Backyard Orchards

The trees in our yards both beautify the space and make the environment healthier, but they can also produce delicious fruits for us to enjoy! A fruit tree performs many of the same functions that other trees do, like stabilizing the soil, casting shade in its vicinity, and providing habitat for pollinators. However, fruit trees have to be managed differently to benefit from their bounty and make sure the fruit they grow doesn’t become a burden to your yard. In this article, we’ll go over some of the fruit trees that you can plant for produce, as well as a few tips on caring for them.

Planting and Caring for Fruit Trees

Choosing to plant trees that produce fruit in your yard is a wonderful way to improve your property and your health, and many of the normal tree-care strategies still apply to fruiting species, such as choosing the right location, digging a proper hole in the ground for the sapling, not burying the roots, and giving it the right amount of water. On the other hand, whether you have a single fruit tree or an orchard, fruit-bearing trees have to be managed for the food they produce to make sure the fruit grows in well and doesn’t spoil on the branch, and so that the tree is easy to interact with over the years. Some of the main care tactics include:

• Spacing – Most fruit trees need full sunlight for their flowers to bloom and to receive enough energy to grow large, juicy fruit. If a fruit tree is shaded by another tree or by a building, fruits may grow in small or not at all. Too much shade can also result in dew collection on fruits and lead to molding and rotting, while good sun exposure helps evaporate excess moisture and keep the fruits dry and in good condition.

• Pruning – Depending on the species, a fruiting tree can grow up to 30 feet or taller, while dwarf varieties usually don’t grow more than 10 feet tall. Pruning a fruit tree helps keep it from getting too tall or too wide, making it easier to collect the fruit from the tree and preventing it from producing more than you can handle.

• Picking Fruit – Picking the fruit from trees is an essential aspect of managing a home orchard. Fruit that gets left on the tree for too long may rot on the branch, attracting insects and diseases. Fruit that isn’t picked in a timely manner will drop and accumulate, then rot, on the ground, which isn’t good for the tree or the soil. It’s called “gleaning” when extra fruit is picked off to clear the tree of its seasonal harvest.

• Managing Pests – Many fruit tree varieties have been cultivated by humans for centuries, which has left them at the mercy of our care. A tree whose fruit falls and rots on the branch or ground can attract insects and fungus that may then remain on the tree for years, weakening its immune system, degrading its health, and resulting in an unproductive fruit tree. One of the best ways you can manage your fruit trees for pests is by removing any rotting fruit immediately and making sure the harvest is fully picked and cleared away at the end of the growing season.

• Managing Birds – Many birds incorporate berries into their diets, but in general, birds eat our fruits only when other sources of water and nutrients aren’t available or in especially warm conditions. By keeping a clean and regularly refreshed birdbath nearby, birds will be much less tempted to attack your fruit for moisture. Similarly, a birdfeeder will provide nutrient- and calorie-dense options to keep visiting birds satisfied. Keeping trees pruned low will also discourage birds, who like to nest high off the ground, from settling in your trees. Finally, using a fruit bag made of organic green or beige material to cover ripening fruits will camouflage the bright, juicy fruits from thirsty birds, and the fabric will keep those that spot the fruit from being able to access the food. 

Five Fruit Trees to Plant

Like other trees, choosing the fruit trees you want in your yard comes down to personal preference! You should plant the fruits that you want to have available to you regularly so that the tree’s purpose is fulfilled and its fruit doesn’t rot or go to waste. Here, we’ll take a look at five of the best fruit trees to grow in Tennessee. 

Apple

Apples are one of the most popular American fruits and have a wide range of varieties and uses. While crabapple trees grow natively across the US, edible apple varieties exist in many different sizes, colors, and scales of sweetness, with varieties that grow in any type of soil or climate. Whether you plant it for the raw fruit, pies, apple sauce, or apple cider, there are plenty of ways to use up the bounty of an apple tree each year. Many apple tree varieties will struggle in Nashville’s climate, so be sure to choose varieties that are especially adept to the growing zone 7b.  

Cherry

Cherry trees produce white to pink flowers in the spring before fruiting over the summer, and the trees usually grow wider than they do tall, giving a particular form to them that can complement your yard in both productivity and ornamentation. Cherries are loved for their sweetness as fresh fruits or in pies. While fruit-producing cherry trees aren’t native to North America, most species will do fine in Nashville’s growing zone 7b. The American Black Cherry tree is native to the area and bears small, delicious fruit if you can beat the birds to them first.

Peach

Another popular fruit that’s easy to grow at home is the peach, not only for its tender, golden fruits but also because peach trees produce fruit fast compared to other fruiting trees. While these tangy fruits are widely enjoyed raw or in pies, peaches actually have one of the lowest sugar content among fruit options. 

Plum

Plums are another comparatively low-sugar fruit (although when it comes to fruit, their high calorie and sugar content is why we love them!). A juicy, reddish purple plum is most often enjoyed raw, dried, as a jam, or in a pie. Like the related cherry tree, plum trees grow white or pink flowers in the spring, and some varieties of plum tree have dark red leaves. There are many plum varieties native to the US, but most are wild varieties rather than domesticated cultivars that produce the fruits we grow to eat (like the difference between crabapples and domesticated apples).

Persimmon

The American persimmon tree is another native fruit species that is enjoyed across the Southeastern US. Persimmons look a bit like tomatoes, but their fleshy insides are just as sweet as any other fruit we’d include in a dessert. Persimmons can be enjoyed raw or made into puddings, cakes, or jam. In the fall, persimmon tree leaves turn shades of bright orange.

Which Tree Has the Sweetest Fruit?

The tree that produces the sweetest fruit is the mango, a tropical fruit that can only be grown in areas where the temperature never goes below freezing. As such, the mango tree can’t be grown outdoors in Tennessee. A mango has, on average, about 45 grams of sugar compared to the plum’s average of just 7 grams of sugar and the peach’s 13 grams. An average-sized apple and persimmon have about 20 grams of sugar each, while a cup of raw cherries can range from 15 to 20 grams.

Food Forests in Your Own Backyard

Growing trees that produce fruit in your yard for food is an effective way to support your health and that of your family and friends. Having fresh fruit growing in your yard guarantees access to good sources of essential nutrients, fiber, and natural sugars that support your immune system, nervous system, and overall energy. Since fruit is carbohydrate-dense, it’s good to pair your fruits with proteins like nuts, meat, or whole-grain breads. 

Growing your own fruit and vegetables helps reduce your dependence on the grocery store, which saves you both time and money in the long run! Residential areas where produce stores aren’t within a reasonable distance are called food deserts, and planting food-producing vegetation in your own yard is one way to ease the effect of inaccessible nutrition. Fruit and vegetables grown at home can be stored for many months by drying, canning, and/or freezing the produce for use over fall, winter, and spring when the trees and plants aren’t producing food. Sharing an excess harvest with family, friends, and neighbors is another great way to use the total bounty of your home orchard’s annual crop and to spread the wealth of produce.

Growing your own food in your backyard is also a great way to contribute towards reversing climate change. It takes an incredible amount of logistics and energy to get fruit from one geographic region to our grocery stores. By growing your own food, you cut out all the excess energy needed to get your food on the table and thus your carbon footprint decreases (and you get to enjoy nutritious homegrown produce)!

If you haven’t already, you can sign up for our email newsletter for regular tips and information about growing trees in Nashville. Consider volunteering with us, and browse our selection of saplings through the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ annual tree sale!