More Fruit Trees = Cleaner Air + Free Food

If you plant a fruit tree in your garden, backyard or even your front yard you reap a number of benefits.

#1. Like all trees, fruit trees purify the air by taking in CO2 and reducing air pollution.

#2. Fruit trees require very little yard maintenance / gardening skills to take care of. They get watered from rain, which means you don't need to worry about watering them, and at most you might need to prune them once in awhile so the tree looks attractive visually.

#3. Free fruit. Regardless of whether you plant an apple, plum, pear or cherry tree you are going to get free fruit off of it. The trick to picking the fruit is to do so when it is ripe and has not yet been attacked by insects. (One of the plus sides of living in a major city, not many insects to worry about.)

#4. You can even plant your fruit tree indoors, next to a window. Just get yourself a big clay tree pot from a gardening centre, set it near a very large window, get a big bag of soil and fill the clay pot with the soil. Buy a fruit tree from a local gardening centre (eg. Home Depot), plant it in the pot, water it, and then remember to water every few days / once per week, depending on the type of plant you purchased.

#5. Unlike farm raised fruit which are sprayed with pesticides and need to be washed off, you won't need to wash the fruit you grow yourself as much. A little water will do. (So called "organic" fruit has a different problem, they're genetically modified to contain their own pesticides so no amount of washing gets rid of the pesticides.)

Note 1: CBC Radio has a weekly show that has gardening tips. Listen to Ed Lawrence, Ontario Today's Gardening Expert. People can call in to the radio show, get expert gardening tips or even contact him via his website: gardeningwithed.com 

Note 2: A recent Canadian Daily article even pushed the idea of the next mayor of Toronto planting more fruit trees in public places across Toronto. Assuming a mayor who gets elected (replacing Rob Ford) is friendly to the idea, we could see a lot more fruit trees across Toronto.

#6. You don't have to grow fruit trees. You can also grow berries, nut trees, or even coffee plants. Or you can even have a windowsill herb garden like in the photo below.

#7. Other locations for growing fruit trees / etc. include Rooftop Gardens, local community vegetable gardens, some churches have community gardens, and there are also garden sharing communities you can connect with online whereby you use someone else's backyard to grow fruits and veggies and you share the results.