Hi y’all. I’m pretty new to this site and have really enjoyed sifting through both old and new discussions and topics. Recently there was a post about growing more food and possible shortages, price inflation, etc. There’s such a diverse group of people in this group from so many places and it really got me interested in a few questions:
What got you all into growing fruit/food?
What’s your favorite fruit to grow?
How many years have you been growing?
What’s something you’d like to try or planning to plant/purchase/add to your collection the upcoming year?
Please delete if this sort of discussion is discouraged. Just wanna get to know you and your stories better
Welcome! Great question I only want control of what I eat. Want to try some of the thousand+ types of pears other people grow. The grocery store offers me only 2 types of pears. Want to save money. The store charges $3 a pound I grow thousands of pounds. Don’t want their pesticide. Herbicide, fungicide, chemical fertilizer, polluted water, contaminated ground. All that said I’m thankful for the grocery store for all they offer but I don’t believe it’s meant to be the only place my food comes from.
Yes absolutely, great point! There’s a lot of things I also grow just simply because I may not be able to try it in my area unless I produce it myself.
The only fruit I am getting is strawberries, 4 cups blueberries, A few kumquats and I have 61 sweet lemons just shy of beginning to ripen. My pears apples and peaches were picked by squirrels and dropped when still rock hard and golfball size.
I’ve always liked gardening. It’s satisfying to have my efforts yield something that I can actually hold in my hands.
What’s your favorite fruit to grow?
This is probably a tossup between figs and Asian pears. Figs are delicious, easy to propagate, and impossible to purchase in any quantity or quality here. They can also be resilient and still ripen a crop after being damaged by winter cold or late frost. Asian pears are so productive and problem free for me. Both figs and Asian pears are precocious, which is good for the impatient gardener that I am. I like seeing instant results. I guess that’s what happens when you grow up with high speed internet.
How many years have you been growing?
I planted my first fig around 10 or 11 years ago. Before that, I had some small fruits like raspberry and strawberries.
What’s something you’d like to try or planning to plant/purchase/add to your collection the upcoming year?
I’d like to grow some more soft, melting European pears with good flavor.
To finish my answer. I started 28 years ago to be organic and provide shade and save money. My favorite is what produces. I have nothing new planned. When these die out I will be done with fruit trees and bushes and I will plant grass and mow.
i grow 60+ types of fruit, nuts and mecinidal plants on my acre of what used to be lawn 6 yrs. ago. my old place was on a gravelly hill with little soil so i didnt grow much there but once i sold it and moved in with my wife, i looked at all that lawn and started looking into what i could grow there instead of grass. most of my trees are just starting to produce but i have mostly cane/ bush fruit thats been producing for years now. black currant is probably my favorite of these for jam/ juice. to eat out of had my brambles produce plenty to freeze to have for later. should be getting apples and pears consistently here soon i have about 20 different cultivars grafted on 3 trees. most of the stuff i grow people here never heard of or think it cant be grown here like mulberries, honeyberries and cherries. i am always adding some and ripping out stuff that hasnt worked out. my neighbors think im obsessed. i have every thing grown in strait rows to make mowing easier. i plant bushes and flowers/ herbs under my trees to make the best use of space. soon everything will grow up enough ill barely need to mow any more. my hope is to have enough fruit that i dont need to buy it from the store as fruits are very expensive and poor quality once they get here.
1… What got me into it ? My Grandmother on my Mom’s side grew a huge garden… she started her own tomatoes from seed she saved… and when I was 10-12 ? years old one year… I kept checking out her little tomato starts. She gave me some… told me how to plant them and I did, they grew… just a Kid at the time but that is my first memories of what got me interested in growing stuff. Now I am hooked big time.
2… That is a hard one (favorite)… I have lots of favorites… peaches, apples, tomatoes, strawberries, figs… just to name a few.
3… How many years… I am 60 now… so almost 50 years.
4… Another Fig (Smith), Persimmon (I have wild, may add a non-astringent variety), Pears…
I already have a bunch of stuff growing… close to 50 different types/varieties of fruit trees, vines, cane’s, bushes, etc
I not only like to grow my own food, but I also forage (wild stuff, morel mushrooms, editable wild greens, hickory nuts, wild blackberries, etc) and Hunt and Fish too.
my family also had large garden and we picked wild berries and nuts. my earliest memories were in that garden and working the farm my great uncle inherited from my great great grandfather.
Yes! I totally understand where you’re coming from with Asian pears and figs. Definitely nice to see more instant results, especially when they’re delicious. What’s your fav Asian pear and fig you’re growing?
That’s awesome! People would be surprised how much you can plant if you use your space wisely like you mentioned planting herbs/flowers in between plants. Definitely beats grass growing in between your trees and bushes!
That’s amazing! Funny enough, my mom started me off with a tomato plant and a fig tree when I returned home after college. I couldn’t believe that I kept them alive and I’ve been obsessed ever since!
Funny enough I’m in East Ky and I like to forage to but you know what I’ve never got to find/eat a morel mushroom
my hope is to have enough fruit that i dont need to buy it from the store as fruits are very expensive and poor quality once they get here.
