird species.

14. Use them as a support for climbing plants such as honeysuckle for even more wildlife habitats.

15. Plant heritage varieties and you will help conserve these for future generations and bolster food security.