I've got a small orchard of 8 fruit trees [1]. I've found that if you want to grow your own food, the time investment for fruit is the lowest per unit product. I'd estimate that I spend less than 5 hours per year on my trees, total.
Maintenance consists of pruning in the fall, culling fruit early in the season, fertilizing occasionally, and periodic spraying. For pruning, decide how much you think you ought to cut back, and then cut twice that amount. Do not skip the spraying. People who want their food grown all naturally really just wind up feeding the bugs and other pests.
A given type of fruit tends to come ripe all at once. I'll be harvesting my peaches, say, over 1.5 - 2 weeks. For soft fruits like peaches or plums, you can't keep them very long. You've got to preserve them or give them away. So plan your crops accordingly.
If you want to do this, now is the time to start planning. Even more than tomatoes, you need to time it right. Trees need to be planted either in very early spring, or in the fall.
Maintenance consists of pruning in the fall, culling fruit early in the season, fertilizing occasionally, and periodic spraying. For pruning, decide how much you think you ought to cut back, and then cut twice that amount. Do not skip the spraying. People who want their food grown all naturally really just wind up feeding the bugs and other pests.
A given type of fruit tends to come ripe all at once. I'll be harvesting my peaches, say, over 1.5 - 2 weeks. For soft fruits like peaches or plums, you can't keep them very long. You've got to preserve them or give them away. So plan your crops accordingly.
If you want to do this, now is the time to start planning. Even more than tomatoes, you need to time it right. Trees need to be planted either in very early spring, or in the fall.
[1] 2 peaches, 2 apples, 2 pears, 1 plum, 1 pluot