BEST WINTER-HARDY FRUIT TREE: THE APPLE

You just can’t beat them. Apples are CRAZY hardy — some varieties are winter hardy down to zone 2! — so a New England winter freeze doesn’t make them bat an eye.

Although growing apples in northern climates still comes with its own set of problems (I’m looking at you, plum curculios), they are relatively painless to plant, tend, and prune.

Plus, the apple comes in a phenomenal diversity of shapes, sizes, colors and tastes, and the fruit can be used in something like fifty bazillion different ways – fresh, sauced, juiced, preserved, dried, even cooked down into a pasty jam-like apple butter.

My top three tips for growing apple trees in a northern zone?

1. Keep them protected in the winter from hungry rabbits & deer;
2. Prune faithfully, even when going outside in February is the LAST thing any sane person would do; and
3. Buy and use a SAFE insect spray to make sure you protect the tree from six-legged invaders during the growing season (we’re talking after the bees have finished pollinating, of course!).

BEST COLD-TOLERANT SOFT FRUIT: STRAWBERRIES

Strawberries may not be at the top of my list in terms of taste — I prefer a little more tang in my berries — but their ease of growing puts them solidly in second place among my top 5.

Strawberry beds are incredibly easy to establish and grow. It’s really, really hard to fail at growing strawberries, even in a northern garden (believe me, I’ve done it. Had to work pretty hard at that failure, but… I’ve done it).

As with any type of fruit, there will be a few things to get used to along the learning curve as you grow these soft-fruit favorites:

1. Mulching strawberry beds is recommended to prevent winterkill (and weeds… don’t forget the weeds.)
2. Animals of all species love to snatch up the berries before you do;
3. Planting depth can make or break your harvest. When you first put in your strawberry crowns you

However, if you do manage to destroy your strawberry beds, the rapid regeneration rate means that you only have to wait a short season to try again. Sooner or later, you’ll crack the code and start producing like mad.

If I could just warn on one thing about strawberries, it would be weed control. It’s wildly important to keep weeds down while the plants are first establishing themselves, or they will be quickly outgrown and may just die due to lack of sunlight. Unlike other soft fruits like brambles and cane berries, the strawberry plant will never get tall enough to overshadow its weedy competition. Once the plant is well established, it will probably survive a weedy bed… but it still won’t produce a good harvest if weeds compete for sunlight, water, and soil nutrients.

Growing strawberries in pots is pretty popular, but I would suggest you get good at growing them in-ground before attempting the more finicky process of container gardening.

Lastly, I would suggest you PLANT THE RIGHT VARIETY. I can’t stress this last one enough. If you’re a newbie to fruit gardening, planting a high-producing cultivar will help you salvage some berries (and some motivation to keep trying!) while the local wildlife is robbing you blind.

Once you have figured out how to keep scavengers out of your patch, you can explore some of the more unusual types that don’t produce as heavily (like white strawberries! Who knew?).

BEST COLD-HARDY (ZONE 4) CANE FRUIT: BLACK RASPBERRIES

Black raspberries are the best-tasting berries EVER. Debate over.

It can be tough finding a black raspberry cultivar that’s rated to survive a northern-zone winter, but trust me — it’s SO worth it. As long as you choose a black raspberry variety that is hardy to zone 4, this fruit will be a breeze to grow.

Establishing a black raspberry bed is easy and the canes are quick to produce fruit and propagate themselves. It’s a gardener’s dream!

A bonus (in my world, anyway!) is that the black raspberry is very tolerant of juglone. Juglone is a compound emitted by the black walnut that poisons many fruits… but not the black raspberry.

Yes, there are a couple threats to your black raspberry garden to be aware of — most significantly, you should be aware that disease that may be carried by wild berries near your property, and you need to monitor for signs of infection. However, a pie from these berries makes any extra time invested 100% worthwhile.

My top three tips for growing black raspberries in a northern zone?

1. Be prepared for sprawling, thorny canes and buy yourself a decent set of pruning shears. Pruning needs are minimal in terms of fruit production, but it may be necessary to prune in order to keep the canes contained in their allotted growing space!
2. Be careful when purchasing to make sure you’ve picked a variety that’s right for your zone. Not that many types are rated to zone 4. Once planted, the cold-hardy cultivars are essentially hassle-free, in my experience, but you may have to look a little longer to find one. 
3. Start small. Before you prepare a huge garden bed and sink your garden budget into a couple dozen canes, buy one or two of the cultivar you’ve selected, and put them out as coal-mine canaries. If there’s disease in the area, you’ll see it invade these “test” canes, and be primed to tackle the problem with fewer casualties.

BEST COLD-HARDY (ZONE 3) CANE FRUIT: RED RASPBERRIES

The red raspberry is similar to the black raspberry in ease of growth, but when it comes to cold tolerance, the red raspberry wins, hands down.

