This is also the time to order bare root fruit trees. They’ll be shipped to you at the proper time for planting in your area. Bare root trees are usually small, but they will very soon catch up to the larger, more expensive and hard to ship older trees. Also, for some reason they seem to be more resilient to transplanting. I’ve lost fewer bare root saplings than their two or three year old siblings in pots.

Make sure the varieties you want will do well in your area. Trees require diligence in pruning, fruit removal and processing (once they get big), etc. Semi-dwarf or dwarf trees are probably big enough for most families.

Also, most fruits have early, mid, and late ripening varieties, so try to get one of each for a longer harvest that is more easily dealt with. Rather than having two or three trees come ripe all at once. This will take a little research, but it is worth the time and effort.

Fruit trees begin to bear anywhere from 3 to 5 years, so expect a little bit of a wait for your first crop.