Nothing can beat picking garden-fresh strawberries or that first ripe apple of the season. These days, it is perfectly possible to grow one or two of your favourite fruits, whatever size plot you have. Don’t be intimidated by a small area, there are plenty of different fruits you can grow!
The first thing you should do is assess the space to determine how much room you have. Next see how much sun the area gets; there are fruits that will take some shade, but for the most part fruits like a lot of sun. Once you have done this, decide which fruits you would like to grow and check the varieties to see which ones best suit your space. You may not be able to grow everything on your list, but even in a small area you will get a good selection. There are many dwarf varieties, or varieties that can be kept smaller by pruning.
Start with your largest fruit and work your way down. Often this would be an apple, cherry, or plum tree. Decide which type of fruit tree you would like and then compare different varieties. The key to growing productive fruit trees is pollination — and that’s something you have to plan before you plant.
Every type of fruit tree has distinct requirements for pollination: some require another pollinator in order to produce fruit, and some are self pollinating. Plum trees require a good pollinator to produce fruit, while most apple trees will produce without a pollinator (though you will have a larger harvest with a pollinator).
Next decide on your small fruits. In our area we have plenty of success with blueberries, haskap, grapes, currants, blackberry, gooseberry, raspberries, and strawberries. If you plant an assortment of fruits you can also enjoy a fairly long harvest: haskaps and strawberries will begin to produce in June, followed in summer by blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, and grapes.
If you have a shadier area, you can grow blackberries, gooseberries, blueberries and currents there leaving the favorable sunny side for fruits such as grapes, raspberries, and strawberries. If there is a frost pocket lurking in one corner, use this for the robust blackberries and currants that are able to cope.
If space is at a premium consider growing your strawberries in a hanging basket. This will save a lot of ground space and gives them plenty of sun.
Growing your own fruit is a fun and rewarding activity, and can be done in almost any sized space. Try your hand at a fruit this summer and reap the rewards!
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