Why aren't you growing fruit trees?

As you may remember, I predicted a good year for our peach tree. And lo, well into September, it has come to pass that 30ish peaches were saved before losing more to the varmints. And they are so damn tasty.

The story starts nearly 30 years ago, when I first ate a peach off a tree. I fell in love. I bought peaches from the store several times after that but eventually learned that there was no point. Then I learned that peaches rank second only to celery for worst pesticide offender. Here, kids, have some chemically coated fruit! It's good for you. I mean, how can a parent hand that crap over without worrying what the ramifications are?

So at some point I said, Hey, how about we grow our own? We bought it at a nursery. It's not very old. I have never sprayed it with anything. And the fruit is gorgeous. I think that's one thing holding people back -- thinking that if you don't spray, you won't get any useable fruit. And space. Dwarf trees are small and convenient!

I bought two apple trees and a pear tree at Stark Bro's, and they are growing very well. Good prices, too.

Zone 5 here! You can grow peaches, apricots, plums, pears, apples, cherries, etc. Apricots go down to Zone 4! Shame about mango trees being Zone 9B.