Owners of large household plots and small summer cottages equally love to pamper themselves with fresh fruits and berries. To do this, in the garden you have to "settle" fruit trees and shrubs, of which there are a great many varieties. Some species are especially loved by gardeners.
Juicy fruits from own trees are a gardener's dream. Even a novice will be able to get a crop if he follows the rules of planting and caring for the trees. First, it is worth determining which types of plants are best planted in a particular area.
There is a huge list of species and varieties of fruit trees that coexist in almost any climate. Now, not only a resident of the Moscow Region or the Crimea, but also a gardener, whose plot is located in Siberia, can safely choose seedlings for the garden.
Apple tree with fruits
Apple tree
The apple tree is perhaps the most famous variety of fruit. Trees are grown in ordinary gardens and farm gardens. A very unpretentious look, giving quite low-lying (depending on the variety), tasty and healthy fruits.
Visually, it is a tree with a spreading crown with a height of 2.5 to 10 m. There are so many varieties of apple trees that it is difficult to distinguish common features inherent in all trees of this species.
The beginning of fruiting of the apple tree occurs by 4-5 years after planting. In total, a tree can live about 40 years.
The apple tree is characterized by good resistance to frost, tolerates shading well. Too frequent feeding does not require. You can plant young fruit trees both in spring and in autumn. It should be borne in mind that the apple tree does not like drafts and stagnation of moisture in the soil.
Important! In the first 2 years of life of a young tree, all flowers that appear on it must be removed. They rob the apple tree of the strength needed for growth and development.
Profuse fruiting of a pear
Pear
This deciduous fruit tree with dark ovate leaves and smooth bark is the main competitor of the apple tree. Her life expectancy is about 100 years. A garden beauty grows throughout the European territory, as well as in Central Asia.
A pear loves loose, nutrient-rich soils, so it requires top dressing and careful selection of a place to plant. If the tree has taken root, it is actively growing and can eventually reach a five-meter height.
Landing is advisable to produce in the fall, although in spring it is also acceptable. It is necessary to choose a sunny place with loose soil. The pear gets along well on loam. In the first 4 years of life, the seedling needs nitrogen fertilizing and watering in dry weather.
Pear begins to bear fruit at 4-7 year of cultivation.
Ripe plum on the branches
Plum
A natural hybrid of blackthorn and cherry plum - plum, is also a frequent guest in the gardens of the European part of Russia. It is a tall (up to 15 m) tree, with an ovoid crown. Plum lives up to 25-30 years, of which only 15 bears fruit.
Planting plum trees is best done in spring or early fall.
It is worth noting! Both seedlings and adult specimens are often raided by pests attracted by fruit juice. Therefore, it is worthwhile to be prepared for regular spring and autumn spraying with special compounds.
Adult trees, as a rule, carry winter without problems, it is advisable to wrap first-year seedlings with straw along the trunk. In spring, mature trees need pruning, which is usually done in March.
Important! Plum forms many root shoots. This is especially true of old and sick trees, trying in this way to "leave offspring." Young plums can be grown from the undergrowth. If this is not planned, it is advisable to remove the root shoots more often so that they do not take away strength from the root.
Apricot tree
Apricot
Apricot is a relative of plum, also belonging to the family Rosaceae. In memory of this affiliation, the old Russian name of the tree - yellow creamer remained.
Apricot is a deciduous fruit tree up to 8 m in height. It blooms in April, with flowers appearing before leaf blades, which makes the tree very beautiful at this time.
The tree lives for a long time, up to 100 years, begins to bear fruit from the 3rd year of life and lasts 30-40 years. Due to the strong root system, penetrating deep into the soil, drought is not afraid of him. Contrary to the opinion that apricot is a southern plant, it tolerates frosts quite steadily up to -25 ° С, some varieties - up to -30 ° С.
It is worth noting! In the north, apricots are planted in the spring, in the middle lane and to the south you can do the placement of seedlings in October. It is best to find for them a sunny place on a hill, with loamy light soil.
Along with fruit trees, berry trees are welcome guests in the gardens. They also exist in a great variety of species and varieties, with good care, bear fruit abundantly and grow actively.
Cherry
Another popular member of the Pinks family is cherry. This crop grows both in the form of a shrub plant (up to 3 m), and in the form of a tree (up to 8 m). Moreover, tree-like forms begin to bear fruit somewhat later than bush forms.
