Easy Fruit
You decided to start growing your own food. You want to feed yourself and your family with delicious and healthy homegrown produce. And now, you have beds that are filled with amazing greens, beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, and more. But you are still depending on the grocery for your fruit. After all, we all know it is too difficult to maintain an orchard of fruit trees in a home garden.
Although conventional fruit trees — apples, peaches, pears, and cherries — can be grown on dwarf rootstocks so as to minimize the space and time needed to get fruit, for best results they need to be on a regular spray program to control insects and diseases. They also must be pruned properly to get the best fruit yield. And this can be difficult for the average homeowner. But don’t get discouraged.
When my sister was building her new house, she called me to come up with a yard plan that would include fruit trees. I went to take a look and quickly realized the orchard she had in mind really wouldn’t work for her or her space. She is not a gardener, and I knew she wasn’t going to spend time fussing over any of her plants. Her property also butted up to a river and her soil was often waterlogged. So, I talked her into a few other fruits instead.
It is important to plant blueberries in soil that is rich in organic matter and has a pH of 5-6. If they are happy the leaves will be a rich green color and they will bear large juicy berries year after year. Photo: Mary Stickley-Godinez
We started with a foundation planting of blueberries instead of the traditional evergreens. Blueberries must have a soil pH of 5-6. And they want a very rich, organic soil. But if you get that right before you plant them, they will reward you with years of beautiful fruit. They also have attractive flowers very early in the spring at a time when few other things are blooming. They are pretty throughout the summer and the fall foliage turns a fiery red and purple when the cool weather comes. In fact, the only problem she has with hers are keeping the birds off. So, you might need to cover them with a light cloth or bird netting while they are in fruit. She feeds them each fall with an organic high acid fertilizer and mulches them annually with a couple of inches of leaf compost. They need an inch of water each week during the hot summer months. They should also be pruned every winter to remove several of the oldest branches. But to be honest with you, my sister only prunes when the bushes start to get in the way of the sidewalk next to them.
If your soil pH is too high for blueberries, you might want to try honeyberries as these are a close relative but are more tolerant of growing conditions. The fruit looks like a stretched blueberry and tastes like it was dipped in sugar. They grow about 4-5 feet tall and wide, in full sun, and in a rich, well-drained soil. They need regular watering until they are fully established. But then they can handle droughts with ease. They do need at least 2 varieties for cross pollination.
I talked my sister into underplanting the blueberries with cranberries for a groundcover. I’ll admit, it was a bit of an experiment. I wasn’t quite sure how it would work. But they have done quite well. Cranberries need more watering to get them established and are pretty cranky about the lack of it. But once they have been in for about 2-3 years, they are far more forgiving of dry times. Other than that, they want the same living conditions as the blues. So, they made a perfect pairing.
We also put in a row of bush cherries. I have tried several that were found in those really cheap plant catalogues and the one I settled on is a cross between Prunus japonica and Prunus jacquemontii called ‘Joel’. This deciduous shrub grows about 4 feet tall and produces delicious tart cherries about a month later than conventional cherries. They are pruned once in a while to remove occasional dieback and to shape them a bit. The only other care they have needed is again to cover them to protect the fruit from the birds. Because, the day those fruit are ripe and ready to eat, the critters will be there striping the plant an hour before you are. They are also not really prolific so you do need to plant a few more to get a good crop.
Over her back patio, we put in an arbor planted with hardy kiwis. These vines are fast growing and can quickly overcome a weak arbor. So be sure to beef up your structure if you want to grow them. They come in male and female and to get fruit you must include a male to service the girls. Other than that, they only have one little quirk I haven’t solved yet. My sister’s vines have produced many fruits that are smaller and smooth skinned but still taste like the fuzzy kiwis you buy from the grocery. And they started producing the second year after they were planted. Mine, which have been in for 8 years now, have yet to produce anything. They flower and I have both sexes. The only thing I can figure out is mine are not getting pollinated and hers are. And I have seen them grown in other locations with the same results. Sometimes they fruit. Sometimes they don’t.
Gooseberry bush with berries
Photo: Tarquin, CC BY-SA 3.0
To anchor the beds around the patio, we planted gooseberries because they are smaller — about 3 feet tall and wide. Thus, they provided structure without blocking the view. They do like a bit of protection from afternoon sun but will grow in any soil conditions, and I even have some growing in my yard under walnut trees. They have no other disease or insect problems. The fruit is tart but makes a wonderful cobbler. These actually didn’t work in her patio setting. They were in mixed perennial beds and by the third year, we found they had root suckers that were difficult to manage. So, she moved them out to a row in the lawn where they are mowed on each side to keep them contained.
The thorns are the bigger problem for these plants. It is difficult not to become impaled on their spines which are best described as hypodermic needles. The plants also need to be covered to keep the birds out. But the netting becomes hopelessly entangled and you will end up bloodied and cursing when you need to get under there to pick. So put the netting on a frame that will hold it away from the branches.
On the northern side of the house, we planted a large patch of rhubarb. They also want to be planted in a bed heavy in organic material and need regular water to get settled in. But like the other plants, once established, they have done well with little supplementation. Slugs tend to like these, and they need some protection from harsh afternoon sun. But they have made a rich lush ground cover and the bright red stems and veins provide plenty of color in the bed all summer long. The stems, which can actually be picked all season long, make delicious pies and chutney.
Aronia berries, or Chokeberries, are a native plant that produces clusters of strong bitter berries which are packed with nutrients and antioxidants. Photo: Mary Stickley-Godinez
And I would be remiss to fail mentioning two of our native shrubs. Because she lived beside a stream, she had the perfect location for aronias and elderberries. These are both beautiful large shrubs (6-8 feet) that prefer a moist site and naturally grow in marshy areas and streambanks. However, if your site is dry, the aronias will take that as well. Both aronias and elderberries produce purple berries that are packed full of antioxidants and nutrients. With very few insect or disease problems, they were a no brainer for her yard.
My sister doesn’t have an orchard of fruit trees like we grew up with. But she does have a beautiful yard of easy, low maintenance fruits that she can manage with little trouble. And her family, friends, and neighbors have enjoyed a bounty of jams, jellies, chutneys, pies, and cobblers made of healthy homegrown fruits.
RESOURCES:
Featured Photo: Gooseberries by Wolfgang Eckert, courtesy of Pixabay
Blueberry Cultivation in the Home Garden/The Garden Shed/Apr.2019
Specialty Crop Profile: Ribes (Currants and Gooseberries)”/Va.Coop.Ext. Pub.438-107 (includes recommended cultivars and nurseries).
Minor Fruits: Gooseberries and Currants/Cornell Univ. Horticulture
Hardy Kiwi in the Home Fruit Planting/Penn St.Ext.
Exciting Plants: Actinidia arguta/Successful Gardening Through Extension, Va.Coop.Ext.Culpepper (page 5, hardy kiwi)
Hardy Kiwi Video/Edible Landscaping (featuring a kiwi-covered pergola as well as pruning advice)
Aronias: Native Shrubs for Fall Color/The Garden Shed/ Nov.2019
Thanks for ideas on how to fit so many interesting fruits in our gardens. You make me want to try all of them!