Choosing Fruit Trees
For An Urban Lot
This is my Quince tree. I planted it too late last year for it to form branching. It survived, however, and has pretty little buds swelling all down its trunk. 
This is a budding branch of my Elephant Heart plum tree.
The Santa Rosa plum tree is a Luther Burbank selection and is useful as a pollinator for many other plum tree varieties.
Selecting Fruit Tree Varieties For A City Sized Lot
One of the best investments an urban homesteader can make in their garden is to plant fruit trees. You don't need an orchard to have them, just enough space that they will get adequate light and have decent drainage for their roots. If you have a very small yard you can espalier fruit trees along a sunny fence, or create a "living fence" of them between one section of your yard and another. I have seen a garden where plum trees were grown as a front yard fence- it was charming as well as fruitful! So the first consideration you need to make when choosing fruit trees is to figure out where they will go and how many you have room for.
Very few city lots have room to plant standard sized fruit trees so you will generally be looking at planting semi-dwarfs or dwarfs. There are a lot of different root stocks that will help to determine the mature size of a tree but roughly speaking a semi dwarf tree usually will grow between 12 and 15 feet in height. However, you can control how tall it becomes and how wide its canopy is by pruning in the summer. So you have to ask yourself if you're willing to do that. If not you need more space available for letting the tree reach its potential height and width.
Considerations for locations:
- Sunny fence for espaliering. (Allow about 10' between each tree.)
- Any spot that gets a good amount of sunshine throughout the day.
- Trained over garden arches.
- Location that is not overshadowed by the canopy of a large tree.
Take a tour of your yard and figure out how many trees you can fit (depending on your pruning intentions). Once you have a good idea of how many fruit trees you can fit in your yard you can start considering what kinds of fruit trees you want to grow. When you have acreage it isn't as important that you choose carefully- you have room for mistakes. Growing a fruit tree to maturity and full harvest takes about 3-7 years (depending entirely on what type of fruit it is) and so if you choose without much thought you may end up with a whole lot of fruit you and your family doesn't like. That would be incredibly wasteful. The following considerations may seem obvious but I promise that in the excitement of looking through catalogs it is easy to be carried away from common sense.
Choosing Varieties:
I have now purchased all the trees I can fit in my yard for now without ripping up concrete in my driveway. When I'm ready to consider espaliering, I may have more room. I want to share with you what I have growing in my yard and why I chose the ones I did.
Plums. I love plums. Philip doesn't. Plums are rarely good in the main markets these days. Plums, even ones known to be firm in quality, should never be hard. They are a luscious, perfumed, strong flavored, gorgeous fruit. Juicey or meaty, they are healthy to eat and can be used in many satisfactory ways. Philip loves the plum liqueur we made a few years ago from Santa Rosa plums (actually grown in Santa Rosa by a friend's father in law) and we have not found a good supply of plums since. They grow well in our area but aren't being grown commercially anymore. So if you come across a plum it is most often mealy, flavorless, or hard and flavorless. I love them fresh but I also plan to make: jam, liqueur, wine, and dried. I plan to try pickling them as well and freezing some.
Santa Rosa Plum- this is a great pollinator of many other plums so I needed one. Besides, when grown in good conditions and picked when ripe they are juicy with a sweet rich flavor that often finishes on a tart note. Will use for: fresh eating, liqueurs, wine, canned, frozen.
Greengage Plum- I love growing varieties that you hear about in history. Greengages have been grown in Europe since the middle ages and used for jams especially. I couldn't resist having my own. I had decided to go with a Damson, also a very old variety, but then a lovely Greengage shouted out to me on sale last year and I had to have it. I can't get my mind off of Damsons though and may have to get one as well. Will use for: fresh eating, jam, fruit cheese*.
Elephant Heart Plum- a Japanese variety of plum that has brilliant red flesh and a very rich tangy flavor. I have never eaten one fresh but my friend Chelsea made jam out of this plum and we ate it over her fresh made scones and I have needed to have a supply of that ever since. The jam was a beautiful fuscia color, sparkling, and the flavor unseated me! I bored poor Chelsea to tears with my almost incoherent mumblings of happiness. Will use for: fresh eating, jam, liqueur, more jam, maybe wine.
Peaches. Peaches are not an ideal crop in this area. We have particular issues with peach leaf curl. You cannot grow peaches satisfactorily here without the use of sprays. I feel your eyebrows raise at that. I don't believe in spraying in general, however, you can use nontoxic sprays to control peach leaf curl, like sulfer and lime. Practicing good orchard management (raking up fallen fruit and leaves) will minimize the issues as well. Peaches are so expensive to buy and so satisfying to freeze, can, eat fresh, and bake with that I must have some.