Cherry grows almost everywhere, excluding deserts and the far north. The tree lives relatively shortly, about 30 years.
There are a huge number of varieties of this tree, some of them self-fertile, others not. So it is advisable to have several cherries on the plot, at least 2 varieties.
For seedlings, it is recommended to find well-lit places with sandy soil. Cherry does not like heavy soil and stagnation of water at the roots. But it tolerates drought steadily, although it requires summer watering in the first years after planting.
Cherry is resistant to winter frosts, although sometimes at too low temperatures about 90 percent of flower buds freeze out. Most of all, the tree "does not like" winter winds and blizzards; in a blown place, it can die in relatively weak frosts.
Cherries
Sweet cherry
The oldest type of cherry is cherry (it’s also bird cherry), it is a fairly tall tree, up to 10 meters. Sometimes there are large-sized and 30 m tall. The root system is usually horizontal, but under special conditions vertically directed roots can also develop.
The cherry begins to bear fruit from 4-5 years of life, in total the tree can live up to 100 years. This tree, like cherry, does not like stagnation of moisture, cold winds and very shaded places.
In spring, cherries need formative pruning and top dressing (from the 4th year of growth).
Note! In the spring, it is important to process the near-stem circles of fruit trees and shrubs, slightly loosening the soil, removing debris and weeds.
Branches of sea buckthorn in berries
Sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn - a tree (can grow in the form of a shrub), which has not only useful, but also decorative properties.
The height of the plant can reach 10 m, the root system is superficial, highly branched. Sea-buckthorn blooms nondescript, its real decoration is bright orange berries. They have a specific taste, but are very healthy.
Planting on the site makes sense only female specimens, since male ones do not give berries. It’s easy to distinguish between them: the buds on the female trees are smaller, with a pair of scales. On men’s, they are larger and “shaggy.” It becomes noticeable only at 3-4 years of plant life.
The selected location on the site should be well lit, not bad if the soil is slightly moist, but without excess water.
Fruit roots are most often powerful, lie deep in the ground. The root system is wider than the crown in width. The better the soil is fertilized, the wider it grows, becoming more powerful. This ensures the active development of the aerial part of the plant and its abundant fruiting.
That is why it is so important to loosen, water and fertilize the soil in the trunk circle. The plant’s nutrition through the root directly depends on this, which means productivity.
If there is no place for trees with their powerful crowns and roots, fruit shrubs can be selected for the garden.
Berry bushes for the garden
With proper care, each berry bush can give an excellent harvest. The rules for caring for compact plants are largely similar and not difficult.
Black currant
Currant
Currant is a shrub from the gooseberry family, does not need to be introduced. In Russia, it was grown in the X century. There are a huge number of recipes using the berries of this plant.
Perennial shrub has a lot of varieties. Some differ in height (plants are found in 300, 500, 800 cm), in compactness, in the color of berries (sometimes black, red, white, golden).
Currants have a strong, fibrous root system, thanks to which the bush quickly takes root in a new place. Already in the second year after planting, you can wait for the harvest. With good care, currants will delight with berries up to 15 years.
Well-lit places with drained soil and without strong winds are suitable for planting.
Gooseberries with fruits
Gooseberry
A relative of currant is gooseberry, no less common. It is actively grown for delicious berries. An unpleasant feature of the plant is its prickly thorns, which interfere with the harvest.
Gooseberries are perennials of small height, with bright thick leaves. It blooms early, is a honey plant, which attracts useful pollinating insects to the site. The main advantage of the bush is its self-fertility. Only 1 plant on the site is capable of abundant and regular yield.
Important! Gooseberries, like other berry bushes, often get powdery mildew (sferoteka). For prevention, the bush should be periodically treated with copper-containing preparations.
Blueberries
Blueberries
This short (up to 1 m) deciduous shrub did not receive such wide distribution as the ones described above, however, many tried it.
Blueberries tolerate shade and partial shade, frequent hydration. He doesn’t like drought. Therefore, if a sunny place is chosen for it, you will often have to irrigate and spray with water.
In the central regions, blueberries begin to be planted in the fall, in September-October, and in the northern regions, spring planting is preferable.
