i am in North Gwinnett.
I grow (or try to):
apples
pears
plums
strawberries
3 types of grapes
just added blackberries and blueberries.

I dont yet grow fruit but am very interested in planting a couple of blueberry bushes next year. I have a couple of questions for those of you that have done this before.
1) I've heard that you must plant bushes of 2 different
varieties in the same area so they can cross pollinate.
why is this? and will any 2 varieties work?
2) When is the best time to plant them ? How big of a bush?
3) How big do they get and how fast do they grow?
4) Where is a good place to purchase blueberry bushes in the metro atlanta area. I know home depot had a couple this year, but they didnt look very good to me.
-I thought about buying 2 bushes in Late May, but was told
that it was really too late to get started with blueberries.
-any help would be appreciated

thanks

We are in Alpharetta and have blueberries, blackberries, apples,peaches, pears and cherries.

Annette

I'm in Athens and I'm growing figs, peaches, apples, pomegranate, persimmon, pawpaw, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

I've had the most success with figs and the berries. The stone fruit (apples and peaches) requires too much spraying for me. The pomegranate, persimmon and pawpaws are all too young to bear fruit but so far so good!

The late freeze this year wiped out EVERYTHING but the strawberries :(

I live in Hampton and I have been fairly successful with peach trees.I have even started growing cherry bushes.(I didnt know they could even grow on bushes)My specialty is upside down tomato plants.I keep them stacked up one on top of the other so that the water from one runs into another saving water.I would really like to be part of any edible landscaping club that gets started.

I grow some uncommon stuff like jujubes, persimmons, kiwis, bush cherries. I tried to get a fruit club started a few years a go. It was just me a n this one guy that would meet every month with a occasional guest, but my fruit buddy is moving back home overseas. :(

I going to miss not meeting with him. I started a yahoo group called Atlanta Fruits. I would love to meet with few people now and then to disscuss what they are growing and exchange cuttings.

Any Nafex people here? Anyone going to the meeting?

UGA's College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences has many good publications for home gardening, including fruits. Here is the one on blueberries and it talks about the need for more than one type for cross pollination. Specific cultivar names are given.

You can plant blueberry plants at any time that you would any other shrub. If you plant them late spring, you may not get a crop that year, but you can still plant them.

Ask your local home depot outside gardening manager about if they will order some for next spring and when you can look for them. If they can't give you a good answer, find a nice local nursery and ask them to special order you some when they do their fall shrub ordering.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blueberry publication

I planted blueberries and raspberries just this spring so the yield is not great. The deer got one of the blueberry bushes but I'm getting enough off the other bushes and the raspberries to top my morning cereal - maybe make a pie.

I'm interested in Espallier apple cultivation especially a tree with mixed varieties grafted onto good root stock. Does anyone here know where I might find a good source. I guess I could train and graft my own - I've never done this and might also try this later, but thought it would also be nice to get a tree that was alittle further along as an espallier.

I've got a pear tree, strawberries and a grape vine (2nd year and still hasn't yielded any fruit!). Would love to have an apple tree (not sure what kind will do well) and some blueberry bushes. Blackberries and raspberries too, but they seem like so much work with having to know when to prune which branches and tieing/training them, etc. Am I mistaken on this?

We recently put our house up for sale in Douglasville. There is a large arbor with mature kiwi vines we planted. We've picked kiwis for several years each fall.

Does anyone grow Goji Berries? They're suppose to be really, really healthy.

I've got a pear tree, strawberries and a grape vine (2nd year and still hasn't yielded any fruit!). Would love to have an apple tree (not sure what kind will do well) and some blueberry bushes. Blackberries and raspberries too, but they seem like so much work with having to know when to prune which branches and tieing/training them, etc. Am I mistaken on this?

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I dont think there that much work. Just get you some thick gloves for the thorns. You want them to be off the ground so
they dont spread outside their bed, and pruning you can do at the end of the season of the old canes. I say go and give them a try with few plants and you can always cover a cane or two with soil if you want more.

So those who want to meet, when and where would be a good place? I used to meet my fruit buddy up by cobb parkway at the starbucks on the secon saturday. I am flexible though. I would to hear about what others are doing.

I made a group called "atlanta fruits" on yahoo if anyone is interested.

Hi everyone! This sounds like something that I might be interested in, I do mostly vegetable gardening, but I think it is about time that I expanded my edible landscape.

Lostman- I know who you are! I have your number and I know where you live!

Blazepepper- Blueberries are an early spring fruit, so most of the plants will be locally available in February and March. For most fruits, you need to have two varieties to get good fruit set; this is natureÂs way of preventing too much inbreeding. Since blueberries are local to Georgia, we usually have good selection; I especially like Tifblue, Climax and Premier. I got mine from The Urban Gardener, if you like mail-order I very highly recommend http://www.noursefarms.com/ for small fruits.

