Have you considered growing fruit in your home yard?

Sue Gray, horticulturist with Oklahoma State University Extension Service in Tulsa, provided the valuable information you need in order to add fruit to the landscape.

All fruit requires full sun, good weed control and an inch of water a week to grow well. Critter control is also important. Birds eat the fruit, rabbits eat the tree bark, insects and diseases attack the trees. Supplemental potassium will improve fruit volume.

The easiest fruits to grow are blackberries and strawberries — they will almost always have fruit.

Plan ahead and set up the planting area with well-drained soil. Look for disease resistant varieties. Plant fruit trees in a hole three times the diameter of the root ball with the graft line above the soil line. Mulch and control weeds and grasses out to the drip line (the end of the branches).

Blackberries

Select the ones with Native American names such as Arapaho, Apache, Kiowa, Chickasaw and the latest Ouachita. Dr. Jim Moore and Dr. John Clark at the University of Arkansas developed these varieties for our climate. Their goal was to produce upright, non-trellis berries. Plant more than one variety to extend the fruit season.

Strawberries

Select June bearing and avoid ever bearing. Buy Early Glo, Sparkle, Sunrise, Cardinal, Sure Crop, L’Amour and Northeast. Avoid Ozark Beauty and Quinault — they are not recommended for here. Drainage is key. Plant the crown above the soil line. Overcrowded planting results in less fruit.

Blueberries

Grow in acidic soil with good drainage, in full sun with lots of compost. Buy two varieties of plants. The ideal situation is a raised bed amended with ground hardwood mulch, compost or sand and with drip irrigation. Avoid the ones called late bearing because our weather is too hot by the time they have fruit. Select both Blueray and Bluecrop for the same planting. All the flowers must be removed the first two years or the plants will die.

Raspberries

Water, mulch and stake plants. They can benefit from some shade in the heat of the summer. Look for Southland and Nova varieties.

Pome fruit – apples and pears

source : www.muskogeephoenix.com