Plants That Bear Fruit in the First Year

Although tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and cucumber plants are technically considered fruiting plants, most people think of apples, pear, plums or bananas as fruit. Plants that produce sweet fruit usually don't begin to produce fruit until the plant is several years old. However, there are a few plants appropriate for most gardens that bear fruit the first year they are planted.

Strawberries

Although most garden information says to remove the blossoms that are produced from first year strawberry plants to increase yields the following years, in warmer parts of the country, it is best to plant strawberries in the fall and allow the plants to produce fruit the first year. This is because diseases can cause problems during the summer while plants are generally dormant. Even in cooler areas where the strawberry plants are planted in the spring instead of the fall like in the south, you can still harvest strawberries from your year-old plant.

Blackberries

Blackberries planted in the fall will produce fruit in the spring on long canes. The blackberry is a sweet fruit that resembles a large raspberry and is very popular in the south although several varieties will do well in the northern sections of the United States.

Everbearing Raspberries

Everbearing raspberry varieties, such as the August Red variety, produce fruit on the end of the canes the first year and then on the lower portion of the canes after the canes overwinter. Raspberries are related to blackberries and produce a similar fruit.