Fruit Trees as a Sustainable Food Source
The Bible describes the Garden of Eden as a paradise filled with fruit-bearing trees. Of course, fruit trees can’t provide us with all the nutrients we need. But when you consider their many benefits, it’s not hard to see how they could have been divinely inspired.
Fruit trees might just top the list of environmentally responsible ways to grow food. They are nature’s one-stop-shop for food, air purification, animal habitat, and much more! Planting a fruit tree is a great, low impact way to help yourself, your neighbors, and the planet. Here’s our list of just a few reasons to consider making a fruit tree planting part of your landscaping plans:
Fruit Trees Produce Abundant Food for You!
The most obvious benefit of a fruit tree is its fruit. But if you have never had a close encounter with a fruit tree, you might be unaware of just how prolific these amazing plants can be. Just one dwarf apple tree, for example, can produce around 150-250 pounds of fruit in a season. Suppose you’re buying a five pound bag of apples at the grocery store every week. One small apple tree yields almost a full a year’s supply. Larger trees can yield twice as much and more!
Fruit Trees Benefit Your Neighbors (Human and Animal!)
Your neighbors should thank you for planting a fruit tree. Fruit trees are far more than just food machines. It is a well-known fact that trees provide oxygen and remove pollutants from the air. They also improve our mental health. Just the sight of trees has been shown to reduce stress in office workers. In addition to any fruits that happen to fall on their side of the fence, your neighbors can enjoy breathing cleaner air AND taking some of the stress out of their lives.
As well as benefitting the humans around you, your tree will also help out your neighborhood critters. Even a small tree can make a great home for a bird family. An animal’s home is much more than just a nice (but unnecessary) cozy space. A bird needs a safe place to lay eggs so that it can reproduce. A suitable nesting location is crucial to the survival of any species.
Meanwhile, fruit trees provide food for more than just humans. Blossoms will cover a fruit tree in the spring. These flowers provide bees with the essential foods of pollen and nectar. The decline in the bee population has been a cause of concern for some years now. Providing bees with a food source is a great way to give them a boost.
Fruit Trees: An Environmentally Responsible Choice
It’s amazing to think that fruit trees provide all these benefits while requiring relatively little input from us. They also cause far less wear and tear on the environment than other methods of food production. Compare a grove of fruit trees to a field of grain. To cultivate grain, a farmer must first clear the ground, destroying natural animal habitats. Each year, the farmer must plow and replant the field, using tractors and heavy machinery. This process eats up fossil fuels and releases pollutants into the air. By contrast, a tree only needs to be planted once. Routine tree maintenance requires no heavy machinery, and only a little time. The tree will yield fruit year after year, while providing important habitat for wild animals.
How Arborist Now Can Help You Get Started
If you're interested in both providing food for your family and contributing positively to the environment, consider planting a fruit tree. In the San Francisco Bay Area, fruit trees like lemons, plums, apples, Asian pears, and avocados thrive. Should you decide to embark on this journey independently but find you need assistance, don't hesitate to reach out to Arborist Now. As the top-rated tree care provider in the region, we offer a comprehensive array of professional tree care and landscaping services. We're here to answer any questions you might have about trees and will support you every step of the way.
Your first task will be tree selection. Fruit trees come in many shapes and sizes. Arborist Now can help you narrow down the best options for your particular space. We’ll also help you select the best spot in your yard to plant the tree. Wondering how to tackle your first fruit tree pruning? Or whether you need to fertilize your fruit tree? Or how to deal with pests on your fruit trees? We can help with those questions too.
Fancy stepping out in your yard and plucking ripe fruit from your own tree? Take the first step today by scheduling a consultation with Arborist Now.
