Choose the Right Fruit Tree for Your Garden

Fresh fruits are an important part of our diet and most of us probably don’t eat enough of them. Gardeners with sufficient area in which to plant often include fruit trees in the garden with hopes of enjoying peaches, apples, and other fresh fruit with the added pleasure of having grown it themselves. Many times, though, gardeners in our part of the country find it very difficult to be successful with fruit trees. One of the reasons for the lack of success is that we choose the wrong varieties to start with. Could it be that there are some secrets to choosing the right fruit trees for your garden?

One of the common mistakes in growing fresh fruit starts at the point of purchase. Not all fruit trees will work in every area. Case in point. Every gardener has heard of Bartlett pear. When ripe, it is juicy, soft, and delicious. However, it is not recommended for the south because of its susceptibility to a devastating disease known as fire blight. Disease resistance is, therefore, an important consideration when choosing all fruit tree varieties.

The disease is not the only consideration. Someone asked recently about a tree that consistently bloomed early and the flowers were routinely killed by cold weather. That’s because the tree required too few chill hours for our area. Fruit trees bloom after they receive a certain number of hours below 45º F. We call this “chill hours” and the amount varies among fruit trees. Some varieties may flower after receiving a few hundred chill hours and others may need more than 700. If a tree accumulates its required chill hours and then experiences some warm weather, the flower buds will open, exposing them to the damages of freezing weather. Therefore, it is important to choose fruit trees with chill hour requirements that fit a particular geographic area.

Disease resistance and chill hour requirements are two very important items to consider when choosing fruit trees. Another item to consider is performance. A tree with good disease resistance and the right chill hours may not have the best fruit quality, reliability, etc. So how do you know what to choose?

Choosing the right fruit tree for the production

we discussed the criteria for selecting fruit trees for the home garden. We focused on the selection of fruit trees that are disease resistant, adapted to our winters, and perform well in our environment. With these ideas in mind, let’s move a little further into the secrets of successful backyard fruit production.

To begin with, let’s “branch out” so that we can include information on plants that produce fruit on vines, canes, and bushes as well as trees. Gardeners should know how difficult it is to raise the particular fruit they are considering. For convenience sake, take a look at the list below regarding the relative difficulty of raising particular fruits.

Fruit considered easy to grow include blackberries, blueberries, figs, oriental persimmon, and quince. Those that are moderately difficult include muscadine, pecan, strawberry, pear, and citrus. The difficult list includes peach, apple, and plum. Easy crops imply that there is very little to be done or just minimal effort. Moderate means that in most cases, pruning along with limited amounts of pest control must be done as well as winter protection for most citrus. Difficult crops take a lot of time and effort. They require pruning in addition to routine application of pesticides for insect and disease control.

By following this thought process, we are first going to consider disease resistance, adaptation to climate, and performance of the particular fruit-bearing plant before we ever make a purchase. Consideration of how much time and effort one has to expend to get the fruit (or nut) is important, too. For example, many gardeners find they can buy a lot of pecans for what it costs to grow them yourself. That’s true for many fruits and nuts.

One last consideration is to find out if the fruit-bearing plant you are considering can pollinate itself or if it needs another to help it set fruit. Some plants, like peaches, are self- fertile. Others are self-fertile but fare better if another plant provides additional pollen and still others must have another to pollinate them or they will not set fruit.

Equally important to choosing the best fruit-bearing plants for your location is the planting site. Select a site that has full sun exposure. Avoid poorly drained or droughty locations. Adjust the soil pH to 6.5 (except for blueberries). Set the plants at the right distance from each other to prevent crowding in later years and to allow for good air movement.

Growing fruits and nuts in the home garden can be enjoyable or it can be a big disappointment. Know what you’re getting into before the first plant is put in the ground. Happy gardening!

Growing Fruit – fresh fruit from your garden, allotment or patio gives lasting rewards

Growing fruit is so simple to do that every gardener should have at least a few strawberries or an apple tree in their backyard or garden.

Sadly, many people are put off fruit growing as they think it will take up a lot of space in what may be a very small family garden.

However, this need not be the case. Here are a few ideas on how to fit fruit growing into a family garden.

Fruit trees can be grown in the decorative area of the garden as dual-purpose flowering and fruiting specimen trees, and are well worth finding space for.

All fruit trees have superb blossom in spring that is as good as any purely decorative species. Some also have autumn color and good shapes making them valuable year-round attractive specimens. And with modern dwarfing rootstocks they can stay small and more manageable than many trees grown for decorative purposes.

Trained fruit trees come in a variety of forms making them very easy to accommodate in small spaces in decorative gardens. Fans and espaliers look stunning on the south or west-facing walls. Or they could be grown on trellises and used to separate or screen different parts of the garden.

Cordons make productive hedges or can be trained over arches or placed as accent plants near the back of a border. And step-over trees, that is single tiered espaliers, can be used as edging to paths and borders.

Other fruits such as blackberries can be trained over arches, against walls, and on a trellis. Others such as strawberries can be grown in containers and baskets.

Red currants and gooseberries are often grown as U shaped double cordons against a wall or trellis, and both can be grown as small standards in containers or flower borders.

Even if you have very limited space it’s still possible to grow your fruit as many varieties can be grown in containers on a patio, deck, or balcony. Some fruit, particularly citrus fruit such as lemons tree, limes, and oranges, can be grown indoors as house plants. They make superb specimen plants when grown well in large pots. And as they are evergreen and have wonderfully scented blossoms, they remain attractive all year round.

So by growing your own, you can enjoy the taste of succulent fruit year after year. And one of the great joys of home-grown fruit is to be able to eat fresh and healthy produce that is not tainted with chemicals.

you can buy our recommendation lemon tree from the Amazon store here:

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