Selecting Fruit Trees For Your Garden

Wasatch front homeowners need to re-consider planting fruit trees in their yards.  Modern horticulture has come out with modern dwarf fruit trees that fit into most any landscape. 

Whether you own a fair size yard, a really small yard or an intimate court yard there is always room for a fruit tree.  You can even grow them in planters!

When growing them in pots, make sure you provide drainage in the bottom.  Rig a drip irrigation to provide consistent water.  Use a 20 liter pot for adequate size. 

Think of replacing some or all of your yard with beautiful, healthy sun-ripened fruit. Think of harvesting delicious fruit instead of mowing the grass!  There is a relative abundance of hardy, attractive and pest-free fruits. 

Choosing The Right Fruits

• Consider the space you have to grow in
• Select fruits best suited to your area
• Plant fruit you really like to eat
• Make sure the trees are compatible with your climatic zone
• You will receive minimal disease problems and a better yield

Improve your success rate by maximizing your space.  Do not allow your trees to grow too tall.  Never allow them to grow taller than you can reach and prune.

You need to be able to reach your fruit to harvest it, protect it from the fruit fly and birds. 

Space Saving Techniques

• Use multi-grafted trees to give you a range of flavors
• They allow pollination requirements to be met
• Consider using dwarf rootstocks
• Dwarf rootstocks maximize your space
• They will minimize your pruning effort

Consider using the planting of 2 or 3 fruit trees in one hole.  Often referred to as 'Trio or Duo' planting.  This minimizes the chance that one cultivar will dominate the planting hole.

Espaliered fruit trees is the best method to preserve space and maximize yield.  Most any fruit tree can be trained like this.  Trees espaliered along a wall or the house will reap the benefits from a sun warmed wall.

Advantages Of Espalier Fruit Trees

• Most any fruit tree can be espaliered
• 'Espalier' is the art of growing trees in a horizontal plane
• Calls for pruning all but three planes of horizontal branches
• All of your yield becomes easy to harvest

Pollination for fruit trees.  To combat limited space, select fruit tree cultivars that do not need cross-pollination.  Use a multi-grafted tree or 'Duo or Trio' plantings.

Varieties of Dwarf Fruit Trees

• Apples-Gala, Black Arkansas, Fuji or Granny Smith
• Pears-Bartlett, D'Anjou and Bosc
• Peaches-Babcock, Autumn Gold and California Curl-Free

Wasatch front homeowners have a tremendous variety of fruit trees to select for their home garden.  Go ahead and reap the benefits of your own fruit!