Moon Valley Nursery - Arizona Blog

Top Reasons To Grow Your Own Fruit & Citrus

Written by Garrett Cleverly | 2/24/2016

Living in the Western United States has many perks. The sun is always shining, striking mountains dominate our views, and our climate is an ideal area for growing fruit and citrus trees.

Some of the best and easiest to grow are orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, apple, fig, peach, nectarine, avocado* (only available in CA) and pomegranate. All of these fruit and citrus trees have been adapted to our climate and there are thousands of homes and homeowners who are taking advantage of growing their own food year round. Here are some great reason as to why you need to grow your own 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.

Shade
Many of our fruit or citrus varieties perform extremely well in full sun and a lot of our customers are always looking for shade trees. Some of our varieties can provide your landscape will ample shade throughout the year.

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.

There are many varieties of fruit and citrus at Moon Valley Nursery and we only carry varieties that grow in our climate. The spring season is the best time to plant fruit and citrus as it allows your new tree ample time to establish a root system before the summer heat arrives. Below are the top varieties to plant right now. Ask your local nursery pro which varieties are best for your yard! Depending on your region, not all varieties are available. 


Orange

Varieties we carry: Arizona Sweet, Washington Navel, and Blood Orange

Lemon
Varieties we carry: Eureka, Lisbon, Meyer, and Pink Lemon

Grapefruit
Varieties we carry: Marsh Seedless, Ruby Red, Rio Red, and Oro Blanco
Lime
Varieties we carry: Key Lime (Mexican Lime) and Bearss Lime (Persian Lime)
Fig
Varieties we carry: Brown Turkey Fig, Mission Fig, Kadota Fig

Peach
Varieties we carry: Desert Gold, Florida Prince, and May Pride

Nectarine
Varieties we carry: Snow Queen, Goldmine Desert Delight and Desert Dawn
Apple
Varieties we carry: Anna apple, Fuji apple, and Dorsett (Golden) apple

Avocado
Vatieties we carry: Hass, Bacon, Fuerte, and Zutano