Finding The Space To Grow Fruit

How many times have you seen the prices of fresh produce and wished that you could just grow your own fresh fruits instead? It would be nice, but not everyone has the space available to grow a fruit garden in their yard or home... or do they? While any kind of gardening is a space intensive project, not having a huge area you can devote to your garden shouldn't prevent you from growing fruit at all. You just have to think creatively, plan out your space, and make some smart choices and before you know it you'll be biting into some fresh, juicy fruit for dessert!

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first thing you need to do when planning out your limited space is to look at exactly how much you can or want to spare for your fruit, along with what kind of fruits you'd like to grow. Thinking logically of course, even a small fruit tree is going to take up a LOT more space than a patch of strawberries so you have to be prepared to work with what you have. When planning space many people often look outwards when in fact thinking upwards can do just as well. Try using poles or cages to give plants something to grow on that won't take up as much space as growing the plant out over more garden space. Hanging planters work well, too!

Speaking of planters, container gardening is a great way to get fruits growing in a smaller space. You can keep your plants exactly where you want them and, with proper care, make sure that they won't grow over or out of control. Planters can be anything as fancy as decorative ones you might find at a home improvement or gardening store, or as simple as a pot, barrel, can, or other space-appropriate container that your fruit plant will grow and thrive in.

Last but not least, don't feel like you have to grow a ton of fruit; you're not growing to stock a store, just your own fridge. Pick out which fruits you're interested in growing and do the math on how much space just those fruits growing will be taking up. If you end up under your limit and want to grow more, then great! If you end up over, simply plan on either scaling back how much you want to plant, or maybe cut back and even grow fruits in cycles, depending on what kind of fruit it is and how permanent the plants are.

The last thing that you should ever feel when you're planning your garden is that you won't be able to just because of limited space. Fruits are delicious, healthy, whole foods, and having them fresh off of the branch or vine is the best way to enjoy them. If you have the time, money, and are willing to put forth the effort to maintain your fruit garden, your space should be no obstacle to the sweet taste of victory!

Growing Fruit Trees: Worth The Wait?

Welcome back! We apologize for the lack of a post last week; after moving into our new house, we had some problems getting the internet up and running.... Thankfully we are connected now, and back in action! One of the things we are planning for our new property is to plant some fruit trees. So I figured it would be a good time to explore this topic for the next few weeks. This week, we're starting off by exploring the pros and cons of growing fruit.

Nectarine (Prunus persica) fruit development over a 7½ month period, from early winter to midsummer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you think about growing a garden you generally plan to plant seeds one afternoon, spend a few weeks to months taking care of them, and then finally having something you can cook or eat fresh right off of the vine or or out of the ground right away. Fruit trees on the other hand are a much longer investment of time and effort, but continue to yield results year after year even when other plants will have long since been harvested and replanted. If you're thinking about planting fruit trees, then you should make a few key decisions before you start and along the way.

First of all you have to decide if you want to reap the rewards of your work within a short period of time, or if you're actually willing to wait for your work to come to fruition (no pun intended). It can take years for a fruit tree to actually mature enough to start bearing fruit and it can be a long and arduous process of maintenance, pest control, and care that can end up failing and coming to nothing if you aren't prepared, or don't put in the proper time or effort. However, if you're the type of person who doesn't mind settling in for the long haul then you can enjoy delicious fresh fruit year after year once your tree has matured.

Something else that you should think about as you're deciding whether or not to plant fruit trees is what kinds of fruit you might want to grow. There are many factors that come into play when you decide to plant fruit trees such as the condition of your planting area (such as the yard space you have to work with and the quality of the soil) as well as the climate and seasonal harshness of the area you live in. Some places are great for growing fruit trees and will have no problems seeing your trees thrive and flourish, but if the area you live in is subject to harsh seasonal swings you may be limited in the types of fruit you can successfully grow.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One unique perk that fruit trees offer (one that you might not initially realize) is the value that it adds to your home and property. Even if you never plan on selling your home, think of what your fruit trees will offer to you, your family, your friends, and your neighbors. You don't just get the bonus of having a tasty treat you can pluck straight from the branches in your yard, you also have a healthy snack you send to school with your children, ingredients you can use in cooking for family get-togethers, fruit you can preserve for the winter in various ways or to give as gifts, or simply fresh fruit you can gather into a gift basket. The benefit of having fruit readily available is practically endless.

