Eat Your Yard Read online

  Eat Your Yard!

  Edible Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Herbs and Flowers for Your Landscape

  Nan K. Chase

  Eat Your Yard!

  Digital Edition v1.0

  Text © 2010 Nan K. Chase

  Photographs © 2010 as noted throughout

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

  Gibbs Smith, Publisher

  PO Box 667

  Layton, UT 84041

  Orders: 1.800.835.4993

  www.gibbs-smith.com

  Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publishing Data

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4236-0384-9

  ISBN-10: 1-4236-0384-2

  1. Plants, Edible. 2. Edible landscaping. I. Title.

  QK98.5.A1C45 2010

  635—dc22

  2009032716

  For my parents, Peter and Dorothy Koltnow, who took me to Fresno, where the fruit trees grow and for Saul Chase, my rock for forty years

  Eat Your Yard!

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Favorite Fruits

  Nuts & Berries

  Herbs & Vines

  Hot-Country Choices

  Wildflowers

  Preserving the Harvest

  Resources

  Metric Conversion Chart

  Introduction

  I love the fact that my yard feeds me. It’s a lush and colorful landscape, but it’s also designed with eating in mind. In this edible landscape, there’s usually something ripe; and when the weather grows cold, my cupboards and freezer are filled with the rest of the harvest.

  The edible yard combines beauty and practicality: beautiful form in the garden with bounteous crops to eat fresh or preserve for year-round enjoyment.

  I’m not interested in ripping out the front lawn to plant zucchini and tomatoes. Sure, both those plants are useful to grow, but where’s the beauty? How does that summer-green tangle look in the dead of winter?

  No, I propose a new way to visualize and plan a home garden, no matter the size. A way to use the garden more efficiently than ever, both to add definition, color, and texture to garden space and to maximize garden space for food production.

  I want to give gardeners all over North America new ideas about the many beautiful trees, shrubs, vines, herbs, and wildflowers that also produce delicious fruits and other edible components (nuts, seeds, leaves, flowers, and tuberous roots).

  This book contains more than thirty such plants or plant groupings, from apples to yucca, and I describe the most attractive design features of each: autumn leaf color, for instance, or winter interest, or spectacular flowers.

  For each of these plants I also supply a recipe or two—something mouthwatering, or something to “put up” for winter, or new ways to use familiar foods, or new foods to try for the first time.

  In choosing the mix of recipes, I looked for opportunities to enjoy the foods at meals throughout the day, to use multiple plants in as many recipes as possible, and to preserve surplus in volume. All inspiration, I hope, for taking on the challenges of creating and utilizing an edible landscape.

  My passion for growing edible plants in the landscape began long, long before the recent move toward locally grown food. My first encounters came more than fifty years ago, when I was still a toddler living in California. Our backyard was filled with fruit trees, and we kids took plums and almonds right off the branches as soon as we could climb up and get them.

  Since then I have lived in Maryland and Wisconsin and have studied gardens in England, France, Hungary, and, most spectacularly, the former Yugoslavia; there, on the Adriatic Coast in 1990, my husband, Saul, and I stayed with a family whose small front yard was so densely packed with berry bushes, plum trees, and other edible plants that it fed an extended family of ten people. They lived in a small town, not on a farm, and yet they ate like royalty from a few square feet.

  Is there any reason that the people living in our vast American suburbs, with their quarter-acre and half-acre lots, could not feed themselves, that we could not slash our country’s energy needs and food expenditures at the same time that we enhance our home landscapes?

  For nearly the last thirty years I have lived and gardened in western North Carolina, and by now have tried, with varying degrees of success, to grow almost every plant listed in this book. Name it, I have it (except, currently, an olive, kumquat, almond, or pecan tree).

  They haven’t all thrived, of course. Some trees never made it to year two, but others have produced steadily from the first season. By having a few specimens of lots of different edible landscape plants, my family has been able to enjoy a range of delicious, super-nutritious and organic foods from the yard: crabapple jelly and blueberry jam all winter, fresh greens in spring, grapes and apples and pears in summer, and soon, I hope, pawpaws in the fall. (Yes, I grow tomatoes and kale and squash, too, but they and the other kitchen crops of summer have their own low-profile territory in my yard.)

  As for landscape beauty—there’s no question these edible plants are both functional and beautiful; the nut trees, the berry bushes, the herbs, the vines, and the wildflowers all add richness to the outdoor experience and to the views from indoors.

  Mostly the edible landscape takes time, an investment of day-to-day attention, plus a willingness to drop everything else for a day or two when the harvest comes in. Should you be lucky enough to have a big crop, preserve as much as possible. Learn to can, dry, or freeze foods. It’s not difficult. It just takes a commitment—the choice—of time.

