Peaches will bear the first year..I would not let them but you can. Second year they will bear quite a lot. Blueberries of course will bear the first year...again I would not allow them to but second year they will bear heavily.

I second the thought about peaches and blueberries... what about some of the other smaller fruits? Raspberries, blackberries, grapes, and numerous other lesser known things will fruit in a hurry. Check out the One Green World catalog, which lists bearing age for everything it sells, which is a nice rough guide.

Mulberries can fruit a few hand fulls in their 2nd year.

Grapes and Blackberries have to be very large when you buy them to get any fruit the first year. They only fruit on new green from old wood, aka what grows this year from last year's cane. If you get even a medium sized plant, all its going to do the first year is grow everywhere and do nothing. The year after that you'll get fruit.

Blueberries are good for bearing the first year you get them, assuming you're buying plants that are already a foot or two tall.

My cherry trees fruited the year after I bought them, so those might be an option for you.

Check your local nursery and specifically ask for fruit trees/bushes that are of fruiting age. They'll cost you more, but you won't have to wait on them.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Fortunately, I already have a good assortment of blueberries and cane berries, but I'll have a hard time resisting the urge to add more this year.

I'm glad to hear further confirmation that mulberries fruit early. I definitely think I'll give one a try. I was toying with the idea of adding a muscadine grape variety, as well -- even though I might not see any fruit in the first couple of years, it might be worth a shot. At the very least, I'll learn a few things about how to grow them.

I'd love to grow peaches and cherries, but my experience with stone fruits hasn't been encouraging -- I lost my entire nectarine crop (two trees) to brown rot last year, and my plums tend to drop their fruits before they're mature. Nonetheless, I might experiment with a bush cherry of some sort, so I definitely appreciate the recommendation.

Have you checked out the Romance series of bush cherries? There's a description of how quickly there bear online somewhere. They might be small enough to move with you as well.

I too am in temporary housing for a few years. After doing a little reading, I decided to grow most of my fruit in containers. I'm new at this, but it seems to be working. You might consider searching this forum for posts by fruitnut. He is an experienced grower who often posts about successfully growing a wide variety of fruits in containers.

Thanks for bringing the Romance cherries to my attention, lindsgarden. I'd considered Nanking, Joy, Joel, and Jan, but I hadn't come across the Romance varieties before. I'll definitely look into them.

It's interesting that you mentioned fruitnut, lsoh. He's really inspired me to expand my collection of potted fruits. I've always grown my blueberries in pots so that I can control the soil ph, but his success with other fruits is encouraging. I wouldn't mind having a greenhouse like his, either...

I was in a very similar situation 8 years ago, having just moved to a place where I expected to only stay about as long as you're talking about. I went ahead and planted as much as I had space for with little or no thought about bearing age, and I'm glad I did. I might have gotten some apples my last year there except for a severe late freeze, so I never got any apples, but the trees I planted -- I only paid $3 each for fresh grafts -- were worth much more than that just as a learning experience in pruning and training. They were also a lesson in record-keeping: if I hadn't failed in keeping track of which tree was which, I would have found them a valuable source for scionwood. And if I had moved just a year earlier, I think I might still have transplanted them to my new place. There were other things that I did successfully take with me (whole blueberry bushes as well as some runners I separated, some serviceberry runners, layered figs and muscadines...) Perhaps most valuable, having apple trees led me to think about and explore fruit things further, so when I moved again I planted a lot of other/new things that I'm very glad I have now but that I probably wouldn't have planted if I hadn't already had a little experience with the more common things. So based on my experience, my recommendation would be to just plant the things that most interested me, and I think that will likely prove the most valuable (in wiser decisions about what to plant in 3-4 years, in better understanding of how to care for (and possibly propagate) what you're most interested in, in transplants/layerings/scionwood/seedlings..., etc.)

Edymnion, true that grapes and blackberries won't fruit the first year, but that was not the question. It was rather what will produce fruit without having to wait a number of years. Anyway, I do agree with the cherry idea with some really good luck. However, some type of bush cherry would probably be best. Mulberries sure don't produce that quickly where I live, but I suppose in the right climate they might.

I'm not sure about your area, but mulberries grow wild here in Wisconsin, and are very invasive. Once established, they are really difficult to get rid of. They do start producing fruit very young though. Even the young saplings are hard to pull up in the flower beds as they grow really deep root systems very young. Your neighbors might not like them.

If you don't plan on staying for more than a couple years - then think about what you will leave for the next folks....

I would not plant peaches, plums, cherries, apples, or pears - as they require quite a bit of spray and maintenance... and you will be passing that on to the next person...

This will be my 3rd spring here coming up... so I can tell you what already worked for me....

Figs and blueberries are a definite yes... All bore in the 1st year.

Next is Concord grapes, both white and purple seeded varieties - mine bore in the first year I planted them. Taste is Amazing too!

You could consider Muscadine grapes - but half of mine didn't bear till the 2nd year... the other half didn't bear yet. I got a LOT of grapes the 2nd year, though... 1 caution is that these vines get GIANT!

My Pakistan mulberry gave me 1 mulberry the 2nd year.

Apricots, American and Japanese plums, and peaches did pretty well the 2nd year. I got 1 small, mealy plum off my Italian Prune plum....

I got 1 cherry the 2nd year.

I got 1 apple out of 4 trees - We didn't really have winter this year - so I doubt I will get any apples...

Pears and Kiwis - nothing yet, they take a while... I have heard 3-8 years...

Nothing yet out of my Pawpaw yet either.

Thanks

Watermelon and other melons. Of the latter, you probably want netted ones or hard-skinned ones in NC. Or Charentais and other small types on a trellis. I think some of the small, crispy Asian types are grown commercially in NC.

Since you're quite close to me, John (I'm just north of Charlotte), I'm curious about your Concord grapes. My nectarine trees have taught me a valuable lesson about the merits of disease resistant fruits -- I lost my entire crop to brown rot last year, and I'm not too optimistic about this year either. So...have you had to deal with pest and disease issue with your Concord vines? I'd more or less decided to err on the side of caution and go with muscadines.

Just as a side note, your experience with pears and kiwi vines matches mine -- I have two pears and three hardy kiwi vines (one male) that I planted about 3.5 years ago, and none have yielded any fruit yet. Maybe this year? I can hope, at least.

Now that you mention it....

I think the Concords got hit by Plum Curc last year... but my main source of loss was to birds and squirrels... I will spray this year for PC....

I didn't have any fungus on them, though...

I think you are probably on the right track with your Muscadines, though... I would classify them in the "Indestructible" class... The main problem they have is the need for pruning or they will become shy in bearing...

If you do decide on Muscadines - go with a modern, cultivated variety like one of the new ones from Ison's.. They taste better to me... Higher sugar levels and less musky flavor...

Thanks

Strawberries produce good 2nd year too i think.

PS in addition to fruit trees... Why not plant veggies like tomatoes. I hated tomatoes until i planted 30 heirloom tomatoes (especially the 'Black Tomatoes'). So sweet and yummy! Could live off the entire summer just eating them after work, haha.