In all regions of this country except the colder portions of the northern states, it is not only feasible but more advantageous to plant small and tree fruits, except peaches, in fall rather than spring.
Weather is more dependable in fall, and heavy soils, especially, are in better condition. Even if wet and packed too hard by the preparations accompanying planting, their structure is repaired by the action of frost in winter.
In spring, on the other hand, wet, heavy, or clay soils become packed as hard as bricks at planting and remain that way until winter reconditions them.
Fall Planting
The gardener has more time in the fall. Spring comes with a rush, bringing him more jobs and deadlines to meet. For this reason alone, he profits by shifting as many chores as possible to the fall.
The nurseryman also is overwhelmed by jobs to do, including orders to fill. For since the urge to plant is stronger in spring, everyone orders them. If bad weather forces him to delay shipment, orders pile up on orders.
A bottleneck is formed, and some customers—those who order late, in particular-do do not get their plants in time.
Moreover, if the newer or more desirable varieties are sold out, as they often are in spring and never in fall, the nurseryman is tempted to substitute whatever else he has available.
Plants sent to the gardener in spring may come from the nursery cellar and (for the reasons already given: wet weather, packed soil, lack of time, late delivery) are often set in the garden so late that they encounter hot, dry weather long before they are established. Mortality among them is, therefore, heavier.
In contrast, plants sent in fall come freshly dug from the nursery row and have time, in late fall and early spring, to make roots strong enough to permit them to begin developing as soon as the weather warms up so much for the advantages of planting in the fall.
Select Varieties Providing Fruits
To succeed, the gardener must select from the wide varieties that provide fruits from early June until Christmas that suit him best. He must lay his plans carefully in advance.
For example, if he wants tree fruits, he must equip himself with one of the many fine power rigs made especially for small jobs and be prepared to spray the trees with the right materials at the right time.
The casual gardener who does not want to be tied down to a rigid spray schedule should get the small fruits instead.
By and large, plants should be ordered from nurseries specializing in fruits. Firms specializing in strawberries, grapes, or tree fruits offer better plants.
Prospective planters who vacation away should choose varieties that ripen when they are at home. Though orders should be placed early in October or before, delivery should not be expected until the end of the month or early the next month.
Plants should remain in the ground until they have experienced several hard touches of frost, which knock their leaves off naturally instead of being stripped off prematurely by the nurseryman.
Strawberries
Strawberries may be planted from late October to mid-November. However, plants must be mulched heavily to prevent them from being lifted out of the ground by the alternate freezing and thawing of the soil in winter.
A thick snow cover is the best mulch of all, but snow does not fall everywhere, especially recently.
Straw and marsh hay are good but must be removed in spring. Sawdust or shavings, covering plants to a depth of 3” or 4” inches, are satisfactory.
Either material may be brushed off with a broom in spring and worked into the soil. Plants that have been lifted by frost action despite the mulch should be pushed back into the soil as soon as the mulch is removed.
Red Raspberries and Blackberries
Red raspberries and blackberries may be planted at any time until the ground freezes. Then, to protect them from being heaved out of the ground, the soil is mounded around them to a depth of 4” to 5” inches.
Black and purple raspberries, grapes, blueberries, currants, and gooseberries are planted simultaneously and protected in the same way.
Protect Tree Fruits
Tree fruits must be protected against rodents. Therefore, cylinders made of strips of quarter-inch mesh hardware cloth may be placed around the trunk of a fruit tree to protect it against mice and rabbits.
Gravel, crushed stone, and cinders mounded around a trunk to a depth of several inches will protect it against mice.
Where there is a great deal of mulch or tall grass around, poison baits should be spread in the fall to destroy mice before early November when they begin looking for a winter home.
Ideal Soil
To develop and produce heavy crops, fruits need soil that is as fertile as that in which vegetables are grown.
It must be free of perennial weeds, especially for berries, and must be well-drained. Fruits cannot stand wet feet during the growing season.
Small gardens decorated by large trees that cast heavy shade and have long roots which reach out beyond the spread of the tree are poor places for fruits.
To produce good crops, fruits must have full sun most of the day.
Insofar as possible, they should be located where they cannot be damaged by late frosts when they bloom. The sloping ground is freer from frost than the low ground surrounded by higher land.
Soil is prepared for fruits as it is for vegetables and packed so firmly about the roots of plants that they can withstand a strong pull without becoming loosened. Strawberries are set behind the spade or trowel.
Their crowns must be even with the surface of the ground. Raspberries also go in behind the spade.
Incidentally, everbearing strawberries, if planted in hills in beds of three rows with plants one foot apart from each way and mulched with sawdust during the growing season, may be expected to yield much more fruit than grown in the usual matted row.
When a few fruit trees are grown in different spots on the grounds, an easy way to kill all grass or weeds growing on the spots is to place a heavy pile of straw or hay on each one a few months before planting.
Soil Mixture
Holes for fruits must be big enough to accommodate their roots. A 12-quart pail of wet peat moss may be mixed with the soil taken out of each hole for a better average job.
The tree is shaken up and down as the soil is filled in around its roots.
To eliminate air pockets, the soil is stepped on heavily. To protect the tree during its first winter, the soil is mounded up around it a few inches and leveled in spring.
44659 by George L. Slate