Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.

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What is your favourite fruit tree to grow? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 4 days ago by wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net to c/greenspace@beehaw.org

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21789538

Not necessarily your favourite fruit to eat, but what is/are your favourite fruit tree(s) to grow based on survival rate, fruit yield, ease of maintenance, ease of harvest, grass-killing prowess, and any other combination of factors? What is/are your least favourite? If you have photos or diagrams to illustrate your point, even better!

(If you provide your region and/or Köppen-Geiger or Trewartha climate zone, it will help others to know what to plant or what to avoid!)

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[–] jay2@beehaw.org 4 points 3 days ago

Just west of Pittsburgh, PA - Region 6. I was pretty young but my grandfather's garden and orchard were legendary.

The garden bore nothing too exotic. Tomato, cucumber, zucchini, beans, cabbage, potato, lettuce, carrot, onion, radish. The usual suspects.

His apple trees (maybe 12) did fantastic. Unsure of type but it was a baking apple. There was always a glut of apples in the fall. They had a grainy flesh as compared to a non-baking apple. They were still quite delicious to eat right off the tree.

He also had a plum and a pear tree that both did well for many years. Again, I am unsure on the breed. The pear I remember in my head looked a lot like a bosc. It bore pears that were smaller than a grocery stores. They were brownish not the standard yellow or green. Very sweet though.

Not trees, but Pennsylvania grapes, rhubarb, black raspberries, red raspberries, blackberries and strawberries were also quite productive for many years. Particularly the red raspberries of which he had like 30 bushes, so you could eat your fill and take a to-go bag. Mind the Japanese beetles. So good and such a good memory.

Peaches though wrecked my grandfather. If it wasn't blight, it was disease, birds, bugs, bores or drought. All he wanted was an unmottled peach. Never did ever happen despite his best efforts.

Cherries did a number on him too. The birds were just too hard to beat. Chaotic little shits would eat the unripened fruit.