#2 An Apple a Day...

I’m not saying fruit trees are going to cure cancer, but they’ll sure make any backyard more enjoyable. Every time I walk into my backyard, I smile. But get the dwarf variety – a regular apple or peach tree will take up your whole yard very easily. …and I really don’t have all that big of a yard. As long as you’ve got some sun and good drainage, they’ll grow.

Here's some tips I've learned:

1) Get the fruit trees from a local store. I bought the apples, peach and figs here in Memphis. …but I bought the Cherry in Texas. I should have known better, but it died over the winter.

2) Read the tag before you buy it. My dwarf peach and apples are self pollinating – some aren’t and that means you’ll have to buy 2 varieties of each tree so that they pollinate each other.

3) In terms of caring for fruit trees, it’s not that hard. When you first get them as babies, I would wrap the trunk with a white plastic-like protector. You can find it in the backyard section of Wal-Mart/Home Depot. It helps prevent against splitting, cracking, winter frostbite, and sun scalding. I read online you can also use a white latex paint, but I just used the store-bought wrap.

4) For young trees, I would also stake the ground with a rope connected to the tree trunk on 2 sides. This helps them grow straight – but do it loosely and remember to remove it after the first year or the tree will literally grow around the rope/twine.

5) …also, pick off all the fruit within the first couple years. You want the trees to put all their energy into the root system at first (not into the fruit). If you do this, you’ll have a stronger tree in the end.

Lastly, yes – birds are sometimes a problem. My first year with the doomed Cherry, I had literally 2 cherries and they were gone within the day. Should have picked them…




This is my apple tree (below) – It’s a little of my problem child of the bunch. See those orangey rust spots on the leaves? Unfortunately there’s a cedar tree in a nearby backyard which carries the fungal disease. There’s not much I can do. They say the best remedy is to remove the cedar/juniper trees, but I'm not going to be climbing the fence with a hacksaw anytime soon.



I’ve got 2 figs as well and I love them (a Celeste and a Brown Turkey). They’re filled with figs but usually aren’t ready until late summer/fall. Those little green nubs below are the baby figs….



As a way to make my ‘orchard’ feel a little more comfy, I made hang tags for all the trees. I just took some pottery clay and rolled it out thin then draped it over bowls to give it character.



Everything is labeled in my backyard including the herb garden, but we’ll get to that at another time. …but just a word of advice before then, do not plant Peppermint. It grows everywhere:


Yes, it smells like Peppermint when I mow…