A few fruit trees or other fruit-bearing plants can enhance the quality of any garden. Not only can you enjoy delicious home-grown organic produce, but many fruit plants have gorgeous blossoms and a clean, fresh aroma. Which plants you choose and where you plant them depends on the size and shape of your garden.
Fruit Trees in the Ground
If you want a large number of fruit trees you need a separate orchard, but even a moderately-sized or small garden can handle one or two trees, as long as they have sufficient sun and protection from excessive wind. They need plenty of space around them for air circulation and expansion. Apple trees, for example, thrive best surrounded by bare ground. If space is limited the trees can be periodically pruned without damage. Peaches, nectarines, and apricots are more vulnerable to the cold, but if you plant them near a south- or west-facing wall they will absorb warmth from it.
Fruit Trees in Containers
If you can’t spare the space to plant fruit trees in the ground many varieties, for example, apples, pears and figs, will also do well in large pots. Citrus fruit can be planted in pots too, but in colder climates they need to be moved to a greenhouse or some other enclosed space in winter.
Fruit Bushes in Planters
The strawberry is one of the most popular container fruits. Strawberries grow great either in planters or trailing along the ground. Other types of fruit thrive as dwarf bushes in containers as well.
Vines
Vine fruit such as grapes can be trained to grow over a pergola, which also provides shade. Imagine the luxury, near the end of the summer, of sitting in a comfortable garden chair, reaching up and plucking a cluster of grapes.
So when you are contemplating improving your garden, consider adding some fruit plants. It’s very rewarding to eat the fruit of your own effort! For more on our gardening series you can read about container gardens, growing herbs and preparing your soil.
This post is a guest post by John Walters who is a freelance writer who attended the 1973 Clarion West science fiction writing workshop and is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America. He writes mainstream fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and memoirs of his wanderings around the world. For many years he lived in Greece with his Greek wife and five sons and taught English as a second language to help pay the bills, but he has recently moved back to the United States and now lives in San Diego.
