Fruit

Learn about pears, including how to plant and grow this fruit. Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Pears The soft, sweet flesh of a home grown pear is almost a meal in itself. Of course, I’ll eat them with cheese or in salads, too, but eating pears fresh is the way to go. Unlike other fruit trees, pears like to grow tall, straight in a pyramidical shape. The ones that grow best in our region are European pears. These are hardier than peaches, but not as hardy as apples. Asian pears will only survive in warmer areas (USDA...

Learn about grapes, including how to plant and grow them. Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Grapes Whether you’re growing them for juice, wine or fresh eating, grapes (Vitis) are a great home garden fruit. They’re self pollinating and productive so you can grow just one vine. Grapes can be trained to grow in small space or can be trained over a pergola or arbor. They require little care besides pruning, can grow on less than ideal soils, and fruit for up to 25 years or more. I often recommend people grow them because they...

Learn about cherries, including how to plant and grow them. Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Cherries I remember as a young boy riding in my uncle’s bucket loader as he hoisted me up to pick bushels of cherries from his tree. I still remember the stained smiles of my cousins and me from eating and picking those cherries (Prunus). Cherry varieties are either sweet or sour. While sweet cherries are mostly eaten fresh, and sour or pie cherries used for cooking, don’t let the names fool you. Sour cherries taste great eaten...

Learn about ways to select and plant your own apple tree. Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript Apples (Malus domestica) are one of the easiest fruit trees to grow in our climate. Don't believe me? Just look around. There are thousands of wild apple trees growing in abandoned fields and meadows, left overs and off spring from cultivated varieties on old farms. Some actually taste pretty good and I love wandering fields in fall taste testing these wild apples. While most heirloom or old fashioned varieties grew on trees that could reach 40...

Brambles (Rubus) is the general name given to plants in the raspberry and blackberry family. I think they're essential to grow in the yard because the fruits are so perishable and expensive in the store, only fresh fruit from your garden will do. These little jewels of fruits come in red, yellow, purple, and black and grow like weeds. I often go scouting in abandoned fields looking for patches of wild brambles to harvest. They are one of the first species to colonize a pasture after the animals and man leaves. That tells you how...

Learn about gooseberry and currant varieties and how to grow these under utilized berries in your yard. Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript Here are two related fruits that are loved by Europeans and Brits, but rarely grown in this country. But that's changing. Currants and gooseberries (Ribes) grow easily in our climate, need only one bush to fruit, produce an abundance of tasty fruits for fresh eating or making jams, jellies, and preserves, and are mostly problem free. What else can you ask for in a fruiting bush? Currants come in...