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Canning and freezing are the most common ways to preserve garden vegetables, but it’s important to follow the correct steps to preserve quality and taste, and to promote food safety.
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Growing fruit trees has appealed to experienced and novice farmers alike for generations, but establishing a backyard orchard takes time and patience. Knowing how to get started can be a challenge. Below are a few tips to help you learn the tricks of growing your own fresh fruit that is ripe for the picking:
Getting started:
- Dwarf varieties (typically 10 feet tall) are easier to maintain, and their fruits are easier to harvest.
- Don’t plant trees too deep. The tree’s graft union should be planted 4 to 5 inches above the ground then the tree should be mulched (2 to 3 inches) to aid in moisture retention and weed control.
- Young trees will need to be staked. For their first year, the trees should be watered if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week.
Purchasing a tree:
- Trees can be purchased through mail-order catalogs as bare-rooted whips or in containers from local nurseries and garden centers.
- Whips, often preferred for easier training and establishment, are best planted in March or April.
- Container-grown trees can be planted any time during the growing season as long as sufficient water is supplied.
Where to plant:
- Good soil drainage – to improve soil drainage create a mound of soil by combining current soil with amended topsoil.
- Good air circulation.
- Full sun (six to eight hours of sunlight).
- Minimal wildlife intrusion.
- Higher elevations more likely to escape spring frosts.
- Distance from neighbors’ potentially diseased fruit trees.
Tree care:
- Do an annual application of fertilizer. While fertilization needs vary by soil types, typically trees are fertilized each spring with a dry fertilizer broadcast under the tree drip line. Do not over fertilize because too much fertilizer will produce lots of leaves but little fruit.
- Occasional pruning helps keep fruit trees open so sunlight – an essential element for photosynthesis and fruit bud development – can enter.
- For pest control, start with a basic spray to control destructive codling moths and apple maggots then increase or decrease levels based on the results.
Fruit maturity:
Tree fruits reach maturity at different times depending on variety and climate, so monitor the fruits’ color for harvest readiness. The fruits’ undercolor or ground color also can be a good indicator. Watch for the green color to change to a little yellow green then to the respective ripe fruit’s normal skin color.
These tips are from the Ohio State Extension publication “Midwest Home Fruit Production Guide,” and were previously published in Our Ohio magazine. View the original story.
My first recommendation in your journey is to start out with a local farming friend or mentor along with joining an organization like Ohio Farm Bureau.
We’re just so thankful for the Farm Bureau and the foundation for helping put this together. And of course, the Boyert family for the vision they had with this grant. It’s jumping us forward 10 years. It’s unbelievable.
I could not have done it without the resources I have found through Farm Bureau.
It wasn’t until I joined the Wilmington College Collegiate Farm Bureau that I truly saw how my passion could translate into leadership, advocacy and a career.
The issue of property taxation remains as one of the biggest challenges our members face today. Ensuring agricultural property is valued for its agricultural potential and not development is critical to the continued success of Ohio agriculture.
Through the Select Partner program, we became educated in farm insurance and weren't just selling policies. It became more and more clear why farmers need an advocate like Ohio Farm Bureau.
So many of the issues that OFBF and its members are advocating for are important to all Ohioans. I look at OFBF as an agricultural watchdog advocating for farmers and rural communities across Ohio.
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