ruBY NANCY MANN JACKSON

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hen they're ready for a snack on alate summer afternoon, my boys,ages 3 and 5, like nothing better thanto walk down the hill to our neigh-bors' property, where a row of apple

trees stands bulging with fruit. The neighbors, whosechildren have grown and gone, have told our boys they canhave as many apples as they like, and so it's become afavorite event to pluck them from the low- hangingbranches and crunch into them right there in the yard,savoring the warm, earthy and sweet or sour taste ofapples picked with your own hands.

For years, apple trees, berry bushes and other fruit-bearing' plants belonged only in orchards or gardens, andthe front lawn or backyard was reserved for floweringplants and shrubs. But fruiting plants offer more than

6 8 HOBBY FARM HOME • hobbyfarmhome.com

delicious fruits, they also can be lovely to look at.Growing numbers of homeowners are choosing to incor-porate fruit- bearing plants into their landscape designs,getting both aesthetic enjoyment and physical nourish-ment from the same plant.

In his book, Landscaping with Fruit (Storey Publishing,:;:009), Lee Reich says growing fruit is like "having yourcake and eating it, too." He believes that it's time weappreciate the beauty of many fruiting plants and incor-porate them into ornamental landscapes in intentionalways, such as using strawberries as ground cover or blue-berry bushes as hedges. On the flip side, Reich also saysthat many plants traditionally grown as ornamentals,such as [uneberry, actually have "great-tasting" fruits,and we should be enjoying them with our taste buds aswell as our eyes.

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Top:Juneberry.traditionallyused as an orna-mental, actuallyhas great-tastingfruit, as well.

Bottom: Fruitingplants can addthe look, textureand color neededto make youryard a master-piece.

7 0 HOBBY FARM HOME • hobbyfarmhome.com

Deciding to Grow FruitTwo years ago, Julie Parrish and her family made theswitch to an edible landscape at their home in West Linn,Ore. Rather than just adding a few fruit trees, theParrishes did a full- scale landscape renovation. Theyremoved iz-Ioot hedges that wrapped a large portion oftheir 1/3-acre property, along with 1~ to 15 pine trees,assorted decorative trees and lots of rhododendrons. Intheir place, the family planted eight apple trees of differenttypes, a pear tree, a peach tree, a cherry tree, an almondtree, a pair of kiwi vines, a grapevine, raspberries, 15huckleberry bushes, 10 lingonberry bushes, a smallstrawberry patch, 45 blueberry bushes of assorted typesand 1~ raised beds for other produce, mainly vegetabies."Our lot was really overgrown when we bought thehouse," Parrish says. "And we figured, if we're going tohave to do yard work, we rriight as well be tending tosomething that was going to be productive instead of justclipping and trimming hedges that were just waste. "

The first year the plants were in the ground, Parrishharvested apples and blueberries from her yard. Thesecond year, her family got about 40 pounds of berriesand 50 pounds of apples and pears. "When the treesreach maturity, well, I haven't yet figured out what to dowith 800 pounds of berries and a few hundred pounds of

<.J apples and pears each year," she says. "But we're thrilled~ with what we've done."~ Like the Parrish family, families are choosing to incor-~ porate fruits into their landscapes for a variety of reasons.~ According to Ed Bemis of Bemis Farms Nursery in~ Spencer, Mass., families are attempting to grow their own~ fruits for the same reasons more people are growing their~ own vegetables: to have control over their food sources, to

"

ensure that they're eating wholesome fruits, to savemoney, to live a little greener and to create family time. "Itis an amazing experience to see a child's eyes light up thefirst time they taste a peach fresh off the tree with thesweet, warm juice dribbling down their chin," Bemis says."And bringing some fresh, red, ripe strawberries to shareat work gives one a healthy high that lasts for a long time."

Choosing the Right PlantsIf you want to plant fruit in your yard, the first decision tomake is which fruits you'll grow. There are several criteriato consider before you decide.

TASTE. Think first about what kinds of fruit you andyour family will eat. Chris McLaughlin, author of TheComplete Idiot's Guide to Composting (Alpha/Penguin, May4010), talked with her kids and her husband about whatthey would actually eat before planting apple trees, anorange tree, strawberries and blueberries in her yard.