  This book describes a relatively few edible landscape plants; the range of possibilities from around the world is too large to embrace in one volume of this size. I have selected the plants that I feel have the greatest landscape value for the greatest number of gardeners, and which have the greatest potential food enjoyment with a moderate amount of work.

  I garden informally, having discovered that zones are meant to be stretched. Try taking advantage of microclimates in your own yard—even if it’s just a patio or balcony—to expand your plant holdings. Most of the plants in this book grow in most of the country.

  Good luck, and get started today!

  Fruit blossoms like these delicate flowers are a feast for the eyes in early spring, but they must be tough enough to withstand rain and snow. Photo by Nan K. Chase.

  A few words about organic gardening

  For many gardeners there simply is no alternative to organic gardening, and I have grown almost all of my crops organically with great success and little bother. Even fruit trees, which sometimes require pest control, can be sprayed with organic compounds.

  If you haven’t gardened before, or if you hope to improve the health of your garden (and your family), now is a good time to incorporate a few fundamental practices that can lessen dependence on harsh or dangerous chemical treatments.

  The best way to nurture an organic garden is to invite birds into it. Install a birdbath—not a bird feeder—and keep it full. Plant lots of different flowering species. Birds need water, and once they arrive in your yard they will find plenty of food naturally. Birds will groom your plants, removing many insect pests as they feed and aerating the ground as they hunt for more.

  It’s also important to build and maintain healthy soil. With enough organic additives, even the hardest clay can be turned into rich, friable loam in a few years. When confronted with poor soil I have added lots of greensand (a natural soil conditioner), bone meal, blood meal, manure (or kelp meal or fish fertilizer), composted yard and kitchen waste, yet more greensand, and then topped it all with mulch.

  To help your fruit-bearing plants, be sure to keep the s
oil around them weeded and free from suffocating vines, and dig all around to aerate the soil and discourage harmful funguses.

  Favorite Fruits

  He’s the apple of my eye . . .

  Skin like peaches and cream . . .

  Lips like cherry wine . . .

  The language of fruit, like fruit itself, is sensual, luscious, almost drunken in its excess. It drips with desire, with sweetness, but sometimes includes a tart crunch, an unexpected bite of flavor.

  This complex ripeness of fruit in its natural-grown state comes to us only part of the year, and we crave it. We picture then not the cold uniformity of a grocery store produce aisle at some indeterminate season, but the surprising warmth of fruit plucked right off the tree at the peak of its succulence.

  Growing orchard fruits surely ranks as one of the most rewarding of garden experiences, one that spans generations and links us to the ancient past, as well as tying us to the unknowable but hopeful future.

  There’s a tremendous sense of accomplishment in planting a young fruit tree, watching it grow to bearing size, and then enjoying and preserving the bounteous fruit in its many forms.

  Luck, hard work, and patience are requisites of the endeavor, of course, so using orchard fruits in the home garden is a process of learning over many years, a humbling experience that deepens and unfolds oh so gradually.

  After all, fruit trees are like children: they need sunshine and fresh air, dry feet, balanced nutrition, and an occasional haircut. Then they’ll grow up big and strong.

  When we plant fruit trees in the home landscape we get to watch up close the pageant of procreation: the love-making dance between insect and plant, the drama of the elements, growth and decay, life and death in an unwavering and unmerciful annual cycle.

  And we get to watch as the infant fruit takes hold, growing ever larger with summer’s heat and rain and with tending, as it approaches the moment of harvest, the long, slow climax of summer.

  All that sensuality of the fruit ignores the great value of orchard trees in the home landscape. One needn’t have acres of open land in order to enjoy the scenic enhancements. No, the most wonderful orchard crops can also add greatly to a modest-sized yard in the form of individual or, at most, paired specimen trees (requirements for pollination vary). Just a few small, carefully situated, faithfully pruned and weeded fruit trees can do two important jobs: provide a bounty of fruit to be “put up” for the winter and add the drama of massed pink or white blossoms to the home landscape in early spring.

  Spring certainly brings out the best in our favorite fruit trees, which produce wands of light, fresh, finely veined blossoms reaching for the sky (or, as cuttings kept in a vase, brightening the living room). But with the most beloved orchard crops, there are also scenes of timeless enjoyment in midsummer as one sits conversing with family and friends beneath the dense, ripening boughs, cool and tranquil together within imaginary summer-houses of shade. And all that after only three or four years!

  In fall, modest bursts of color play back and forth across the home landscape, and then in winter, the fine, open profiles of favorite fruit trees continue to delight us when all the supposedly strong and stalwart perennial plants have frozen and wilted into the ground. Snow collects from time to time in the limbs. Birds pass through and perch, but, mostly, the trees wait for spring.

