Fruits

From Antivist

Revision as of 19:08, 7 September 2007

Fruit Trees

The area next to the fence is the best for large fruit trees. Hedge your garden boundaries with tall fruit trees. Plant them 2 metres apart. They'll grow tall to reach the sun and the branches will tangle - but this means birds won't find most of the fruit (though you will) and tall trees bear as much fruit as wide ones - you just have to climb the tree or use a fruit picker on a tall stick to get the crop. This way you'll be able to have a far greater variety of fruit than you would with a normally planted orchard.

With close planting a normal backyard block will have at least twenty fruit trees. The selection is up to you- what grows best in your area and what you like to eat. As a basic rule I'd suggest three apples (late early and medium) one valencia and one navel orange if frost permits; one lemon (in cold areas try bush lemons or citronelles- the other trees will help shelter them from the frost); a loquat for earliest of all fruit, and the rest according to preference. Remember that early and late varieties may be separated by three months or more- two plums of the same variety may be too many for you to use if they cropped at the same time; but a January ripener will be finished by the time late season ones come in.

Plant dwarf fruit trees along paths as a hedge - dwarf apples, dawf peaches, pomegranates or nectarines - or trees like hazelnuts that can be trimmed to a neat hedge.

Yields

• Apple orchards rarely provide a paying crop in under 7 years, more often 10 to 15 years. Many varieties bear satisfactorily only in alternate years. So they will rarely yield more than 15 crops in 37 to 40 or 45 years from planting.

• Oranges, lemons, and grapefruit require five years to bear profitable crops, but unless injured by frost, they usually bear well annually and for many years.

• Peaches begin to be profitable in the 4th or 5th year. Some trees may be profitable for 20 years. But most growers only count on 10 or 12. Though the peach would naturally bear every year, an annual yield cannot be counted upon because cold winters and spring frosts often destroy the buds, flowers, or newly formed fruits.

• Cherries rarely become profitable before 5 years, are more regular annual bearers than apples and pears, and are naturally longer lived than peaches - 15 to 20 years for well managed sour cherries and plums and 30 years or more for sweet cherries. Their main objections to them are the cost of picking and their proneness to brown rot of the fruit and foliage.

Small fruit

Next to the trees plant 'small fruit' - raspberries, blueberries tamarilloes, pepinoes, pineapples, tamarilloes, elder trees for flowers and berries, kumquats, guavas strawberry guavas, chilean hazelnuts.

Most 'small fruit' is naturally an understory crop anyway- they accept shade for at least part of the day. They will also cast much less shade over the next part of your garden. You can also plant 'small fruit' among the 'permanent' beds.

Perennial Trees

• American wild plum - Prunus americana
• Apple - Malus domestica
• Avocado - Persea americana
• Black cherry - Prunus serotina
• Chestnut crab - Malus sp.
• Choke cherry - Prunus virginiana
• Citrus - Citrus sp.
• Cornelian cherry - Cornus mas
• Eastern Redbud - Cercis occidentalis
• Fig - Ficus carica
• Glossy black chokeberry - Aronia melanocarpa
• Hawthorn - Cratagus sp.
• Hazel nut - Corylus americana, C. cornuta, C. avellana
• Loquat - Eriobotrya japonica
• Maidenhair tree - Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba
• Monkey puzzle - Araucaria araucana
• Pear - Pyrus sp.
• Persimmon - Diospyros sp.
• Pin cherry - Prunus pensylvanica
• Plum - Prunus sp.
• Quince - Cydonia oblonga
• Serviceberry - Juneberry, Amelanchier sp.
• Sweet Chestnut - Castanea sativa
• Tart cherry - Prunus sp.

Vines

• Grape, River or Frost - Vitis riparia
• Grape, Table or Wine - Vitis sp.
• Kiwi - Actinidia sp.

Shrubs and Berries

• American elderberry - Sambucus canadensis
• American highbush crannberry - Viburnum trilobatum
• Black berry - Rubus allegheniensis
• Black raspberries - Rubus occidentalis
• Blueberry - Vaccinium angustifolium, V. corybosium
• Cranberry - Vaccinium macrocarpon
• Elderberry - Sambucus nigra
• Golden currants - Ribes aureum
• Golden raspberries - Rubus sp.
• Gooseberries - Ribes spp.
• Hobblebush - Viburnum alnifolium
• Honeyberry - Lonicera caerule
• Huckberry - Vaccinium sp.
• Huckle berry - Gaylussacia baccata
• Lingonberry - Vaccinium vitis-idaea
• Nannyberry - Viburnum lentago
• Red raspberries - Rubus idaeus
• Regent Serviceberry - Amelanchier alnifolia 'Regent'
• Sea berry - Hippophae rhamnoides
• Silverbuffalo berry - Sheperdia argentea
• Smooth sumac - Rhus glabra
• Staghorn sumac - Rhus typhina
• Strawberry, alpine - Fragaria vesca
• Strawberry - Fragaria virginiana
• Thimbleberry - Rubus parviflorus
• Wild rose - Rosa blanda or sp.

Yields

• Currants, begin to yield usually, during the 4th or 5th year.
• Gooseberries , begin to yield during the 4th or 5th year.
• Raspberry: generally start to pay during the 3rd year and bear annually for 6 to 10 years.
• Blackberry: generally start to pay during the 3rd year and bear annually for 6 to 10 years.
• Dewberries: same as blackberry