Gardening in Huntsville?

[Badin]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Vegetable and fruit gardening are very common, and we have a very long growing season (April to October, sometimes longer if you get into microclimates that avoid late and early frosts). Again, some fruits better adapted to cooler and/or drier environments don't thrive (most raspberry selections and cherries come to mind), but plenty of things do really well (strawberries in the spring, blueberries selected for the South, blackberries, regional grapes called muscadines and scuppernongs, PEACHES, some apples, pears, and plums). You just have to investigate and make sure what you're planting is well-suited to the area (the big box stores don't always carry best-adapted varieties in all cases).

This is very helpful. We're building in Madison and want to add some fruit and nut trees to the backyard. We're lucky that the property is fairly deep, for a suburban lot, and is over an acre.

Do pecan trees do well here? I have fond memories of my grandmother's pecan trees and of helping to shell the pecans to use in hand churned butter pecan ice cream and toasting them to top her chocolate cakes.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by Badin

This is very helpful. We're building in Madison and want to add some fruit and nut trees to the backyard. We're lucky that the property is fairly deep, for a suburban lot, and is over an acre.

Do pecan trees do well here? I have fond memories of my grandmother's pecan trees and of helping to shell the pecans to use in hand churned butter pecan ice cream and toasting them to top her chocolate cakes.

Uhhh, yes. As do black walnut and hickory and oaks.

Black walnut in particular has problems though. If you plant it near a road, the nuts are hard enough that trucks driving over them will break up the asphalt. They also have jugones, which kinda poisons the soil for other plants.

Don't plant any of the nut trees over your driveway unless you want to wash your car every other day. And remember that old trees drop branches, and they grow MUCH larger than you might think they will.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Uhhh, yes. As do black walnut and hickory and oaks.

Black walnut in particular has problems though. If you plant it near a road, the nuts are hard enough that trucks driving over them will break up the asphalt. They also have jugones, which kinda poisons the soil for other plants.

Don't plant any of the nut trees over your driveway unless you want to wash your car every other day. And remember that old trees drop branches, and they grow MUCH larger than you might think they will.

I used to have a black walnut tree in my front yard. It was a very productive tree, with lots of nuts. One day I was mowing and barely missed being beaned by one of the nuts falling, complete with its outer skin. The whole thing must have weighed near a pound and was about the size of a baseball. I had the tree removed, and my only regret is that I didn't save any of the wood. Black walnut is valuable wood, and is very desirble for woodworking.

My neighbor has a hickory tree that overhangs my driveway. It drops nuts, which makes walking to my mailbox something you have to be careful doing - easy to step on and turn your ankle. Plus, it has stained my driveway, which is exposed aggregate pea gravel. I get the driveway pressure washed yearly, but the stain remains.

Pecan trees grow here, but not anywhere near the number as in the southern part of the state. Perhaps it's because commercial production of pecans never caught on here, or maybe the colder winters of northern alabama had the effect of limiting nut production. I remember there being a whole grove of them at the intersection of Goss Rd and Martin Rd, but I believe they were removed when the intersection was closed.

For fruit trees, you can have apple, peach, and plum. No citrus though.

[HB2HSV]

You can grow citrus in containers here but need to bring them indoors during winter. They can't stand freezing temperatures.