Improved Elberta- I chose this one on the recommendation by Barbara at Wilco. She say the flavor is phenomenal and that this Elberta has been improved to bloom later (important in our area) and to be more resistant to leaf curl. Will use for: fresh eating, canning, freezing, preserves.
Frost- I've canned and eaten this variety so I know I like it. It is a variety known to be good for our less than ideal peach conditions. Will use for: fresh eating, canning, freezing, preserves.
Veteran- I've also eaten this one fresh and canned it and love it. Just as with Frost, I chose it for its reputation as a good variety for my area. Although I really wanted to go with some of the more traditional heirloom varieites, I recognized that to have success with this fruit it was smarter to choose ones known to succeed here. Will use for: fresh eating, canning, freezing, preserves.
Cherries. As I said earlier, I don't like sweet cherries preserved in any way. I've dried them, attempted jam, and eaten them frozen in friends' deserts and I never feel that they are anything better than "ok". So I will only grow one sweet cherry tree. I really wanted to choose a 4 in 1 grafted tree but Wilco was out. This might be a good option for some of you though. Sour cherries are my favorite to can, dry, and freeze. Cherries are everywhere in my area but the prices for the sweet cherries seem to be continually on the rise and not very many orchards offer u-pick for the sweet ones. I saw many baskets of sweet cherries going for $5 a pound!
Lapins- This is a Bing type cherry but better because it is crack resistant. Cracking in fruit occurs when the weather alternates quickly between rain and sun. Rain swells the fruit and then when the sun comes out it causes the fruit to crack. This was a hard choice for me. I have no opportunity to taste this variety even though it is probably widely grown around here. But I couldn't find enough adequate information comparing it to the other Bing-type cherries nor could enough people offer up their opinions for me to make comparisons. Will use for: fresh eating only. (possibly trading with friends for other fruits/food.)
Montmorency- this is the most widely grown sour cherry in the country. I want a Morello (Heirloom English variety of sour cheery) but no one has them locally. I ended up getting a Montmorency. However, sour cherry trees, especially the Morello, are smaller and less vigorous than the sweet cherry trees and so I will grow two of them eventually. I know that both these varieties are great because I've had access to both. Will use for: freezing, jam, preserves, syrup, liqueur, baking.
Quince. I have one quince tree in my yard. I don't know that I need moe than that. Quince has some medicinal uses and is an ancient fruit that has been prized all the way back to Biblical times. It is so astringent it cannot be eaten raw off the tree. It is similar in flavor to a pear. One of the great things about quinces is that they are so high in pectin, if you need pectin for canning purposes- quinces can be used to make pectin naturally at home. Will use for: baking, pectin making, fruit cheese, preserves.
I would like to know what fruit trees and varieties you've planted or are planning to plant and why. Don't leave me on my geeky fruit tree limb alone- I know there are lots of you on it with me!!
*Not actual cheese. It is like an aged condensed fruit candy. Very old fashioned preserve. Takes up to 24 months to cure it.
Choosing Varieties:
- Know your growing zone. This is so important because if you try to grow fruit that doesn't generally do well in your area you may have to work very hard to get good fruit. Choose fruit varieties that are known to do well in your zone. Be sure you know if the fruit actually ripen in your zone! We can grow pomegranates in the Pacific Northwest but we don't have enough heat to ripen the fruit.
- Choose fruit you know you love. What fruit do you buy a lot of at the store or at the farmer's market? If you had an array of fruit in front of you- which would be your first choice? Can you grow it in your zone? If yes- you should be growing it. Ask your family what they love best. While my son will eat apples, it is not mine or my husband's favorite fruit. We love the lore of apples but when it comes down to choosing fruit in a lineup, a whole lot of fruit comes in front of them.
- Know the pollinating needs of the fruit you want to grow. This is very important in the city sized lot. All apples need a pollinator which means that if you want to grow apples you either have to grow two varieties that are known to pollinate each other or you need to be sure that many of your neighbors also grow apples. Pears also need pollinators. Many peaches, however, are self fertile. So before you buy- be certain you have accounted for this or you won't get fruit.
- What will you do with the extra fruit? You need to consider what you will do with extra fruit once the tree begins to produce at full capacity. I only like sweet cherries fresh, I dislike them in any preserved form. Many of my friends love using frozen sweet cherries in deserts. It is best to grow fruit that you also like to can, dry, or freeze. If you have extra of something you only like fresh, you can always do trades with friends for other things. But you should ask yourself what you will do with your peaches when you have 100 lbs of them all at once.
