University of Missouri Extension Fruit Growing Guides

University of Missouri Extension Fruit Growing Guides

I clearly remember keeping the Fruit Experiment Station representative two hours after the scheduled end of our master gardener class. We had a lot of questions about how to raise a variety of fruit in Missouri's growing conditions, and the speaker seemed quite happy to entertain our questions, and stories.

Some time after that class, I was at my local University of Missouri Extension office and found a nice variety of pamphlets on growing fruit in Missouri: from blueberries to raspberries, the paper pamphlets were available for a nominal fee, varying from 50 cents to $2. 

You bet I took them all, they are part of my winter reading assignment to make sure I am following the best practices in my garden. I still dream of the day when I can step out into my garden and pick a variety of my own fruit. I have had good luck with my semi-dwarf pear tree, only 30 years after I first planted it. I had given up on seeing any fruit until wasps moved into some of my birdhouses and started pollinating the blooms. So exciting to finally see pears on that tree!

My compact peaches and nectarines have borne fruit within the first couple of years, but I don't always beat the squirrels to the fruit.

I have blueberries, raspberries and blackberries planted as well but haven't seen fruit yet. I have added wood chips to mulch the blueberries and blackberries to acidify their soil. I need to have a chat with my raspberry patch, the plants have literally taken over one of my raised beds. I wouldn't mind so much if they had fruited but not so far.

Maybe next year.

Charlotte