An Introduction to Growing Fruit in your Yard

Planning for continuous harvests from May through October

Asian Pear

Growing your own fruit is one of the most rewarding things you can do. I am enamored with fruit, and we harvest fruit from our yard nearly every day between late May through early-October. We achieved this goal by planting the types of fruit we like to eat and considering the needs of birds. We started out with our favorite types of fruit, and we kept adding diversity over time so that there would always be something for us and the birds to eat. Our season begins with strawberries in late May and ends with apples and pears in early October.

Here is our Plant Hardiness Zone 5 fruit harvest calendar. Keep in mind that this is all growing in my yard, which is just under one-third of an acre. The area devoted to gardens is 5,300 square feet or .12 acres. The fruit trees are all dwarf and semi-dwarf trees that are pruned to fit the available space.