Grow Fruit Trees

Spring is the time to start or expand the fruit-tree collection in your yard, and hitting the garden centre now will ensure the best selection.

Planning

Choose a site with all-day sun and well-drained soil. Make sure the location can accommodate the mature size of the tree or trees you’re considering. Trees planted too close together will eventually shade each other and require unnecessary pruning to control size. Reduced air circulation also encourages pests and disease.

Match your choices to your climate. No matter how much you like a certain type of fruit, it may not do well and you will never have the satisfaction of a bountiful harvest. When purchasing, also inquire about pollination. Some trees are self-pollinating, but often they require a partner to produce fruit. If you live in a populated area chances are good there will be a mate for your tree within pollinating distance (3 km/1.8 mi.), but if you live at the end of a country road you’ll need to play matchmaker and provide a pollinating tree.

Planting

Dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and just as deep. If you purchase your fruit tree bare root, look for the bud union scar and keep it about 2.5 cm (1 inch) above soil level. If you buy a newly potted tree and it has not leafed out yet, remove the whole root system from the pot and shake away the potting mix – “bare-rooting” the tree.

Take half the soil you removed from the planting hole and mix in equal parts of compost, manure, leaf mould or sea soil. Toss in 125 mL (1⁄2 cup) of bone meal and 250 mL (1 cup) of slow-release all-purpose organic fertilizer. (This is not recommended in heavy clay soils as it forms a “bathtub” and the roots rot.

Best to plant in the original soil and mulch with organic matter.) The organic matter will feed the tree, loosen the soil and get the beneficial micro-organisms working; the bone meal will settle the roots; and the fertilizer will add plant nutrients to the soil. You and your family will be eating the products of these trees, so leave the chemicals out of the edible garden.

Plant the tree only as deep as it was in the container – the number-one cause of fruit-tree death is planting too deep. Heel it in, backfill with the soil mixture and water deeply, as this encourages the roots to go down into the soil where they can anchor the tree and hide from summer heat and winter cold. For the first two summers, provide deep watering two to three times per week. Once established, a weekly watering will do.