cross-posted from: https://lemmy.perthchat.org/post/269815
ppl would eat crab apples from trees. In retrospect, a lot of urban soil is excessively high in lead. But it’s maybe possible to just plant some apple trees and they’ll eventually provide some food security.
Also would make those empty lots into more park like structures
Lead is less of a risk for tree fruits. I agree about wanting to find native options. Talk to a local arborist. In my neighborhood, we planted pawpaw, golden currant, and some sort of native plum. This is central US. One thing that you definitely want to avoid though is monoculture. If you get a bunch of the same tree species from the same place they can be clones of each other and be at very high risk of disease.