When you plant fruits you and your family enjoy eating,they can become not just healthy snacks, but also idea gen-erators for daily menu planning. "I love walking-out of my

Grapevines and

hardy kiwi make

gorgeous orbors.

JULY/AUGUST 2010 7 1 I

Clockwise: Apple

trees are an

appealing addi-

tion to any

landscape.

Plums have lovely

blossoms but

rank lower on

the "Luscious

Landscape

Index" because

they require

annual pruning

and often have

pest problems.

Make sure your

planting area is

weed-free and

the soil is ready

to foster fruit

grawth.

kitchen, across the patio, and grabbing whatever is ripe toinspire me for preparing our next meal," says Stella Otto,author of The Backyard Orchardist (Ottographics, 1995) andThe Backyard Berry Book (Ottographics, May ~OlO).

BUDGET. Not only are homegrown fruits good to eat,but they can save you money. In addition to choosingfruits your family will eat, think about the fruits that putthe biggest dent in your wallet when you buy them at thestore. Parrish says she would have to pay $~.99 per poundfor some of the apples, Asian pears and blueberries hersons love to eat. After the first two years with an ediblelandscape, "the trees have almost paid for themselves,"she says. "And this year, we'll actually be profitable onthe trees."

Otto says she doesn't just save money, especially onthe higher-value berries; growing her own fruit alsoallows her family to enjoy types and varieties that shecan't even find at the store, such as yellow and blackstrawberries, day-neutral currants, American persim-mons, and pawpaws.

CLIMATE. Before planting anything, make sure thefruits you've chosen will thrive in your area. The bestway to determine which fruits are best-suited to yourclimate is to contact your local county extension agent.Each office can usually provide pamphlets or onlineinformation about crops recommended in your area.

7 2 HOBBY FARM HOME • hobbyfarmhome.com

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The extension agent who works in your county can alsoanswer your questions about growing fruit and combatingcommon pests.

APPE:ARANCE. "Not every fruit grows on a beautifultree, shrub or vine," Reich says. If you're truly interestedin incorporating fruit into an appealing landscape plan,consider how each plant will look, and how it will add tothe balance of your landscape. Designing a yard can be aform of artistry, and if you choose the right ones, fruitingplants can add the lines, textures and colors that makeyour lawn a masterpiece.

For instance, grapevines and hardy kiwi can makebeautiful arbors, and espaliered pear trees can provideprivacy in a much prettier way than a fence or a tradi-tional hedge. And both provide yummy snacking.

"Ifyou have a gardenand a library, you have

everything you need:",..,Cicero

Roman statesman/philosopher

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lished, they willyield fruit year after year. Butin the beginning, expect a little more work

"Proper site ,preparation is one of thekeys to a successful fruit garden," Ottosays. "Make sure the site is weed -free andthe soil nutrition will get plants off to astrong start." A local extension agent canhelp with soil testing to ensure your soil isready to foster fruit growth.

When the Parrish family reworkedtheir landscape with fruit, their initialtime investment was lengthy. "We had toclear the lot, then replant," Parrish says."But now that the plants are in, it's reallylow maintenance. Once per year, some ofthe bigger trees, like the apples, need tobe pruned. The soil needs a quick checkfor acidity for the berries, and if it needsamending, we spend an afternoon in theyard working on that. In the fall, there'sleaf maintenance for some of the plants,but those can be cornposted. But it's actu-ally lower maintenance than the non-edible landscape."

While the amount of work required willdepend on the number and types of trees,landscape designer Karen Quiana of LQDesign Interior + Landscape in NewYork'sHudson Valley has developed a formula forpredicting the amount of time spent tendingthe fruitscape "Winter pruning takes a dayor two; spring maintenance is the mosttime-consuming [with] organic sprayingthree times per season; in summer, thin-ning out the crop takes a day; harvesting ispure pleasure."

And how soon can you expect to enjoythat harvest? It depends on the fruit, Ottosays. Most berries yield a crop within oneto three years of planting, and some, suchas day-neutral strawberries, will bear fruitthe same year they're planted. If you'replanting trees, you'll have to wait a littlelonger to enjoy your fruit, but if you takegood care of the trees, you can expect to beeating their fruits for 10 years or more. *Nancy Mann Jackson writes frequently about

home and garden topics and spends much of

the spring and summer in her family's veg-

etable garden.

Learn how to preserve yourfruits at www.hobbyfarmhome.comfpreservingfruit