Working for a Greener District of Columbia
GROWING FRUIT in D.C.
FIGS
Figs are the local favorite and 'Brown Turkey' does particularly well. They require at least 4 hours of sun.
Fig trees are vigorous growers in our climate. Their roots run out a long way from the tree UNLESS the root ball is planted inside some sort of container. Gardeners have been known to plant fig trees in a large sewer pipe section in order to contain the spread of the roots. In one community garden, fig tree roots spread to 15 feet from the fig tree (which is severely pruned each year).
In order to be able to reach the figs when standing beneath the tree, a fig tree has to be pruned very hard during the winter and the branch tips cut off periodically during the summer. If this pruning is not done, the fig tree will soon be very large and many of the figs will be reachable only from a ladder.
One Takoma Park gardener reports: "I had a fig tree in my partly shady backyard and it produced a good number of figs with no attention at all from me. I think a sunny location would have been even better. Sometimes too the squirrels or birds got to the figs before I thought to check the tree. They ripened in batches so did not all need picking at one time. I started it years ago from a twig. In the early years I mulched the base with leaves in the winter to protect it from frost.
BLUEBERRIES
Blueberries are often called the easiest fruit to grow in this area, and here's what we know. They like acidic soil (pH of 5.5 or so), and you can add soil sulphur to your soil to increase its acidity. If your soil is mostly clay, remove some of it and mix in compost (because blueberries don't do well in heavy, clay soil.) Alternatively, they can be grown in containers.
Your harvest will be improved by removing crossing branches and keeping the ground around blueberries clean of debris. Water regularly and feed with Hollytone twice a year, starting when the plants blossom.
Blueberries are the number one choice of birds, so use netting if you want to actually eat them.
One gardener wrote to tell us, "I love my blueberries in Fairfax. They grow in part shade, and I haven't ever sprayed or fed them. The birds clean them up. So they are
a fruit that can be put on total ignore and not be a mess. I did improve the soil before planting.
ELDERBERRY
This 3-foot-tall shrub is becoming popular as an alternative to nandina for some gardeners, and it can be made into wine.
GOOSEBERRIES
Put them in the vegetable garden.
BLACKBERRIES
Thornless varieites are available.
RASPBERRIES
Thornless varieties are available. Raspberry bushes spread agressively .. by underground roots, so that's definitely something that needs to be considered. One community garden tells us that raspberry bushes have been problematic for them. To keep raspberry bushes bearing, the canes need to be cut back regularly.
CHERRIES
From Fairfax: "My big cherry fruited this year, too, in response to more sun from a
neighbor's trim. It hasn't seen a bit of care in twenty years. I swear I will prune it this winter!"
From D.C.: "The main thing is to know which things are self-fertile and which require a pollinator. Also, depending upon the space you might need to get a
dwarf or semi-dwarf variety. Some varieties of cherry can grow to 40 feet tall. There are peaches and nectarines that are more "bush" than tree and peaches tend not to need a pollinator that will be blooming when your tree is blooming (there are early and late varieties). Pie cherries usually don't need a pollinator, sweet (table) cherries usually do. Of course you might luck up and be near pollinators but if not you won't have fruit."
PEACHES
One member writes: "I've seen several peach trees bearing abundant fruit in the Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights area without apparent care. Several productive sweet cherries, too (they yield fruit in May. Peaches seem to bear in June
around here.)" Another writes: "There's a peach tree in the back yard of a home behind my house that produces profusely but fruit is small."
APPLES
A member writes: "I have a healthy producing Jonathan apple tree and fig tree growing in my front lawn (very small). Both grow well and produce lots of fruit. Issues are controlling 'worms' in apples - and squirrels love both - I don't mind the latter but am not totally successful in ridding the apples of worms using organic methods."
CURRENTS
Currents are edible with sweeting.
JUNEBERRY/SHADBUSH
They're generally grown for wildlife.
PAWPAW
A member writes: "I planted two pawpaws in my yard last fall and they appear to be doing really well this year. It will probably be a couple more years before they bear fruit, though. I am told they like a ph neutral to slightly alkaline soil and are
somewhat sensitive to unusually high levels of arsenic. If you have a lot of treated wood on your property you might want to test for arsenic before planting them. You also need to plant young pawpaws where they will be somewhat shielded from direct sunlight for their first couple of years. Mine seem to be doing fine on the west side of our house and are shaded by the house during the first few hours of
the morning. I purchased them from Edible Landscasping, who assured me
there are pawpaws growing in gardens throughout the DC area and doing
well."
TELL US MORE: If you've grown them, let me know how it's going.
SOURCES
- One member writes: "Last week I ordered a catalog from Raintree Nursery and it got here in a few days. Excellent, excellent info in there on issues of size, level of care required, etc. I haven't ordered anything from them yet, but I think the catalog will give the OP lots of great ideas and they have fruits in there I never even heard of. And they have great info about trees appropriate to small spaces/containers."
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