Kingturtle- Your raspberry yield should probably improve greatly next year, the first year is often much less, did you grow a fall-bearing variety? For raspberries, I would definitely go with http://www.noursefarms.com/ , I recommend Caroline Raspberries.

Also, for apples, I have no first hand experience, but I have been doing some research and Anna, Dorset Golden, Ein Shemer and Yates are varieties that generally do well in warmer climates. Atlanta is often considered not to have enough of a winter for apples, but I am planning on maybe trying anyway. For anyone interested, here is the link to a good e-book: http://www.inlandempire-crfg.org/pics_index/Growing_Apples.pdf.

Airmandelt- I would like to hear about how you grow peach trees. I try to do all of my gardening organically, is that at all possible?

So it seems like most people live slightly north of the city. Could anyone suggest a café or somewhere where we could get together and meet and talk? Hasting Garden Center has a nice little room that they let garden clubs meet inÂOr would anyone know of a good field trip destination for us to do as a group? I wouldnÂt mind visiting the SSL Heritage Orchard http://www.uga.edu/ebl/ssl/activities/orchard/ , but only if others are also interested. I might make Lostman carpool with meÂ

here is an article on espalier for apple trees

Here is a link that might be useful: Espalier Trees

Thanks harleyhappy for the resource.

Anybody up around Gainesville? I would be interested in getting together to share information! I am attempting to grow apple, pear, asian pear, persimmon, kiwi that have never produced, jujube (see kiwi), muscadine, quince, blueberries, raspberries,a new pomegranate, pineapple guava, figs, and paw paws that are new so not producing. The late freeze was so discouraging!

Hello fellow fruit growers. We just moved into a new house this summer and are anxious to plant some blueberries and other successful fruit crops for Atlanta. However, I anticipate us only being in this house for no more than 3 years. So, we don't want to wait forever for the plants to mature before we can harvest our efforts. Can anyone recommend a source of fruit trees/shrubs that are fairly large and we can potentially harvest sooner?

Dear Bocron,

I live in Alpharetta too. I am interested in growing Cherry. What kind cherry you have? Tart or sweet and how they are doing for you? Could you share in the information where you get the cherry and what the name of cherry? Thanks

Dear Tiffaneyga,

You have quite long and cool list of fruits grown in your yard. Are you growing Pineapple, Litchi, Key Lime, Mango, start fruit and banana in door? I would love to grown some of them out door. Is it possible.

Thanks
Alpharetta.

Alpharetta,

All of my plants grow outside in the winter (in pots) and I move them into the garage under shop lights in the winter. Some flower and even fruit inside.

Key Lime (in house)
Mango (in garage)
Litchi (in house)
Pineapple (in garage)

@Tiffaneyga, does Banana survive Atlanta winter? Thank you.

tiffaneyga, do you mean lychee? If you do, I seriously would love to know where you got a plant! I love them!

I'm in Cumming, GA, and am growing dwarf peach trees (early elberta and belle of GA,) fruit cherry trees (bing and black tarjan,) strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and I have a dwarf meyer lemon tree that I will take out in the warm weather, but will pull indoors when it gets cold. Most of these I planted last year, as gallon plants, so I don't think I'll get fruit from the trees this year. Last year I had tons of blueberries, some raspberries, and I *had* blackberries, but for some reason my dogs loved to eat them straight off the plant right when they were just getting close to ripe enough to pick. I also have a few rhubarb plants, and also lots of veggies.

my_nanba, I don't believe bananas would survive winter in ATL, unless you have a dwarf banana plant in a pot to pull indoors, similar to my lemon tree. I could be totally wrong, though, and would be delighted if I am! I'd love to add them to my garden!

Woodstock..apples2 pears 3 straberries6x12 patch grapes 3 figs 2 plums 3 blueberries 16 Nanking cherries6 fruit cocktail tree2 chesnut2 hazelnut2

Only ornamental bananas grow... Outdoors, the exception being purple banana .... Which is not a traditional banana... They grow about two inches long and are hard and flavorless... More like a root vegetable or jeruselam artichoke or really hard plantain... My buddy in hickory flat has a standard dwarf banana inside greenhouse 5 years and never gotten fruit.. It is probably 1o ft tall and healthy but I think our growing season is just too short for fruiting?

travelergt4... Sadly usually 2 nod year minimum to get fruiting...pike nursery on Holcomb bridge near Spaulding drive intersection has some mature 12 ft 25 gallon fruits.. Johnson nursery near Elijah also..but the bigger they are the more you pay... The exceptions probably thornless blackberry, 3year 10 gallon blueberries, or 10 gallon figs might produce enough in 3 year window....

Looking for a Male Kiwi.

Just purchased and the discovered I also need the male.

Gwinnett co. 19ldf47@gmail.com