- Taste the fruit first if you can. Many areas that have local agriculture have tastings of fruits during harvest time. In my area the biggest tastings are of apples, which grow very well here. At any number of farms you can visit during harvest during special tasting events and discover what apples you really love. So if you can, try tasting the varieties you want to grow before you commit them to your permanent planting. This isn't always possible, in which case do as much reading about varieties as you can first. Ask other local people what they grow and why.
- The cost benefit. Apples and pears are everywhere in my area and during harvest season it isn't difficult to find friends with more apples than they can use who want to share with you, or to find u-pick farms who let you pick for cheaper than it costs to buy the fruit in the store. peaches are harder to come by. Furthermore, they are generally cost prohibitive at the farmer's market for anyone on a budget (usually starting at $2.50 p/lb compared to apples which are often under a dollar p/lb). The local peach orchards are being sold off and shut down so I decided that growing peaches is a priority for me. I love canned peaches and nothing beats fresh peaches during the summer.
I have now purchased all the trees I can fit in my yard for now without ripping up concrete in my driveway. When I'm ready to consider espaliering, I may have more room. I want to share with you what I have growing in my yard and why I chose the ones I did.
Plums. I love plums. Philip doesn't. Plums are rarely good in the main markets these days. Plums, even ones known to be firm in quality, should never be hard. They are a luscious, perfumed, strong flavored, gorgeous fruit. Juicey or meaty, they are healthy to eat and can be used in many satisfactory ways. Philip loves the plum liqueur we made a few years ago from Santa Rosa plums (actually grown in Santa Rosa by a friend's father in law) and we have not found a good supply of plums since. They grow well in our area but aren't being grown commercially anymore. So if you come across a plum it is most often mealy, flavorless, or hard and flavorless. I love them fresh but I also plan to make: jam, liqueur, wine, and dried. I plan to try pickling them as well and freezing some.
Santa Rosa Plum- this is a great pollinator of many other plums so I needed one. Besides, when grown in good conditions and picked when ripe they are juicy with a sweet rich flavor that often finishes on a tart note. Will use for: fresh eating, liqueurs, wine, canned, frozen.
Greengage Plum- I love growing varieties that you hear about in history. Greengages have been grown in Europe since the middle ages and used for jams especially. I couldn't resist having my own. I had decided to go with a Damson, also a very old variety, but then a lovely Greengage shouted out to me on sale last year and I had to have it. I can't get my mind off of Damsons though and may have to get one as well. Will use for: fresh eating, jam, fruit cheese*.
Elephant Heart Plum- a Japanese variety of plum that has brilliant red flesh and a very rich tangy flavor. I have never eaten one fresh but my friend Chelsea made jam out of this plum and we ate it over her fresh made scones and I have needed to have a supply of that ever since. The jam was a beautiful fuscia color, sparkling, and the flavor unseated me! I bored poor Chelsea to tears with my almost incoherent mumblings of happiness. Will use for: fresh eating, jam, liqueur, more jam, maybe wine.
Peaches. Peaches are not an ideal crop in this area. We have particular issues with peach leaf curl. You cannot grow peaches satisfactorily here without the use of sprays. I feel your eyebrows raise at that. I don't believe in spraying in general, however, you can use nontoxic sprays to control peach leaf curl, like sulfer and lime. Practicing good orchard management (raking up fallen fruit and leaves) will minimize the issues as well. Peaches are so expensive to buy and so satisfying to freeze, can, eat fresh, and bake with that I must have some.
Improved Elberta- I chose this one on the recommendation by Barbara at Wilco. She say the flavor is phenomenal and that this Elberta has been improved to bloom later (important in our area) and to be more resistant to leaf curl. Will use for: fresh eating, canning, freezing, preserves.
Frost- I've canned and eaten this variety so I know I like it. It is a variety known to be good for our less than ideal peach conditions. Will use for: fresh eating, canning, freezing, preserves.
Veteran- I've also eaten this one fresh and canned it and love it. Just as with Frost, I chose it for its reputation as a good variety for my area. Although I really wanted to go with some of the more traditional heirloom varieites, I recognized that to have success with this fruit it was smarter to choose ones known to succeed here. Will use for: fresh eating, canning, freezing, preserves.