  Consider the rewards as you begin growing orchard crops: superior flavor and nutrition from organically grown trees, such as this Callaway Crab, in your own back or front yard. Photo by Nan K. Chase.

  Photo courtesy of the California Tree Fruit Agreement.

  Apple

  If any plant can talk, it’s the apple.

  “Take me! Take me!” it shouts. “I’m wonderful!”

  Why shouldn’t the apple brag? It’s one of the healthiest foods anywhere, with the power to fight cancer and heart disease, improve memory, and make the lungs work better. Apples are delicious and fun to eat, and they come in hundreds of varieties for many tastes and climates.

  Apple trees are among the happiest of trees; not carefree, but stupendously productive and lovely in the garden once established. The addition of two or three apple trees of different types in the home landscape—more if space allows—will provide ample rewards for your time.

  There’s no comparison between a bland, waxy supermarket apple and one that’s ripe off the tree at home. Just one successful crop and you’ll never want another store-bought apple.

  Caution: Don’t plant apple trees unless you’re ready to can, dehydrate, ferment, or otherwise process the surplus fruit. It would be a shame to let such bounty go to waste. A young apple tree takes some years to get established before the internal structure can support fruit production. But a healthy apple tree may live for a century and bear fruit heavily for forty or fifty years of that—sometimes a hundred pounds or more a season.

  A member of the rose family, the apple is close kin to pears and quinces. It has been cultivated for thousands of years, in western Asia at first, thence to Europe and North America.

  Today, breeders are expanding the traditional range of apples to include warmer climates. There are apple trees specially suited to all temperate regions of the United States, with some surviving even at -30° F. And there’s a resurgence of interest in planting heirloom varieties with superior taste.

  The best approach to growing apple trees, then, is to begin close to home. That’s where the United States Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension System comes in. With offices in each state, the Extension provides free educational advice and materials for home gardeners and others. The Web resources are excellent, but a phone call or visit to a local Ag Extension agent provides the most locally relevant information, including plant suppliers.

  Horticultural “tech support” is especially important with apples, almost all of which combine root stock from one kind of plant with the fruiting upper part of another in a graft. Knowing which varieties—which grafts—favor the many mini-climates of the Northwest, the Midwest, the Northeast, and the South requires research and experience.

  Then there’s the matter of size: dwarf, semi-dwarf, or standard. Each has its growth and fruiting characteristics, its typical lifespan, and its particular place in the culinary world. And there are complex pollination requirements, so consult the experts first and save a lot of time and guesswork.

  Or do what I did: ignore all sensible advice, plant what you find close to home and on sale, and hope for the best. My random young trees—a mix of Jonagold and Jonared apples—have responded to the rough mountain weather with bumper crops.

  Robust fruit production requires good air circulation through the trees, healthy soil with adequate moisture, and seasonal pruning to prevent excess limb growth. Photo courtesy of U.S. Apple Association/S. Haaga.

  German Pancake

  Boiling water

  1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped dried apples, apricots, cherries, dates, figs, pears, raisins, or dried currants

  6 tablespoons butter

  6 eggs

  1 cup milk

  1 teaspoon sugar

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 cup flour

  Lemon juice and powdered sugar or berry jam or jelly, if desired

  Pour boiling water over dried fruit to cover. Let stand to soften 5 to 15 minutes; drain. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). In preheating oven, melt butter in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, checking frequently to avoid scorching. In a blender, combine eggs, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Blend lightly to mix.

  Add flour. Mix well in blender. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir in fruit. Pour into baking pan containing melted butter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until puffy and golden brown. If desired, sprinkle with lemon juice and powdered sugar or serve with berry jam or jelly. Serve immediately. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

  Recipe “German Pancake,” from How to Dry Foods, Revised Edition, by Deanna DeLong, ©2006 by Deanna DeLon
g. Used by permission of Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Photo by Nan K. Chase.

  Landscape highlights

  Spring blossoms

  Summer and fall harvest

  Edible highlights

  Fresh fruit from the tree

  Canned as applesauce, apple butter, spiced apples juice, or cider

  Dehydrated in slices

  Where it grows best

  In temperate zones with cold winters

  In full sun

  In a fertile, well-drained soil

  How to grow it

  With specific local characteristics (see Resources section for Agricultural Extension information)

  With other apple varieties for cross-pollination and longer harvest period

  With plenty of moisture

  With moderate pruning for air circulation and height

  Use apples in the landscape for impressive displays of white and pink springtime flowers.

  In a small yard, place a semi-dwarf variety at the far edge as a focal point to “expand” the vista, or in the middle of the yard as an anchor for a flower bed.

  In a large suburban or country yard, semi-dwarf or standard-size varieties can be massed along a fence, with adequate spacing.

  In a very small yard or patio setting, use one of the new columnar varieties for mostly vertical growth.

  Hardiness zones