Fruitscaping Ideas: Trees and Possibilities for Hedgess

TREES

 -Dwarf Apple- There is a growing number of options in dwarf apple trees. These trees generally grow to a maximum height of 8 to 10 feet high- perfect for the small yard. The great thing about apple trees, besides the fruit, is that they respond well to pruning. A small tree can become even smaller! Apple trees can even be trained to grow in 2-3 foot tall hedges- a perfect border for an herb garden. As varieties go, I've been very happy with my September Ruby variety: exceptional for fresh eating and baking.

 -Pears- Reliable varieties of pears grow in the prairies, though the jury is still out on whether any are good for fresh eating (my sister-in-law has a very good unknown variety in her Edmonton backyard). Pear trees are often too large for an average-sized yard (especially as two are required for pollination) however they are amazingly versatile. They graft well onto apple trees and can be espalied to beautiful effect along walls and arbours.

-Beech Hazelnut- Hazelnuts are delicious fresh or dried. Grown in the form of a multi-stemmed tree or bush, it tops out at 15 to 18 feet. The Urban Farmer suggests trying the new crosses from the University of Saskatchewan. Crossing European with native cultivars, the new variety is called “Filazel”.

AS HEDGE OR FAST SCREEN

-Saskatoons- In the wild these fruit are often small and seedy but cultivated varieties can be as large as a blueberry, super sweet plus they pack a nutritional punch. Per 100 grams, they easily beat blueberries in their protein, fibre, iron, potassium and vitamin C levels.   Saskatoons also make a great hedge. Dyrland recommends trying Nelson, Honeywood, Thiessen.

- Sour Cherries- Don’t let the name scare you, new varieties like Juliet, Cupid and Crimson Passion are easily eaten fresh from the bush. Cherries can be trained into a hedge, a tall bush or a single trunk tree. Water well and harvest when the fruit easily falls. For the best preserves, Dyrland recommends Carmine Jewel. For proven fruit production and size, Sunstar Nurseries recommends planting an Evans.

If you can recommend any varieties, please do so in the comments section!


This reprint is part of an article I wrote for Gardening for the Prairies, Winter 2012. Over the next few days, in time for planting season, I'll publish the list of fruit options you might consider when making landscaping decisions. Planting prairie fruit doesn't have to be limited to the veggie patch or a brambling patch of raspberries in the alley. In this series, we'll look at fruit you can use for ground cover, vertical cover, screens, feature plantings... When it comes to fruit-scaping, thanks to the U of S's many new fruit varieties, us northern gardeners are limited by our imagination, not our Northern climate!

Reclaiming the Alley from the Weeds: A Lazy Lasagna Garden

In our community there are fairly low expectations as to the state of the alleys. There are attempts by folks to monitor the garbage and weeds, some even call bylaw on major offenders. I must admit that sometimes I'm a major offender. Weeds out there are out of sight and out of mind. Our eco-station garbage has been known to stay 'hidden' "out-back" over months of procrastinating a jaunt to the eco-station. 

I decided the only way to start caring was to do some intentional planting. In the past, I've had poppies and borage growing wild.  And while it's pretty in July when everything flowers, I can't say it generated more enthusiasm for me to weed or de-clutter. 

So last weekend I cleared a small, quack-grass haunted patch by the garbage hutch and did a lasagna garden (for more details on this method check out this post). Be warned, its a lazy one where I decided not to bother with layering each item more than once! 

THE SPACE:

The square that may finally get me weeding in the alley.

 THE PLANTS:

For vertical interest, I'm banking on wild Hops. I transplanted these roots last year and thankfully the vine rises again.

The "Stick" of a bare root hazelnut tree (which I wrote about receiving here). Two weeks after this picture was taken, it is leafing out.

A Calgary Creeping Juniper, I am hoping that this great ground cover will soon choke out (some of) the weeds,  that it will spill out over the box and onto the grass towards the road.  At only a foot high, it can spread 6- 8 feet and has a great blue-green foliage.

 THE PROCESS:

I planted the perennials first then laid out thick sections of The Edmonton Journal. This will act to keep the weeds down for at least a couple summers. By then, hopefully, the other plants have established themselves enough to fight the weeds back.

I then soaked the paper thoroughly with water.

I then covered the paper with a couple different composts (sheep and cow), and over that laid a thick layer of grass clippings (not pictured!). Along the border of the bed I transplanted marigolds that self seeded in my square foot gardens. Around the base of the tree, I transplanted golden flax started in April in my garden boxes.

It doesn't look like much now- but I'll be sure to post a picture at the end of season; I promise not to weed it simply for the sake of the picture! I'm committed to a little alleyway aesthetic, just forgive me my eco-station procrastination!

A Stick in the Mail

I got a stick in the mail today- shipped from Winnipeg in a long, six-foot box lined with brown paper.

T & T Seeds tells me that this stick is a Hazelnut- a Flibert Hazelnut (hybrid of American wild hazelnuts with their better fruiting cousins in Europe)- and I can only trust them that this is true.

At the base of this stick is a bulbous growth wrapped in twine mesh. Inside the mesh is a root ball hugged by cedar shavings to help with the shock of the trip in the back of a Canada Post truck. Obedient as I am, I followed the directions and now have the root ball soaking in a mop bucket, accompanied by a High Bush Cranberry that at least is leafing out and looks somewhat like the bush it will be.

In the bazooka sized cardboard box, I also pulled out two, four-inch lingonberry plants, a Ben Nevis Currant, some onion sets and seed potatoes. In baggies were five other plants: three are a I've-fogotten-the-name-of-perennial which I purchased with no research (the flowers nearly burst out of the catalogue!). Two of the baggies are clematis plants, one purple and one red, but you'd never know it. Seriously, all that is in each labelled sandwich bag is a mass of tangled, thick roots. They also look dead, though on very close inspection I found a hint of a bud.

My girlfriend ordered from T & T Seeds last year and had warned me of the sorry state of affairs that I'd receive in the mail. All her sticks and roots magically sprouted life and grew with vigour. In her experience, I find my hope that hazelnuts will grow from what appears to be a dead twig weighed down by its weird tumour.