Cherries. As I said earlier, I don't like sweet cherries preserved in any way. I've dried them, attempted jam, and eaten them frozen in friends' deserts and I never feel that they are anything better than "ok". So I will only grow one sweet cherry tree. I really wanted to choose a 4 in 1 grafted tree but Wilco was out. This might be a good option for some of you though. Sour cherries are my favorite to can, dry, and freeze. Cherries are everywhere in my area but the prices for the sweet cherries seem to be continually on the rise and not very many orchards offer u-pick for the sweet ones. I saw many baskets of sweet cherries going for $5 a pound!
Lapins- This is a Bing type cherry but better because it is crack resistant. Cracking in fruit occurs when the weather alternates quickly between rain and sun. Rain swells the fruit and then when the sun comes out it causes the fruit to crack. This was a hard choice for me. I have no opportunity to taste this variety even though it is probably widely grown around here. But I couldn't find enough adequate information comparing it to the other Bing-type cherries nor could enough people offer up their opinions for me to make comparisons. Will use for: fresh eating only. (possibly trading with friends for other fruits/food.)
Montmorency- this is the most widely grown sour cherry in the country. I want a Morello (Heirloom English variety of sour cheery) but no one has them locally. I ended up getting a Montmorency. However, sour cherry trees, especially the Morello, are smaller and less vigorous than the sweet cherry trees and so I will grow two of them eventually. I know that both these varieties are great because I've had access to both. Will use for: freezing, jam, preserves, syrup, liqueur, baking.
Quince. I have one quince tree in my yard. I don't know that I need moe than that. Quince has some medicinal uses and is an ancient fruit that has been prized all the way back to Biblical times. It is so astringent it cannot be eaten raw off the tree. It is similar in flavor to a pear. One of the great things about quinces is that they are so high in pectin, if you need pectin for canning purposes- quinces can be used to make pectin naturally at home. Will use for: baking, pectin making, fruit cheese, preserves.
I would like to know what fruit trees and varieties you've planted or are planning to plant and why. Don't leave me on my geeky fruit tree limb alone- I know there are lots of you on it with me!!
*Not actual cheese. It is like an aged condensed fruit candy. Very old fashioned preserve. Takes up to 24 months to cure it.
Comments (11)
I am only going to plant two plums this year. I haven't decided on which, but they will be prune type plums, so probably Brooks or Italian plums. We love plums and eat a lot of prunes. We also have access to lots of free cherries every year and apples and pears are plentiful around here.
Ayers Creek Farm at the farmers market had the best plums, they had quite a few different varieties too.
Posted by Lisa | February 28, 2009 1:06 PM
Posted on February 28, 2009 13:06
My plum radar must have been turned off because I didn't see that- I saw some prune types but that was all I saw. I usually scan the fruit that everyone has at the market. I'll have to look more closely this year!
I really like prune plums for fresh eating as well as the more usual suspects, but since no one in my family but me likes prunes I had to draw the line. Especially since I seem to have this crazy need to grow Damsons just so I can make Damson Jam. But like I said in our e-mail just a minute ago- we can trade plums with each other!!
Posted by Angelina | February 28, 2009 1:26 PM
Posted on February 28, 2009 13:26
Did you miss their whole booth or just the plums? Because they had some great potatoes and a few different dried beans, too.
Also, their plums were so good. They had different varieties almost every week. One variety they had was violet gage and they were so sweet and fragrant. It was like perfume in your mouth. I can't remember any other varieties they had, but they had many.
Posted by Lisa | February 28, 2009 4:51 PM
Posted on February 28, 2009 16:51
Angelina,
Your name was one of the 5 drawn for the mushroom giveaway. Send me an email with your mailing address. Thanks, Tonia
Posted by Tonia | February 28, 2009 5:46 PM
Posted on February 28, 2009 17:46
Ooooh, fruit trees! this is a subject I've thought a lot about and I have big plans for our little 1/4 acre. we have one 50' fence for espalier & some trees will stay in pots - freezes are rare here in zone 10, so containers are a nice option for size control. I like how you outlined your list & I should really do the same on my blog; my wish list isn't short!
Blood Orange (Tarocca)
Tangerine (Honey Murcott)
Lemon (Meyer, container)
Grapefruit (Ruby Red dwarf, container)
Key Lime (container)
Finger Lime (container; these are so cool!)
Peach (UF Sungold, UF Tropic Beauty; espalier'd)
Pear (Pineapple, Hood; espalier'd)
Pomegranate (still deciding on variety)
Mulberry (Weeping dwarf)
Macadamia (container)
and these aren't trees, but still fruit -
Blackberries (Southern)
Blueberries (Southern Highbush, hedge)
Strawberries (still deciding)
Muscadine Grape (1 gold, 1 black; still deciding)
of course it's very much a wish list right now (no luck yet), but a girl can always save up, and dream!
