When we first moved to our acreage property I wanted to have a big garden but I knew there was still some preparing I needed to do. I decided to start with fruit trees because it seemed a little easier for me to get going. I headed to the local nursery and bought maybe ten fruit trees. Of course I didn't think to research what fruit would do good in my area because I thought surely the nursery would only sell what works for our local zone. Unfortunately that's not the way it works..... Those trees three years later are still the same size. I figured I must have done something wrong but then I remembered back to the previous location we lived at ( different state) and everything I planted there did incredibly. On a trip to the farmers market I saw a booth that was giving out seeds and the person in charge worked for the agricultural department at the state college. I told him I didn't want the seeds as everything I've tried to plant so far has not done well. He explained to me that I needed to forget about how and what I planted in my garden in the Midwest because things were different here in my current state and required different planting techniques as well as an entirely different list if fruits and vegetables that would do well here. So with my new knowledge I gladly accepted all the seeds he offered and then I headed straight to another nursery.
Here again we're fruit trees for sale that don't do well in our current state. I asked one if the knowledgeable staff why they sell fruit trees that do not do well at all here. He said simply because people are insistent on trying to make it work with their favorite fruit tree. I simply wanted to plant what would thrive and produce here. So in our hot humid climate here in Houston Texas area fruit trees that do well are plums, pears, persimmon, pomegranate and figs. All of these will produce high yields here. The Anna apple tree does pretty good as well. As far as nut trees go pecans are a winner here. Citrus can be grown here but if there's a deep freeze for lasting for a few days it could wipe them out. Like the super freeze we had this year which knocked out all my citrus. The kind of good news is the citrus did start new growth at the base of the trees but this means a ten year old tree now had to be cut down to the base of the trunk. Basically starting all over.
So definitely do your research for plants that do well in your area. Agricultural departments at the state college is a great place to ask questions.
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