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I’ve built a “neighborhood” garden in the South End of Albany and in addition to veggies and flowers I currently have, I want to plant one or two fruit trees for neighbors to be able to “pick from the trees” when passing the garden.I have large open space that gets sun for most of the day.I realize planting now (June) will not bear fruit this year but what would you recommend to plant now for edible fruit next year possibly? Thanks!

Fruit tree will require a few years to mature enough to produce enough fruit to be meaningful. In addition, fruit trees are prone to a variety of pests and diseases so a regular schedule of spraying with insecticides and fungicides will be necessary.  For these reasons I’d suggest NOT planting fruit in a neighborhood setting.  Instead I’d suggest planting blueberries bushes.  Blueberries aren’t fussy about soil or sun and aren’t prone to insect problems or diseases so spraying isn’t often necessary.  Blueberry bushes can get quite large so they will need the space you appear to have.  They will bear fruit next year and mature much more rapidly than fruit trees.  The main problem blueberries have is that birds love them so you’ll need to get to the berries before the birds do but, in a neighborhood garden, that shouldn’t be a problem.  Blueberry bushes come in early, mid, and late season bearing varieties. You’ll want to different varieties for cross pollination so make sure the pick a pair that match so they will flower at the same time.  If you have room you could pick two early season varieties and two late season varieties to extend the harvest period.  The tags on the plants at Hewitt’s will specify whether they are early, mid or late season bearing.

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