Finding cultivars of these bramble fruits rated cold-tolerant to zone 4 is easy – and to take things a step further, the red raspberry is also commonly rated to zone 3. It doesn’t get much more resilient than that in the fruit gardening world!

 And the fruit itself is outstanding; raspberry pie, raspberry jam, raspberry ANYTHING is magnificent. Versatility and taste are both on your side.

Growing raspberries is reasonably easy. The canes propagate themselves like mad, many cultivars are very winter-hardy, and production power is excellent.

Unfortunately, the soft fruit of raspberries attract all sorts of insect visitors. If you aren’t using chemicals in your raspberry bed (I don’t), you should monitor for unwelcome visitors as you pick.

Otherwise, the biggest downside is that the canes are susceptible to a few diseases, but if you keep a close eye on your raspberry bed you can keep it producing despite these challenges.

My top three tips for growing red raspberries in a northern zone?

1. Be careful about fall-bearing raspberries, because an early cold snap can destroy those primocane berries. Make sure you put in some research before deciding whether to grow primocane or floricane raspberries.
2. Prune HEAVILY to keep the canes from becoming overcrowded and breeding disease.
3. Once they’re ripe, make sure you keep up with regular harvesting to keep overripe fruit from attracting nasty little pests.

BEST WINTER-HARDY VINING FRUIT: GRAPES

I’ll be honest, I’d rather have filled this last slot in my top five list with blackberries – but when the judging is based on winter hardiness and dependability, the good old-fashioned grape vine can’t be beat.

Now, I have to warn you: I’m talking seeded grapes when I add this list item. Growing seedless grapes is significantly more difficult in cold climates.

Yes, there are several seedless varieties rated to zone 4 – and I’m not saying it’s impossible – but I have found the seedless varieties to be more delicate and susceptible to cold temperatures. In contrast, the seeded Concord vines that I have in front of my barn are production powerhouses that just can’t be killed.

For the cold-hardy grape vine, propagation isn’t hard and the taste is great (even when I — ahem — haven’t really pruned in, like… literally forever). Foolproof. Winter-hardy. Great taste. What else could a gardener ask for?

My top three tips for growing hardy grape vines in a northern zone?

1. Give them a trellis or something to climb that’s still going to be reachable when it’s harvest time. Although it’s easier now to cheat and plant by a tree as a “natural” trellis, you’ll be kicking yourself come September if you don’t trellis them on something reachable. Ask me how I know.
2. Monitor for invasive vine growth. Remember that trailing vines will root where they land. In time, they can work their way out into your lawn with the intention of taking over the world. It’s a good thing if you are layering as a propagation method!
3. Be CAREFUL picking, because grapes ripen during prime yellow-jacket sugar-frenzy season. Watch what you’re picking!

GROWING FRUIT TREES, BRAMBLES & VINES IN NORTHERN ZONES

And there you have it. Of the many fruits I’ve grown in my chilly New England climate, these five — apples, strawberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and hardy grapes — have been by far the most dependable winter-hardy fruits I’ve found.

Although taste might not always be my favorite in comparison to other fruits I’ve grown, these are in my opinion the best starting points for a beginning fruit gardener who has to deal with sub-zero winter temperatures…or for more people like me, who have loads of experience and haven’t learned a thing from it. The struggle is real, y’all.

Once you’ve selected the fruit trees, shrubs, or other plants you with to grow, it’s critically important that you prepare the growing environment to help those plants survive the cold. Even the most cold-hardy tree will struggle without the right growing conditions or winter protection, so plan ahead; prepare the garden; and protect your plants!

If you are growing fruit trees in zones 4 and colder, steps to success include:

• Winterizing your trees, shrubs, and other fruit plants. Without proper protection, the cold can hit harder – and oddly enough, cheerful sunlight on a frigid January day can do more damage to tender bark of an apple or cherry tree than a cloudy day would. Make sure you know what to watch out for, and that you’ve prepared your trees for the climate!
• Planning for the impact of heavy snow in your garden. A thick, heavy snowfall can affect your fruit plants in negative ways (think weight damage – snapped branches and related problems), but snow can also provide unexpected benefits to your garden. Make sure you know where heavy snow drifts will tend to accumulate in your fruit orchard or garden, and prepare accordingly.

If you are looking to branch out beyond the fruits in this article, check out my Giant List of 45+ Fruits Cold-Hardy to Zone 4. The fruits listed in this list aren’t necessarily as easy to grow, but most aren’t overly difficult, either! Gardening in cold climates is different – but it’s doable.

For information on how to track down winter-hardy fruits, check out my article on how to find cold-hardy fruit trees for zone 4 and colder.