Blueberries require frequent watering, so that the soil at the roots always remains slightly moist. The annual top dressing with mineral and organic fertilizers is beneficial for the plant, both under the root and along the leaves.
What shrubs to plant in the shade
When all the bright, spacious places on the site are already filled with vegetation, the question arises of what to plant in the shade. Full shading does not affect almost all plants very well, however, there are shrubs that will not only occupy the remaining space, but will also be able to bear fruit in the conditions provided.
Blackberry Trellis
Blackberry
A blackberry often grows along the sidelines, a wild game, and so braids everything around that it is impossible for a person to go in these places. The taste of dark berries is worthy of all the torment that awaits people who have fallen into the thickets of a creeping shrub.
The yield of blackberries is remarkable, 3-4 times higher than that of raspberries. The similarity does not end there: blackberry shoots, like raspberries, begin to bear fruit only in the second year.
The fruits on the shrub ripen in stages, so that the harvest continues for a long time.
Another advantage of the blackberry is its decorative effect. Experts in landscape design advise planting a plant near a fence, net or other support. So over time you can get a hedge.
Important! You need to buy seedlings only in trusted nurseries.
Dogwood with ripe berries
Dogwood
Another shade-tolerant bush is dogwood. It is quite high, up to 2 m, with shoots hanging to the ground. If the branch reaches the ground, it takes root quickly enough, so it is easy to propagate dogwood.
Among garden bushes, this owner of red edible berries is a long-liver. The age of the plant can reach 100 years.
Dogwood does not like an excess of light, so it is best to find a place for it at the outbuilding or the edge of the hedge.
It’s easy to take care of this plant. As a basis, you can take the rules of caring for gooseberries or currants: weeding and loosening, timely watering, spring and summer dressing, sanitary and anti-aging pruning.
Chokeberry
Chokeberry, or chokeberry, was previously grown as an ornamental plant. Then it was cultivated, various varieties were developed, the berries of which are distinguished by good taste.
This branching shrub is amazingly unpretentious, grows well in the shade and is not afraid of frost. Thanks to the superficial root system, the chokeberries are not afraid of stagnant groundwater.
Note! The patchy fruits of Chokeberry ripen in August, but they are advised to collect them after the first frost.
For those on whose plot it is problematic to arrange at least a few sprawling plants, you can advise columnar trees. They got their name because of the external similarity of form with the column. From a distance, it seems that these plants have no branches at all. This is not so - there are branches, but short ones.
Column-shaped apple tree
Features and disadvantages
Column-shaped trees have their own characteristics and disadvantages associated with their external data.
Benefits:
- Compactness. Such plants do not need a large plot;
- Productivity Trees become fruitful already in the 2nd year of life;
- Unpretentiousness. No special conditions are required for them;
- Decorativeness. Young trees serve as a decoration of the site.
There are only two drawbacks of colony-shaped trees: fragility (bear fruit no more than 20 years) and a greater cost than conventional seedlings.
How to plant columnar trees
Colon-shaped trees love loose, rich, sandy loamy soil and sunlight. Do not tolerate moisture stagnation at the roots and drafts.
Seedlings are planted in the spring, at a distance of 1 m from each other. If there are several seedlings, the plan for planting them is a square, with sides of 1 m. To do this, dig a hole 60 × 70 cm in advance. When the soil settles, you can lay out the drainage on the bottom, add a spoonful of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers, sprinkle a little with the ground.
Having straightened the roots, put the seedling in the pit and fill it with earth to the root neck, gently ramming it with your hands. After that it remains to water the landing abundantly.
How to care
Rules for the care of columnar fruit trees:
- Watering. Young trees are watered once a week in dry summers or less often if it rains frequently. It is also useful for them to sprinkle in the heat;
- Top dressing. 1st application on melt snow (nitrogenous), 2nd application during flowering (mullein solution) and the same composition is applied again one week after flowering. 4th application is carried out in the fall (phosphorus and potassium);
- Pruning. This procedure is extremely rare if long lateral shoots appear. It is important not to forget to grease all places of cuts with garden var.
Garden with fruit and berry plants
The variety of garden trees allows you to choose the best option for the site. Finding fruit bushes that will delight the harvest every year is also simple. You can safely plant the garden of your dreams.
