Early ripening food forest edibles

Hello food forest friends! I’m just starting out planning my food forest. I live in growing zone 7, mid-Atlantic USA. I’m looking for suggestions on early ripening food forest trees and shrubs. So many that I’ve read about so far are for September harvest, I’m worried I’ll have such a glut but nothing the early part of the year. Suggestions for trees and shrubs that harvest early in the year (like blueberries) would be much appreciated!

serviceberries/juneberries bear early…i know they’re called juneberries, but they start in may around here. goumis are early too. things that yield shoots and greens are the kings of early harvest though.

Zone 7 is so great for fruit! Here's a list of spring and summer edibles, listed roughly in order of when they fruit in the year:

Late Spring
-White mulberry
-Certain dessert crabapples. Centennial crab is my favorite and is a natural dwarf. Trailman is also supposed to be good.
-Haskaps
-Early strawberries

Summer
-Brambles (blackberries, raspberries, dewberries)
-Cherries
-Early apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums
-Currants
-Early cold hardy figs
-Gooseberries
-Early apples
-Asian pears
-Strawberries
-Grapes

You can also extend the end of your season into winter with late-hanging fruit. Late apples, pomegranates, medlars, and certain persimmons can be harvested as late as December or January.

Lots of soft fruit ripen early. I think my Haskap (honey berry, Lonicera caerulea) are the first to change colour, although not ripe till much later.

My Haskap on Skye

Raspberries, and ribes species (gooseberry, red, white and blackcurrants) ripen through the summer, like bluberries there are varieties to extend the season. Some Eleagnus ripen in spring rather than summer (see pfaf), although you may wish to avoid these since they are invasive in some areas. Cherries are probably the earliest conventional top fruit.
I haven`t had much luck establishing these yet, but several Japanese Sansai (mountain vegetables) are sprouts from trees, Particularly Aralia elata and Toona sinensis come to mind. There are other tree leaves that are considered edible, even palatable (mulberry and lime (Tilia sp.) for example. I`m not sure how many of these would be suitable for your area.

(Edited: spelling and picture added)

In my garden, the earliest fruit is pie cherries in mid-late June.  Then the red currants at very end of June and into July, overlapping with black raspberries and mulberries.

I have heard that redbud buds and flowers are good to eat, they come out really early.  Also maple syrup is an early spring edible.

Your Haskap is beautiful! I've never heard of that before - I'm going to do some research. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and provide these details!

Nancy Reading wrote:Lots of soft fruit ripen early. I think my Haskap (honey berry, Lonicera caerulea) are the first to change colour, although not ripe till much later.

My Haskap on Skye

Raspberries, and ribes species (gooseberry, red, white and blackcurrants) ripen through the summer, like bluberries there are varieties to extend the season. Some Eleagnus ripen in spring rather than summer (see pfaf), although you may wish to avoid these since they are invasive in some areas. Cherries are probably the earliest conventional top fruit.
I haven`t had much luck establishing these yet, but several Japanese Sansai (mountain vegetables) are sprouts from trees, Particularly Aralia elata and Toona sinensis come to mind. There are other tree leaves that are considered edible, even palatable (mulberry and lime (Tilia sp.) for example. I`m not sure how many of these would be suitable for your area.

(Edited: spelling and picture added)

I'm also zone 7 but you can probably ignore that info our climates are so different, for me "fruit" ripen in this order..

Rhubarb (May) Yes it's not a shrub but it's the same size!
Strawberries (late June onwards)
Elderflowers (late June to late July)
Red and black currants (mid July)
Gooseberries (late July)
Raspberries (late July)
Cherries (late July)
Blueberries (August)
Rose hips (August -October)
Apples and Pears (September onwards)
Elderberries (september)
Blackberries (September/October)
Figs (September/October)