Fruit for Northwest Gardens
The Pacific Northwest has been and continues to be one of the main sources of fruit for the world. Why not grow more fruit yourself? Then you can control exactly what fertilizer and pesticides are applied. If you have limited space, berries are your best choice. Tristar is my favorite strawberry variety. It bears fruit continuously from June through October. Strawberries and blueberries can be worked right into an ornamental landscape. Strawberry plants make good ground covers. Blueberries, with a little pruning, are attractive shrubs. Raspberries and blackberries need some support but a row does not take up a lot of space. Grapes can be very ornamental on a trellis or fence.
Just about all the deciduous tree fruits can be grown here. Apples, pears, cherries, apricots and plums are the most successful. Peaches and nectarines need a spring application of lime-sulfur to prevent leaf curl just as the new leaves are emerging. Dwarf and semi-dwarf tree forms are available. Trees with multiple varieties grafted on the same tree are available in some nurseries. I purchased two espalier grafted trees. These two trees are trained on wires which only require about a 4 foot by 15 foot space. Each espalier has 4 different varieties.
TNT Country Nursery in Brush Prairie Washington is an excellent source for inexpensive bare root fruit trees (which are grafted and grown right at the nursery). Trees must be purchased in early spring (March and April).
Allen Wilson
Allen has been writing about gardening for over 30 years. He is a retired professor of Horticulture.