Life Goal: Food production year around

General Fruit Growing
#1

Zone 9b - California Central Valley

TLDR: I’d like help filling the gaps I currently have with fruit/varieties that people like, so my family can harvest for the most parts of the year, citrus not included. While Dave Wilson is an option, I’d rather go outside the scope of what they distribute, as explained further down.

Current list: FruitTreeRipeTimes.pdf (78.7 KB)
The varieties in this file are clickable, and will take you to DWN website for each one.

Ever since I moved last year to a 2 acre property with a complete clean canvas for me to paint with trees and bushes, my goal is to produce fruit/nuts/berries year around. Not just a tree or variety at a time, but as much diversity as I can. For this reason, all my fruit trees so far have been distributed by Dave Wilson via various outlets. This is because they have similar climate as me and the fruit bearing time are within an earshot of what they claim.
However, while sticking with varieties they distribute is all well and good, I certainly don’t want to rely on only things they distribute.

The problem with going outside this mold, is that I no longer have semi-reliable indication of when a particular variety has its harvest window for my climate prior to purchase.
I have not included any citrus fruit. Reason being, despite having currently 12 different citrus varieties, they’re all in barrels and fairly young and I have no idea when they crop yet.

So send ideas my way please. I very much appreciate your input and knowledge.

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#2

You might consider Loquats for early in the season before cherries.

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#3

There are a lot more of late-season apples: GoldRush (Sep-Oct), Allen’s Everlasting (Sep-Oct), Wickson (Oct), Waltana (Nov), Hauer Pippin (Nov-Dec), Katharine (Nov-Dec), Newtown Pippin (Nov-Jan), Cripps Pink (Dec-Jan), Lady Williams (Feb). Also, most late-season apples keep in storage very well.

Late pears (typically harvested mid Sep - early Oct) need to be stored in a fridge for a few months and can be eaten throughout the winter: Beurré Bosc, Dana Hovey, Docteur Desportes, Doyenné du Comice, Duchesse d’Angoulême, Duchesse de Bordeaux, Fondante de Moulins-Lille, Johantorp (can hang on the tree through December), Josephine de Malines, Urbaniste, Winter Nelis.

Feijoa ripen from mid-October to end of December (different varieties at different times).

Pomegranates — from mid-August to mid-November (also keep well in storage).

Loquats — April-May.

Apricots — from mid-to-late May (depends on the year) to mid-July. Nicole is a good early variety, Tomcot follows it, Orangered is the best flavored early apricot.

Springtime is a good early white peach (early June), it is followed by Gold Dust and Springcrest yellow peaches.

For early plums: Sorriso di Primavera, Methley, Goje Sabz Myrobalan.

I don’t see any Euro plums on your list, it’s a big omission. They are great for both fresh eating and processing, ripen from mid-June (Opal, July Green Gage) to end of August.

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#4

My year of fruit is always laid out like so but clearly you have more diversity. I suggest things like perennial garden produce to fill the gaps in my area like right now mustard, parsnips, turnips are all doing great. In the spring we grow lettuce and a hoop house helps. Things like persimmon extend your season rip in october /november or honeyberries which ripen in may. In california clearly i would grow apples like hauer pippin that are a christmas apple. I grow it in the testing phase now. Maple can be tapped here in feb. March you can harvest certain things like lettuce /weat grass juice. You plant wheat ideally in late september. Greens like lettuce , spinach etc or turnips can be harvezted november , december, january things could be grown inside . Jujube will help extend your season.

Jan
feb
March
April
Sour cherries /mulberries june/may
June berries june
Blackberries /pears / rapberries/apples/grapes july
Blackberries /pears / apples / grapes/pawpaw August
Blackberries /pears /apples September
Blackberries /autumn berry /apples October
November
December

#5

Thanks for all suggestions and pointers.

I have to admit, apples is something I should probably add more of. However, the family does not really eat much of it and the inevitable excess will probably be fed to the chickens, or if I’m lucky, turned into cider. Either way, we all do like apples after all, and the endless list of things you can do with apples pretty much guarantees some more trees.

I wish European Pears was something I liked in any capacity. While the taste is alright, they’re generally soft and/or mushy. I realize there are plenty of exceptions, if not most varieties, but where pears are shining is with their Asian counterparts. So some of those will find their way in next year, regardless of ripening season.

And yes, Stan, I do not have any European plums and I will add that to the list for sure. I love plums, but since most varieties seem to ripen a similar time as the plums I have, I foresee some wine in the future.

I shall also add Loquats. I can’t say I’ve ever had one, but they seem popular and fruit pretty much when nothing else is. Furthermore, their flowers would supplement the lack of food for bees during that period.

#6

I’m not a huge fan of fresh apples (I prefer a stone fruit to an apple any time), but dried apples are actually among the best of all dried fruits (for my taste at least).

European plums preserve well when vacuum packed and frozen, it’s a great treat in the middle of the winter. Blue plums (prunes) are also great dried. I like home dried prunes much more than store bought ones.

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#7

Any reason persimmons are not on the list? Do I take it that you don’t like them, as they are quite common so its unlikely you missed them? If yes, make sure you try different varieties (astringent Vs not, American Vs Asian, etc) before giving up on them.

Also, mulberries, specifically M. Alba varieties add to early season interest (Apr-May-June)

#8

Great suggestions above. I have achieved what you are asking for, but my climate allows me to grow some things are that wouldn’t work for you, e.g., bananas and cherimoya.

But what, no figs? If that’s because you think you don’t like them, I’d just say that most people who say they don’t like figs just haven’t tried a top tier variety properly ripened. Try Smith, Bourjasotte Grise, or Verte (or Strawberry Verte). All are available readily in the fig community. If you don’t like them, then you probably just don’t like figs, which I can respect (my wife is in that boat). But these won’t taste like the fig newtons of your childhood. Very fruity and berry forward. They would probably fruit August - November for you.

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#9

How about some day-neutral strawberry varieties like Albion or Seascape? Day-neutral strawberries continue to set fruit as long as the temperature remains 40-90 degrees F.

#10

I completely forgot about the figs. While we don’t have any mature trees yet, we do have a ton of cuttings that have been rooted and will be planted out in the spring. We absolutely love figs and there will be plenty planted throughout the property. We sadly had to remove a monster of a fig tree (Danny’s Delight) during construction of our property which I took cuttings of. Extremely drought tolerant and did not care if it sat for the most part of the winter in a lot of water. Therefore, I’ll probably use it as a rootstock for most varieties we’ll get.

I’m not particularly familiar with persimmons. But from what I’ve read is that they’re fairly finicky, have to be harvested at a particular time, and they certainly don’t look appetizing. I may plant a tree at a later year, but it’s not particularly priority.

And yes, Mulberries will be added, but what to plant is up in the air. I want large fruit.

#11

Glad to hear you enjoy figs. I bet you’ll find lots of varieties that make you happy.

If you want big for mulberries, then Pakistani is the obvious choice. It is excellent.

#12

Hi Peter,
You are missing out big on persimmons. I would put them well before mulberries. Grow some Asian ones and you won’t regret. I am sure others would agree.

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#13

I understand that taste is subjective and in fact I know people that don’t like persimmons. However, I never thought they can be finicky. From what I know, they are one of the easiest to grow (no need for fertilizer, pest management or spraying). The fruits also have a long harvest window (more than a month) here and for astringent varieties, they don’t soften until the frost if left on the tree. They are mostly harvested before that and ripened inside. That’s why its really difficult to spot a home without a persimmon tree here in South Bay (even more popular than lemons).

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#14

You could buy some persimmons locally to try:
https://www.99ranch.com/stores/sacramento