Demand for fruit trees increases as gardening season arrives in Greater Toronto Area
Posted April 13, 2023 5:37 pm.
Last Updated April 13, 2023 8:08 pm.
As the Greater Toronto Area basks in a temporary stretch of warm weather, it’s ushering in gardening season and an increased interest in planting food-bearing trees, shrubs and plants.
At the Woodhill Garden Centre at the border of Toronto and Vaughan, there has been a surging demand for one particular category.
“Very definite demand for anything edible. Every day we’re getting several phone calls about fruit trees. ‘When are they coming? How do I plant them?'” Ian McCallum, the centre’s manager, told CityNews.
“I would say it happens every year but this year there’s more of [calls] and earlier. It’s basically everything, but fruit trees at this time of year are in the biggest demand. People want wild cherries specifically, cherries are huge, but the other ones are being asked for as well.”
It’s unclear what’s driving that demand, but with surging inflation impacting the price of fresh fruit and vegetables it might be attractive to grow your own produce.
However, if you’re looking to grow your own fruit, McCallum has a caution.
“If you’re looking at fruit trees, you’re looking a minimum of three years for a crop — maybe longer,” he said.
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“If you’re looking at a vegetable garden, yes, you’re getting pretty quick crops off you’re going to get them the first season. [If you’re] a newcomer, you’re probably not going to know exactly what’s going on and how to get your best cropping and so on.”
Amid that interest in fruit trees, a non-profit organization operating across the Greater Toronto Area and Guelph is preparing to roll out its annual batch of deliveries.
Andrew Knox, a project coordinator with TreeMobile, said there are several benefits to fruit trees beyond the important issue of food security
“If you’re growing some of your own food, you reduce your food miles a little bit. Trees shade your home. There are actually not many environmental issues that trees are not good for,” he said.
“Other people are looking at property value and what trees can do to improve your property value … Everybody’s got different angles.”
The organization is stocking up on many different apple, plum, cherry and apricot trees along with grapes, various berry shrubs and vegetable plants.
Knox said he too has been impacted by the cost of food, pointing to a recent example of buying grapes.
“It was $11.40 for a regular-sized bag of grapes and I was so shocked,” he said.
“I involuntarily looked so shocked that the woman behind me offered to pay for me because she was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to afford to buy grapes.”
TreeMobile, which is celebrating 10 years in Toronto, is accepting orders until Thursday evening and volunteers will be delivering products on May 7, which Knox called an optimal time of year for planting trees.
“People always say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is right now,” he said.
Gardening advice for the coming weeks in the GTA
McCallum said enthusiasm to get underway with gardening has been surging in recent days.
People are chomping at the bit … they want everything now. It’s too early for 97 per cent of it,” he said.
Despite the record-breaking warmth Toronto saw on Thursday, the extended forecast for the rest of April suggests there will be colder periods ahead.
“The only thing flowering that’s really safe to go out right now would be pansies. And people say, ‘Well, they won’t survive.’ Yes, they will,” McCallum said.
“If you put in something that’s really sensitive, like the begonias or impatiens or something like that, they will be dead.”
At around the end of April, he said perennials, if there is no more frost, can go in the ground. McCallum said annuals should go in as we move into May.
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Right now, he said people should work on preparing the soil in their gardens and community garden plots to be ready for early May.
“The most important is to get your ground ready. If it’s a new garden bed, you want to get it turned over, you want to get fresh organic matter in (and) maybe some fresh soil. Work it all in and get the soil prepared,” McCallum said.
“If it’s something more established, make sure that it’s weed-free. Again, probably rototill it or turn it over in some way.”
When asked about the most common mistakes gardeners make, he said there are two consistent things he sees every year.
“One is planting too much too close and the other is thinking you’re going to plant it and forget about it,” McCallum said while urging people to be vigilant about proper watering.
“You have to give them a good deep soak. Don’t just stand out there with a hose and spray it around. You have to get the water on there and sink it in deep so you should be putting a sprinkler on for half an hour or more.”
He said the further we get into spring and into the summer, depending on the weather, the frequency of watering should increase. During weeks early in the season if it’s wetter, McCallum said a maximum of once a week will do. As we move to mid-to-late May, two to three weeks might be needed depending on the weather. Throughout summer during hot temperatures and when there’s little precipitation, he said every one to two days is needed.
