How to Plant for a Fruit-Filled Year

Did you know that you can plan your Fruit Trees and Perennial fruiting plants such that you set yourself up to harvest in every season? This means eating fresh fruit from your own backyard nearly every year of the month! While we tend to think as summertime as the main fruit season , and it is, we tend to forget the many fruits which are harvested during other parts of the year. Here's how it works.

1. Think about your planting space and decide if you'll need to get Small or Full Size fruit trees and what the limit would be before you run out of space. For example, if you need to stay within a 10ft by 10ft square of land, I would recommend no more than 4 semi-dwarf trees, which over time would likely need to be pruned to keep small or perhaps 6 Dwarf fruit trees or bushes grown in ground or in containers.

2. Account for existing plants - If you already have fruit producing plants at home, consider them in the plan from the start and add to that rather than from zero. This sounds simple but when faced with all the many choices its easy to accidently select a fruit plant which needs harvesting at the same time your existing plant does, which can lead to overwhelm. For example I already have an orange tree in my yard, so it wouldn't make sense for me to get another type of orange tree or mandarin tree because then I would have way too much fruit to deal with during harvest. The oranges are ready to pick in December- February so I want to choose fruiting plants that are ready during other parts of the year. That being said, if you're a market gardener and do need lots of fruit for sale or like to make marmalade or other fruit products, you may find it necessary to double up!

3. Select a time frame in the year you'd like to be harvesting in and fill it! - then consider what plants harvest that time of year and see if any of them are fruits you like to eat! For example, with my 1 orange tree, I'm not harvesting any fruit in spring summer or fall, so last year I planted a persimmon tree, which I'll pick from in October-November, before the oranges are ready. Next I might want to add a cherry tree to harvest in May, or apricot tree to harvest in June or a peach tree to harvest in July, a pear for August, or a fig tree for September, get the picture? Use the chart below, I recommend adding no more than 2-3 trees at a time for beginners so that you have enough time to focus on learning and caring for the young trees without overwhelm.

   
   

   

   
   

4. Early Season vs Late Season Fruits - Don't forget about individual variety specifics!- this is a huge part of planning! You'll notice that in my monthly chart above some fruits, like apricot for example, can be harvested in multiple months. Its important to remember that each variety of apricot will ripen in a slightly different timeframe. For whichever variety you pick, you'll likely be harvesting for just a couple weeks unless you choose to early season, mid season and late season varieties to widen your harvest window. Here's what that looks like

   1. Apricot: 'Gold Kist' Apricot is an early season variety with the first fruits being ready to harvest in late-May. 'Harcott' Apricot is a mid-season variety, ready in Mid-June. 'Tilton' apricot is ready in early July. 'Early-Autumn' is a late season apricot ready in early august. If you need a big consistent harvest you may plant all 4! If you have a big family that loves apricots, preserving and sharing, you may need 2 trees! they're heavy producers and don't need to be thinned like other fruits!

   2. Apples: 'Honeycrisp' apple is one of the first to be harvested in early august, followed by Gala in late august, Golden Delicious in September, Red Fuji later in the month, Granny Smith in October and Sundower in early November!

   3. Berries!: Strawberries are the first of the year, with some varieties being harvested in early spring. When shopping for strawberry plants be sure to check if the variety is an Everbearing or Spring-bearing strawberry. Spring bearing means it fruits one a year in spring, Everbearing means you'll see berries throughout the growing season. Blueberry varieties are mostly all ready in June and July, with Blackberry and Boysenberry being harvested right after in August.

   4. Cherries: Black Tartarian are first to harvest in early May, followed by Craigs Crimson and Royal Rainier by mid-month, Bing and Stella at the end of the month and Lambert and Lapins in early June.

   5. Peach: While most peaches are ready in July and August, some new varieties in the market like 'El Dorado Mini' are ready as soon as early June! Followed by Gold Dust later in the month, Redhaven and Donut Stark Saturn in early July, Arctic supreme white later in the month, Dixon Cling, Elberta and Red Baron in early August and O'Henry by the end of the month

   6. Nectarine: for nectarine there are new early varieties hitting the market as well, Arctic Star, Arctic Babe and NectaZee in June, Hark, Independence and FlavorTop in July, Fantasia by end of July. Arctic Queen and ZeeGlo in August and Liz's Late in early September!

   7. For more information on average harvest time in our area I highly recommended visiting davewilson.com, they supply bareroot fruit trees to local nurseries all around us and carry all the most commonly asked for varieties! Their website is a great place to find this info!

5. Consider your annual garden plan - You'll see I included watermelon in the late summer, watermelon and cantaloupe plants can produce nice yields! So if I'm a gardener that loves melon and always plants a patch big enough for my family to eat and share, I might be less interested in grapes, which are going to require harvest work at the very same time. Alternatively you'll notice April is a slow month, at that time winter fruit is coming to an end but summer fruits need a bit more time, so how else can I incorporate fresh homegrown produce? I may plan to have a lettuce patch that time of year, or snap peas and other short season early spring greens. Get creative with it!

6. Know when its too much! - Gardeners, especially beginners, can be overwhelmed by the amount of fruit their trees can produce. Its important to carefully think about which plants or trees you'll be adding. How many strawberry plants will be enough for you to eat fresh? How many if you need enough to make jam? Will 2 blueberry plants be enough for your family? Or would you want more so you have enough to share with friends too? Full size trees are the maximum, within a few years you could be producing wheelbarrows full of oranges, lemons, plums, peaches or apricots. knowing how much you're prepared to handle is key. And having a backup plan for excess, weather that be sharing with neighbors, selling or preserving, is a good idea!

I hope this quick guide inspires you to make your garden just a touch more fruitful! Please comment below what seasons your garden is productive in!