Eat What You Grow

It's pretty safe to say that this time of year is the best. Flowers are everywhere, deciduous trees are starting to leaf out again, our veggie gardens are producing, and the intoxicating aroma of citrus and fruit blooms are filling up the air.  Now, we always talk about how great our region is and one of the greatest things is that our region is ideal for growing fruit and citrus trees in your backyard!

Click here to see all of our fruit and citrus trees we offer.
Grown specifically in our climate Guaranteed to produce!

At Moon Valley Nurseries we are always telling our customers to eat what they grow and our custom root stock on our fruit and citrus, that was developed by our owner Les Blake and his grandfather, is far superior than what you will find anywhere else. The root stock is extremely important when talking about fruit and citrus trees as this is what your trees are grafted on and many growers take shortcuts so they are able to grow their trees faster and get them to the nursery quicker. We don't do short cuts here at Moon Valley Nurseries. You can only get an excellent tasting and guaranteed to produce fruit trees from Moon Valley Nurseries, no other nursery in the country grows trees like we do.

If we still don't have you convinced, check out our top reasons to grow your own homegrown food:

Fruit & Citrus Taste Better
The taste between homegrown fruit and store bought fruit is not even comparable. Your homegrown fruit and citrus will be sweeter, juicier, and more flavorful than store-bought, which are picked before they’re ripe. Because these fruit and citrus are picked too early, they cannot develop the complex flavors and sweet sugar taste we all love. By growing your own food, it allows the fruit and citrus to fully ripen on the tree for ultimate taste.

No Pesticides
Store bought fruit is treated with many pesticides and chemicals and unless you do your research you have no idea what they are spraying the fruit and citrus with. Growing your own fruit and citrus allows you to be in control and what you feed and fertilize your tree with. 

Garden Fragrance & Flowers
Scented citrus blossoms in the spring are what dreams are made of. The intoxicating smell and the beauty of the flowers are a great bonus for every homeowner.

You Don’t Have To Leave The House
We like to think being 10 feet from your fruit or citrus tree is a million times better than driving to the store in traffic for, let’s say, a single lemon.

Below are the top varieties to grow in our region with some recipes that our nursery pros love. 

Oranges
The most popular citrus tree we offer, the origins of the orange tree  can be traced back to ancient Chinese literature and the orange is now the most cultivated citrus tree in the world. Oranges are super easy to grow and for our region the best to grow are the Arizona Sweet Orange, Washington Navel, Valencia, Blood Orange, and Trovita. These are all proven varieties that will produce great tasting fruit for many years to come.  Recipe: Using homegrown oranges you can make Sangria!

Lemon

Limes
Where would our food and beer be without limes?  We don't know and we don't want to even think about living in a world without limes! We also have an insider tip for everyone. WAIT until your limes turn yellow. That means they are fully ripe.  They are supposed to turn yellow. Another benefit of growing your own homegrown good.  We offer three varieties of limes at Moon Valley Nurseries. The Mexican Lime (Key Lime), Bearss Lime (Persian Lime), and the Australian Finger Lime. Recipe: For all the adults out there (that means 21 and older) we suggest the Beer Margaritas!

Grapefruits
These softball sized citrus pack a punch and they are a great source of vitamins and like everything else on this list they are super easy to grow. You may even see some 50-year-old grapefruit trees around town as they have been a popular choice in our region for decades. When it comes to grapefruit there are a few different varieties. You have the White Grapefruit (Marsh Seedless and Oro Blanco), which is super sweet and of course white on the inside, and the Red Grapefruit (Rio Red and Rudy Red), which is of course red on the inside. Recipe: This is for those with the sweet tooth....The Fresh Grapefruit Cake!

Peach
Now you're probably looking at this and thinking, 'peach...in our region????' We are here to tell you that YES, peaches grow in our region, and YES, they produce every year. Once again proving why our region is the best in the United States! The peach, just like the orange, comes from Northern China and has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years! We offer three varieties at Moon Valley Nurseries. The Desert Gold, Florida Prince, and May Pride. Recipe: Another recipe for those with the sweet tooth is the Juicy Peach Crisp!

Apple
Remember, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and with an apple tree in your yard you'll be the healthiest person in the neighborhood. Apples have been a healthy part of humans diet for more than 1,000 years and these beautiful trees (with gorgeous flowers in the spring) will be a welcome addition to your yard. The four varieties we offer are the Anna, Dorsett (Golden), Fuji, and Beverly Hills. Recipe: A little outside of the box, Apple Baked Beans!

Avocado
This is only for our California readers. And so we are all clear on this, you can possibly grow avocados in Arizona and Las Vegas. However, it needs a lot and we mean A LOT of care and they don't perform that well so we do not recommend nor do we sell avocado trees at our nurseries in Arizona and Las Vegas. For the Californians, you can save big bucks by planting and growing your own avocado tree. They perform extremely well in our region and the varieties we offer are  Hass, Bacon, Fuerte, and Zutano. Recipe: Guacamole is the easy way out, so we suggest the Avocado Dessert. You'll enjoy it!