What's so good about fruit trees?

I am undecided wether to plant a fruit tree in my back garden, can anyone tell me some heavy croping fruit trees that don't take up too much space?

Also how do you grow a successful fruit tree?

(I am 14 years old and keen to learn, so any advice would be greatly appreciated).

The best fruit to grow is the fruit you like to eat.  

And then it's good to grow a variety that you like that you can't buy easily in the shops, or that is expensive in the shops.

I want to grow an apricot tree because the taste of fresh apricots is so much better than the taste of apricots bought in supermarkets and shops.

Some varieties of fruit tree need to be near to others (of specific types) so that they can be successfully pollinated by insects visiting both trees in succession, passing the pollen from one tree to another, so it can be quite complicated deciding what variety of tree to plant.

 But if, for example,  you like pears, and the garden next door has a pear tree growing in it, you could find out which type of pear it is and choose one of the other pear trees that can be fertilised by your neighbour's tree, so you don't necessarily have to grow two trees yourself.  Some varieties of tree are described as self-fertile, but they will always give a bigger crop if they have a suitable pollinating partner nearby.

But your first decision must be what sort of fruit do you like to eat? 

Decide your fruit tree, then come back to this thead of the forum and i am sure you will have loads of help.

Thanks for the advice.

What about peaches, are they hard to grow?

There's some information here about growing peaches http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_growingpeaches1.shtml

the biggest difficulty is that because they flower very early they need to be protected from frost over the winter and spring so pot grown peaches need to be moved into a conservatory or greenhouse then. 

If i was short of space  a plum tree would be my choice easy to grow, lots of fruit and you can trim the tree back every couple of years also you can eat the fruit straight from the tree or use them in cooking or jam also you can freeze them

Good idea jimpike. 

I started witha Victoria plum, does all that above says and has nice blossom and autumn colour as well

I know you said 'tree' but had you thought to start with fruit bushes?  You will get a good yeild from blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries.  The yeild is pretty well guaranteed, unlike some of the suggestions up-thread.

As I presume you are not the cook as well as the grower, find out what will go down well in the kitchen.

If you decide on a fruit tree, do a bit of research first, because some fruits and varieties are much more challenging than others.

.Hi Martyn, we were very lucky when we moved into our house it already had an established orchard, now 10 years later I can honestly say the best fruit tree we have is a bramley apple. Nothing is wasted it makes wonderful pies and crumbles, I'm sure your Mum would like that, and it freezes very well so once its fruiting well you'll have enough to keep you going all year. In a good year it can be sweet enough to eat raw.  Whatever you choose hope you enjoy it