Posted by miss lila | February 28, 2009 7:56 PM
Posted on February 28, 2009 19:56
So far I planted two pears (dwarf) one one either side of my front porch steps, and will espalier them this spring. One is a Bartlett and the other Moonglow. I'll use for fresh, canning and preserves. I'm so excited at the thought of a few pears this year for fresh eating! Then I planted a North Star Pie Cherry dwarf, which will grow natural with a central leader. This year I am working on the garden beds down along the driveway and intend to grow a living fence along the north side of one of the beds, which will hold 3 or 4 dwarf trees. I'm thinking apple and pear mixed. Or maybe I'll do peaches. I'm still thinking. I'd like Wolf River apples...they do very well in our area, are an excellent baking and preserving apple. For fresh eating, I'm still on the fence... Winesap? Pink Lady? I'm doing a lot of reading last week and this...
Other fruit plans for the year include strawberries, raspberries, gooseberry, black currant. May do a few blues, although my BIL has 50 bushes at his house and I always fill my freezer over there for trade with green beans. May plant a few anyway, just for the divine pleasure of stepping out the back door to pick for my morning granola. Oh! Maybe I can grow low bush wild blues here. I wonder...adding to my list of questions now.
that thing I was telling you about...the possibility of a move...we're just going to keep that in our mental back pocket for now and proceed with our plans for the urban farm here. can't allow myself to get frozen again. also in our back pocket if things get crazy...we still own the property in Diamond, and if we have to move back there and rent this? good to have options.
so. fruit! oh! I also want to do some grapes...but those I would like to make architectural elements and we don't have the cash to build the side yard patio/firepit/gardens/wood fired pizza oven this year. Tho I'd love to start doing some of the prep work for that...and get the drawings done. The idea will be to have it enclosed with a living fence of fruit trees and vines.
oh, hey. Have you ever grown hops? Am considering that too...
ok. I've taken up enough scrolling space here for today! FRUIT! xo
Posted by kelly | March 1, 2009 6:12 AM
Posted on March 1, 2009 06:12
We went to the Portland Yard, Garden, and Patio show yesterday - and there was one thing that I thought was so cool (for someone living in a city lot without much available space). There was a living fence - a grid filled with pots and in the pots were various lettuce, peas, etc. I loved it. I bought some purple asparagus.
Posted by Karmyn R | March 1, 2009 10:34 AM
Posted on March 1, 2009 10:34
my head is swimming in fruit...I don't have a useful comment but when I figure it out I'll post about it. Be assured though, fruit trees will be planted in front and back yards this year!
Posted by Kathy | March 1, 2009 7:07 PM
Posted on March 1, 2009 19:07
I've been slowly adding fruit trees to the yard as money allows. So far: a Fuyu persimmon last year, and this year a dwarf Bartlett pear, both from Friends of Trees. Also last year, an espaliered six in one dwarf apple, and a really baby Akane apple (just a stick).
I'd really like to get two prune plums, they are my favorites, and I know they do really well here. I'd also like another pear to improve pollination, though the other two pear trees on this block seem to do okay (they look like Bartletts also) Eventually I'd like some berries too...
Posted by alison | March 2, 2009 12:37 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 12:37
There is an existing peach tree in my yard, which was there when I moved in. Since we may be moving this year, I am not planting any fruit trees, but am thinking about planting blueberries & strawberries in containers so we can take them with us.
Posted by Jade | March 2, 2009 1:03 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 13:03
I have planted one North Star Pie Cherry, that I got from Burgess (a catalog from IL)...and it is in sad shape. I was trying to figure out why when I can across this blog.
I also planted two dwarf apples; Lodi and Granny Smith. I have been reading and realized that they may not flower close enough together to pollinate. But that is ok, because I want to buy more apples anyways.
Those were planted very early this spring.
NOW, I am currently trying to find places to plant ever-sweet strawberries, and 6 blueberry bushes; Elliot, O'Neal, and Chippewa. We purchased soil acidifier and fertilizer for acid loving plants. I also purchased 4.4 cu. ft. of peat moss to ensure a low enough PH to grow them in our yard.....I am trying desperately to keep all these healthy in one season. Any advise on my cherry would be great, but i am afraid it may be too late.....
I must get back to searching for that very problem online, now!
Great blog....
Posted by Misty Skye | June 8, 2009 6:45 AM
Posted on June 8, 2009 06:45