Fruit trees can make a great addition to backyards by providing shade and access to fresh (and delicious!) fruits. Sadly, enjoying all the benefits fruit trees have to offer isn’t as easy as digging a hole and plopping one in. I spoke with an expert familiar with growing and caring for fruit trees to find out what you need to know before investing your time and money into planting a tree of your own.
Size matters.
Before you even decide what type of tree you’re going to plant, Mickey Popat, CEO and cofounder of plantogram.com, says it’s important to take the size of your space into consideration.
If you’ve got plenty of room outside, Popat says there’s no problem with choosing a tree that will reach 20 or more feet at maturity. “If you have a smaller urban backyard with close neighbors, dwarf or semi dwarf fruit trees may be more appropriate,” he says. “They can be maintained at about 8 to 12 feet tall, are very compact, and still provide an abundance of fruit.”
Some trees offer year round greenery.
If shade matters just as much as your fruit harvest, Popat suggests looking for an evergreen tree, which will have leaves year round instead of a deciduous one, which drops its leaves as seasons change.
Trees not suited for the climate where you live may not fruit.
The United States Department of Agriculture has broken the country up into hardiness zones to make it easier for people to figure out which plants can survive in their climate (you can check yours here). Choosing the right tree for your zone can not only mean the difference between whether the tree survives the freezing winter temps, but also whether your tree has the right conditions to produce fruit. READ MORE...
