I am contemplating buying a home in this town. It has a fair amount of land, and I would like to know what fruits and or veggies will thrive?
Are you near the river or up a bit to the west? The reason I ask is cold air settles down near the river putting you a little closer to zone 6 than zone 7 the rest of the area is. What you can grow is darn near everything! The limiting factor is water! If you are right against the river, your soil may be so highly alkaline from the underground water table so near the surface, nothing will grow. If you are in sand soil, your plants will be needing near constant watering. Soils range from sand to clay depending on location. Each has its benefits and problems. OK, back to plants: fruits: trees...apricots and sweet cherries are iffy near the river where late spring frosts usually destroy the blooms or very young fruit. You'd have excellent luck with apples, pears, sour cherries, blue plums and somewhat less results, but not impossible with peaches and nectarines. Grapes do very well as do raspberries/blackberries. Of course no blueberries, the soil is way, way to alkaline and can not be adjusted enough to grow the blue yummies. Strawberries are tough due to the hot summers, but not impossible. Nuts: pecans are growing at the Experiment Station just south of the prison. Normally the area is too cold for pecans. Veggies.......just about everything. Realize we can warm up very quickly so delay in pea and other cool season planting may have them ripeing when temps are 90 plus. The other concern is the wind. Spring winds have destroyed many of my early spring plantings......sand blasted. If you can protect them, great. The area is well known for growing chile peppers.......usually family farms. Most chiles are grown further south or now in Mexico. About the only veggie I couldn't get going was asparagus ( which is embarrasing because there was an asparagus farm must a quarter mile away and about 40 years ago) and my rhubarb just won't work for me.
