Getting a quick crop of fruit from new perennial plants is possible. Plant these two fast-growing fruits and have a harvest in the first year!
Growing fruit in your backyard garden can be a frustratingly long process. Tree fruits and even many bush berries take several years before you get any kind of harvest. But there are 2 fruits that you can plant in your backyard this spring and get a harvest (just a small one) this summer! What are these fast-growing fruits? Everbearing varieties of Strawberries and Raspberries!
2 Fast Growing Fruits
Everbearing Strawberries
It is very possible to get a decent sized harvest of strawberries in the first season. But only if you plant the right variety!!
There are 2 types of strawberries, June bearing, and ever-bearing (also sometimes called day neutral). June bearing strawberries only bear one crop a year, and as the name suggests they usually bear in June. If you plant June bearing strawberries this spring you WILL NOT get a crop this year. The plants need a season to get established before they start to bear fruit. So if you want fruit this year, skip these varieties.
Instead, choose Everbearing varieties. The great thing about everbearing strawberries is they start producing fruit in June and then they continue to produce crop after crop of delicious berries all summer long and well into the fall. Get your everbearing strawberries planted as early in the spring as possible. They can even go in before your last frost.
Allow the plants some time to get established before you allow them to set fruit. You accomplish this by removing any flowers from the plants until mid-summer. Whenever I plant new everbearing strawberries I remove the flowers (by pinching them off) up until about the middle of July. By then the plants have been in the ground for at least 3 months and are well established and ready to start producing. You will get a surprisingly large crop in your first year and that will be followed by up to 5 years of continual harvest!
There is one trade-off with everbearing strawberries and that is size. If you are looking forward to large (grocery store sized) berries then you should opt for June bearing. Everbearing varieties produce a large crop of small and medium-sized berries, but I have found they never get as large as June bearing.
Consider planting this variety of fast-growing fruits using bare root stalk. It is a much cheaper method of establishing large beds!
To learn more about growing everbearing strawberries check out this post!
Primocane Raspberries
The second plant on our list of fast-growing fruits are Primocane Raspberries, (sometimes they are also called everbearing).
These fast-growing fruits will provide you with a small crop in September of their first year. This is especially the case if you get them planted early in the spring!
Unlike traditional raspberries, primocane raspberries produce fruit on canes that grow this year. When a patch is fully mature you will get a crop of berries on the ends of new growth in September, you will also get a crop on the lower portion old growth canes in July. Your patch produces two crops each year. If you plant canes early in the spring you will get a small harvest on the canes that you actually planted (the old growth) and possibly a small harvest from any new growth from this year as well!
Keep in mind that the first years harvest from primocane raspberries will be small, only a handful per plant. But it is enough to keep you inspired! And just wait until next year!!! The second and third years for a new raspberry patch will be incredible!!
Of course, crops will improve in the second year and beyond for both of these fast-growing fruits. But if you are looking for quick fix, everbearing strawberries and primocane raspberries are the plants to grow this spring!
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