My front yard is ripe!

by Christine

I planted fruit plants 3 years ago. When I bought the little quart sized red and white Nanking Cherry bushes, 2 blueberry bushes, red and white strawberries, blackberries, black and red raspberries and figs, I had only hope. Now, our front yard is ripe and I can't keep the kids out of the yard! Lance, who is 3, is the worst! He runs out the front yard and goes straight to the blueberries and picks any that aren't totally green. He is an expert at picking the not completely ripe berries. I yell at him and he doesn't listen. He is a berry man.

The Nanking Cherries are a wonderful surprise. I love them. The bushes have really grown huge and they bloom beautifully in the early spring, which makes them worth keeping around. In early June, they are covered in little slightly sour cherries. I have one white and one red. They grow right on the branches and do not hang down like regular cherries. It tickles me so much to walk out the door and just pick a handful or two for a snack.

I sent my children, or farm hands, out to pick some berries last weekend. My 9 year old, Georgia Mae, came back with a bowl full of red and white cherries and blueberries. Very patriotic.  She also harvested enough blueberries for pancakes last weekend.  I may not have a farm, but we do have space and time to enjoy the most local food available in the summertime.

I highly recommend planting fruits and especially fruit bushes to keep yourself eating locally.  Our blueberries have required no care since we planted them.  I put a generous amount of peat moss into the hole when I planted them to make the soil more acid, and I have applied used coffee grounds to mulch them over time, but little else.  They suffered a bit from the 17 year cicadas, but have rebounded to be larger and more fruitful than I expected this soon. 

All of the fruit plants I purchased from the wonderful Edible Landscaping in Afton, VA.  www.eat-it.com

When not writing here, Christine can be found at her site Farm Groupie.

Comments

[e4]

My 3-year-old son gets such a kick out of eating food from the garden. He wouldn't eat lettuce or spinach before, but once he had picked it and cleaned it himself, he couldn't help but eat it. He at some sugar snap peas today. And he's the best strawberry picker in town.

Your Edible Landscaping link seems to be a dead end... I did find it at ediblelandscaping.com though

[Liz]

There's nothing better than growing fruit in your own backyard. Plus it's so easy!

[Laurie]

I planted 2 Nanking red and white cherries, 2 Tifblue blueberries, a Seckel pear and a Korean Giant Asian pear just this past year from Edible Landscaping. I'm happy to hear that yours are doing so well after three years - gives me a lot to look forward to! I've heard nothing but good things about Edible Landscaping. My bushes and trees are thriving. I might even get some blueberries this summer if I can beat the birds to them.

[FarmGroupie (Christine)]

Laurie,

Edible Landscaping is great! Their website has wonderful information in the care guide section and Michael is really good about responding to questions and comments on the 'Plant Talk' question section.

I am still learning with growing my own vegetables. As my experience with eating locally grows, I have learned that I can buy almost any beautiful vegetable that I want at the Farmers Market or pick it up from my CSA drop for $1/pound or maybe just a little bit more. Fruit is much more expensive, and I am able to keep up with tending/weeding/harvesting it better at home than I am with vegetables.

Good luck beating the birds to the blueberries!

[julie]

My yardless rental apartment and I are very envious! I've been contemplating doing some guerrilla grafting of fruiting varieties onto the ornamental plum and ornamental pear street trees here--though I hear the city really, really doesn't appreciate that! (it's probably illegal too).

[Joanne]

How could I have missed bush cherries!!! Ack! Obviously our garden needs at least two. Thanks for enlightening me.
I just planted an array of Vaccinium as an experiment - Ligonberries, bog blueberries, bilberries, whortleberries etc. I'll let you know if I get ripe fruit (there are little green berries on some of them). Our almost 4 year old is a great berry picker too (as well as peas) currently he munches on white and red alpine strawberries, regular strawberries, and heritage and golden raspberries. No blueberries yet. The cherries here were a really light crop this year. We're still hoping for apples.