In the end what it all comes down to is whether or not you're willing to persevere through the hard work and long wait of your fruit tree maturing to the point it can actually bear fruit. Even if you start with a partially grown tree that you transplant you will still have to put in the effort of nurturing and acclimating it to its new home while also guarding its safety from insects and disease. If this is something that you think that you can do then planting a fruit tree is definitely worth the wait when you can finally sink your teeth into a crisp apple, juicy pear, or whichever delicious fruit you've decided to grow.

Be sure to stay tuned next week, when we'll discuss the first steps you'll need to think about when planting your fruit trees.

Step One: What Type of Garden Do You Want?

Welcome back to our gardening series!

This article is the second in a series designed to help those interested in starting your own sustainable garden. Whether you are working with limited space, or have a large area available, whether you are interested in fruit, vegetables, or flowers, I hope you will find these tips helpful.

This week we are going to cover the first step in the process:

Image via WikipediaDecide What Type Of Garden You Want
If you’re thinking about starting a garden, the first thing you need to consider is what type of garden you want. There are many different choices and often it can be hard to pick just one, but hopefully these tips can help narrow it down. By narrowing it down, you’ll make the gardening experience easier on both yourself and the plants. If all your plants are similar in type, then it shouldn’t be very hard to care for them all. So here are some of the main garden ideas for you to choose from.

Flowers
If you’re just looking for something to look pretty in your yard, you may want to consider want a flower garden. There are a couple of different families of flowers available for your new garden. Perennial flowers are flowers which come back year after year. Different areas and climates have different flowers which are considered perennials.

Annuals are flowers which must be planted every year — usually in the spring, although this also will depend on your climate and location.

If you do a quick internet search for your area, you can probably find a list of flowers that will bring your new garden to life. Flowers are generally fairly easy to grow, since they often require the most work in the planting stage – after that, they usually can take care of themselves to some extent.

Vegetables
Another choice for your new garden is a vegetable garden. These usually require a Image via Wikipedialittle more work and research than a flower garden, but can be much more rewarding, as they can help you put food on the table! Depending on your climate, you may be able to produce vegetables in your garden for most of the year.

When starting a vegetable garden, you should build it with the thought in mind that you will be adding more types of veggies in later. This will help your expandability. Once all your current crops are out of season, you can rotate in new and different crops. This type of planning works very well for those with limited garden space. A vegetable garden is ideal for someone who wants some produce, but doesn’t want to devote every waking hour to perfecting their garden (see below.)

Fruit
One of the more difficult types of gardens to manage is a fruit garden or orchard. It’s definitely the most high-maintenance! When growing fruits, many more pests will be attracted due to the sweetness of the fruit. You’ll not only have to deal with having just the right dirt and fertilizer, you have to deal with choosing natural pesticides which won’t pose a health-risk to those eating the fruit.

Your fruit garden will probably not produce fruit year-round. The soil needs to be just right for the plants to grow, and putting in another crop during its off-season could be difficult, or even disastrous to its growth process. But if you’re willing to put lots of work into maintaining a garden which gives sweet rewards, then a fruit garden could be a good choice for you.

So now that I’ve outlined some of the main garden types that people choose, it’s time to spend a little time considering your decision. Basically, the garden type comes down to what you want to get out of it, and how much work you want to put into it. If you’re looking for a lovely looking garden with little work, go with a flower garden.

If you want to grow lots of delicious produce, and are willing to put in more time and effort, then go for a vegetable or fruit garden.

Just be sure this is something that you are going to enjoy doing — otherwise, it won’t be worth it for you to put in the effort involved.

In the next article in this series, we will discuss how to choose the best location for your new garden.

And as always, you can find more sustainable gardening tips and resources on our main website at http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html.

See you next time!
Rose.