Did you know there are around 2,500 varieties of apples that grow in the U.S.? You certainly wouldn’t if you’ve only gone to the grocery store. There are varieties of apples that are coveted by chefs, like the heirloom Esopus Spitzenburg, but good luck finding that at the supermarket. So, why not grow apples and other fruits and berries yourself?
No doubt, fresh fruit, plucked from a tree, is magical. Picking that sun-ripened, juicy peach right off the branch and biting into the soft, fuzzy fruit is the essence of a hot summer day. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do that? But trees take years to grow, right? Not necessarily! There are fast-growing fruit trees that bear fruit in as little as two years, and that’s why fertilizer exists!
If you want to start growing fruits and berries at home, keep in mind that critters may find their way into your yard too. Just about every animal loves fresh fruit and they will come knocking when you look like you’re serving a buffet. But don’t worry, there are many ways to protect your fruit trees from deer and other animals.
In the articles below, we share everything you need to know about growing fruits and berries. You can learn more about the delicious art of fruit and berry gardening in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Needs to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!
As much as I love vegetable gardening, there’s something truly magical about having a few fruit trees in your yard. A fresh apple or peach or cherry straight from the tree is simply unbeatable. Like all plants, though, fruit trees need certain nutrients to thrive, and over time, they can deplete the soil of these nutrients.
Whenever I hear about lingonberries, I’m teleported to the scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the O.G. film with Gene Wilder) where the kids are licking wallpaper. The snozzberries taste like snozzberries! Wallpaper licking aside, for some folks like me the lingonberry is a bit more on the fringe than the more popular cranberry or blueberry.
Whether spring or fall, both are great times to start your backyard orchard! If you’ve been following along for some time, you know that when we bought our house, it had the most beautiful flower gardens, but I had a hard time loving them. In fact, I sort of hated them, because I didn’t know […]
When we were buying our first house, we shopped a lot. Our realtor must have been exhausted by us. On one occasion, we saw a home that opened up to a lower level that had a fully grown lemon tree right in the middle of it, growing from a large pot. I’d never seen anything like it, and I immediately bought myself a 3-foot Meyer lemon tree online to see if I could grow one myself.
I love carrots. They also disappoint me a lot. They’re some of the most challenging vegetables to grow in your garden. They’re also among the easiest fruits and vegetables to grow. That doesn’t make sense at first glance. It’s complicated.
While we often think of berries as outdoor plants, you can grow some berries indoors as long as you have the best lights for growing them. And what’s not to love about berries? I love how homemade strawberry jam tastes on a piece of toast in the morning. Fresh blueberries are perfect in a bowl […]
I’ve always loved the idea of walking into my backyard and picking an apple or some cherries right off the tree. It seems so idyllic, like a ray of sunshine will illuminate the tree and the birds will sing and it will be the most wonderful fruit I’ve ever had. I think we all know that’s not quite how it works. One thing I didn’t count on, however, was protecting fruit trees from deer.
A versatile and delicious fruit (that is also an excellent source of fiber), it’s no wonder why so many people want to learn how to grow figs. In their native environments, fig trees will produce year-round, feeding scores of animal and insect species. Domesticated, fig trees have become a staple in fruit tree gardening. No […]
Ah, the memories of growing up in the land of abundant fruits and vegetables. It was like living in a produce paradise, with a dash of suburban wisdom from dear old dad. My father’s economic mantras echoed in my ears daily. “I don’t own stock in the electric company,” he’d say, as if it were […]
For the past 5 years, my mother and I have been driving my grandmother to Florida each November. We stay for a week or so to get her all settled in and then fly back home. She is happy to spend the winter in the warmth, and we are happy knowing that she made it […]
