River Cottage

You won't go far wrong with a dual purpose apple tree plus a cooking apple - although I've not ehard of those two, but the names are good :)

Victoria is the best plum to grow if you only have room for one - it is the best one for eating fresh, excellent to bottle and makes a good jam; high yielding, dependable, and not too long until it comes into first fruit. Morello cherry is a good one for cooking and jam making.

Good choices I think :)

I have a morello (or did, until the cherry slug did for it two years in a row with flooding between times). Dark sweet cherries are definitely my faves. I also have several kentish in my hedgerow-to-be. Victoria plums are nice. Green gages are even better.

You won't go wrong if you set a few damson trees in your hedges either... You're practically on the road to Armagh-  go and have a look at the hedgerows on the Armagh side of Portadown to see what naturalised damsons can do

I'd be a sucker for choosing trees on their names. Brown Snout or Foxwhelp cider apples, anyone? 

And who wouldn't grow a lettuce called Fat Lazy Blonde?!!

I have a brownsnout already thanks, lol and like all my apple trees it seems to be doing well. As for the rest of my fruit-trees, I need to be at home to look after them and that ain't going to happen this side of winter.

As an aside, can recommend Fat Lazy Blonde lettuce; I've grown that a few times over the years; so called as it is slow to run to seed. Her friend is Lazy Housewife climbing bean,which I also grow. :))

They all sound fun to grow. I've a Victoria plum, and an eating apple which I forget the name of, it resembles a cox. I had a cherry tree years ago which I bought from Woollies cost me £7 back in the day and it fruited the following year after planting, it was called Stella, a lovely eating, big fruits and lots of them.

Stella is the one I've got too, and I got mine from there as well I think!  It hasn't fruited yet, I had to move it, but it's come on in leaps and bounds the last couple of years, so am ever hopeful. Pretty blossoms anyway :)

Thanks ALL, have also budgeted in some sloes to go in a gappy hedge. Its weird buying bushes that should be wild...

I thought that too, d; I've got two in my garden that I purposefully planted, they came in a bundle of mixed native hedging I bought. I planted a third, but it turns out to be a rogue plum/bullace/cross thing and I will have to take it out as it's crowding out the lower of the sloes. Strange, yes, but very nice to be able to just go out on to your own land and pick your own sloes when the bushes get stripped by over enthusiastic gin makers! Another loop closed in the aim for self-reliance, and ofcourse, it's wonderful to get the bloosom too.

Could you just move your cross bullace Lowlander. It may produce some nice fruit for something, and the blossom will be at least as good as the blackthorn.

Dmcp, to reduce costs, if you know anyone planting a hedge, could you get them to buy you some blackthorn in with their order. The price per plant will be a matter of pence (perhaps 30p or less) if they are buying hundreds.