Caring For Fruit Trees
Fruit trees are a wonderful addition to any garden, they provide interest, color that varies throughout the season and the ultimate prize is a harvest of useful and enjoyable fruit. Many gardeners use trees in their landscape designs but so many assume that caring for fruit trees is too much hassle to merit inclusion in their garden design. Yes they may present unique problems but with a little time and effort they are easily overcome and the bonuses easily outweigh the small amount of extra work required to ensure that your fruit tree remains healthy and produces a fine crop of fruit.
Of course what types of fruit tree will grow best in your garden will depend heavily on a number of factors such as country, climate, soil type and others but, if you are really determined to grow a fruit tree considered unsuitable for your garden, some difficulties can be overcome by using such things as greenhouses. Some fruit trees such as orange trees and other types of citrus can be difficult to grow in harsher climates but it is surprising how many types of fruit and nut bearing trees will grow in such areas. Typically fruit trees such as apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees and plum trees are relatively easy to maintain and it is surprising how easy it can be to gain a crop of hazelnuts from a hazel tree of only a few years old (nut trees such as the Hazel and walnut are considered fruit trees).
Fruit trees are not only useful for providing food for humans they are also very important in providing food for our wildlife. It is becoming increasingly common to see urban gardens being designed as wildlife gardens providing small habitats for birds and other creatures. An incredible amount of pleasure can be gained from sitting watching a variety of birds gathering fruit from your garden, trees such as cherry are perfect for this. If you live in a more rural area or near to a nature reserve, such as the Freshfield Pine Woods in the United Kingdom, and you grow hazel nuts or any other nut bearing fruit tree you may be extremely lucky and get regular visits by squirrels which can be highly amusing.
Caring for fruit trees is very much like caring for any other types of tree and a quick scan through our article "Tree Care" will help you to understand the basic requirements of most types of tree. The article explains such things as soil care and cultivation as well as discussing the use of chemicals, a brief introduction to pruning is also given. Pruning fruit trees is crucial to the long term health of your fruit tree, it can help produce a tree capable of bearing plenty of fruit without causing problems. By carefully pruning trees of a very young age you can help the tree to grow branches able to carry the extra weight fruit without causing damage. In the case of a pear tree this can be extremely important, pear trees will develop bunches of pears and many growers will pinch out any smaller fruit to allow the remaining fruit to develop to a larger size, this can create an enormous strain upon the branch which could break under the strain. It may even be necessary to add external support by propping the branch up with a piece of wood or you could carefully tie it to something slightly higher.
How and when to prune fruit trees varies greatly from one type to another. Apple and pear trees benefit greatly from formative pruning in the winter months, November to March, (formative pruning should be done only during the early years). However many trees, such as the cherry tree, plum trees and gages do not take kindly to winter pruning which could cause great harm to the tree. It is therefore extremely important that you learn as much as you can about the particular type of fruit tree which you are growing in your garden. There are a number of excellent books that cover the subject superbly such as "The Pruning Specialist
" by David Squire, an encyclopedic paperback which is beautifully illustrated and provides sufficient information to make you a pruning expert (shown to the far left).
More about caring for fruit trees below this video presentation
Many fruit bushes and trees bear most fruit on the previous years growth. By annually pruning fruit trees you can help encourage new and vigorous growth ensuring that each year there is sufficient new growth to ensure a good crop of fruit the following year. Also pruning can ensure that the tree grows with a center sufficiently open as to allow the free flow of air and light to further promote healthy growth and ample fruit. Throughout the year you should keep an eye on the tree and remove any part which looks diseased or damaged at the earliest opportunity.
By following the advice above and ensuring that your fruit trees get sufficient light, water and nutrients you will be well on your way to growing a fine specimen of a fruit tree that will serve you well. There is nothing more beautiful than a fruit tree in full blossom which will give you pleasure throughout the summer months and, by fall, you should have a fine crop of produce. Even in the winter fruit trees can look rather spectacular. Whichever way you look at it growing your very own organic fruit is well worth that little extra time and effort.
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