Techniques
Cordon
A plant trained and pruned to a single main stem — used for tall tomatoes grown up a cane, and for space-saving fruit trees grown at an angle.
The word "cordon" simply means a plant grown as a single, controlled stem. You meet it in two very different parts of the garden — with tomatoes, and with fruit trees — so it's worth knowing both.
Cordon tomatoes
Most tomato varieties fall into one of two camps. Cordon (also called indeterminate) types grow tall and keep going all season, so you train them up a single cane or string. Bush (determinate) types stay shorter and bushy, and largely look after themselves.
With a cordon tomato, you tie the main stem to its support as it grows and pinch out the side-shoots — the little shoots that appear in the "armpit" between the main stem and each leaf. Removing them keeps the plant putting its energy into fruit rather than greenery. Once it reaches the top of its support, or has set four to five trusses, you pinch out the growing tip too.
In a typical UK season this matters most under glass or in a warm, sheltered spot, where cordon types like 'Gardener's Delight', 'Sungold' or 'Shirley' can crop right through to the first autumn frosts. If you'd rather not fuss with pinching out, choose a bush variety instead — check the best tomato varieties for UK gardens before you sow, as the growing method follows from the type. Our full guide on how to grow tomatoes walks through training and feeding step by step.
Cordon fruit trees
The same idea — one main stem — is also a clever way to grow fruit in a small space. A cordon apple or pear is a single-stemmed tree, usually planted at a 45-degree angle and tied to wires or a fence. Growing it on the slant slows the sap a little and encourages it to fruit along short side-spurs rather than racing upward.
Because each cordon takes up very little width, you can plant several a metre or so apart and grow three or four varieties where one ordinary tree would sit. That's a real boon in a small UK garden, and it also helps with pollination, since you can pair varieties that flower at the same time.
The trick is to choose a tree on a dwarfing rootstock (such as M9 or M26 for apples) — the rootstock controls the tree's final size and keeps a cordon manageable. Cordons are pruned in late summer to keep that tidy single-stem shape, and they'll start cropping within a couple of years.
So whether it's a tomato up a cane or an apple against a wall, a cordon is the same simple promise: one stem, well supported, kept neat and productive.
In a UK garden
In the UK, cordon tomatoes are the usual choice for greenhouses and warm, sheltered borders, while cordon apples let you fit several varieties into a small garden or even a large patio pot.
Example
A 'Gardener's Delight' tomato tied to a single cane, with every side-shoot pinched out, is a classic cordon.