Growing Nuts and Berries

Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2022 · Leave a Comment 

Every year you probably plant tomatoes. Wouldn’t it be great if they would come back every year without the bother of preparing the soil, starting seedlings in April and setting them out? Well that’s what nut and fruit trees and berry bushes do: once planted (and mature), they produce food every year. To me, there is a definite allure to plants requiring less work.

 

Cold Hardy Fruits and Nuts cover

I recently was sent a review copy of a wonderful book by Allyson Levy and Scott Serranno: Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape printed by Chelsea Green Publishing (all photos supplied by the authors). When I got it I could barely pull myself away from it because it has so much to teach me.

 

Each of the species included has five or six pages devoted to it, and at least five excellent photos. The information starts with “Growth Difficulty Rating” – how hard is it to grow? Most are easy. It includes taste profile and uses, pollination requirements (is it self-pollinating?), site and soil conditions, zone hardiness, good cultivars to look for, and a paragraph on pests and problems, and more.

 

I called the authors and asked about their experience growing this diverse group of plants. They live in Stone Ridge, NY, a town about 100 miles north of NYC and 10 miles or so from the Hudson River. They are in Zone 6 where winter temperatures only go a little below zero most winters.  

 

They are both artists, and originally started growing plants to use in their art. About 20 years ago they bought 8 acres across the street from them, and started their own arboretum, later adding another 10 acres. Their arboretum is Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Garden and is a Level II arboretum according to the Morton Arboretum.

 

Pawpaw cut fruit in hand

I asked them what they would recommend for fruit if someone had none, and wanted to start with winners. Scott suggested blueberries and blackberries. Both are easy and tasty. Elderberries are good, too, they said, although you need to cook the berries to make them palatable. Elderberries, honey and lemon juice  make a nice syrup which I use to help prevent colds in winter.

 

We talked about honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea). It’s a fruit I will definitely plant this year. Although the fruit looks a little like a big oblong blueberry, it is actually in the genus with honeysuckle. It is native to northern US, Canada and Siberia. A friend gave us a few to taste last summer, and I like the flavor.

 

According to the book, honeyberry is the first fruit to ripen here – a couple of weeks before strawberries. But it is a couple of weeks after they turn blue and look ripe that they actually lose their astringency and turn sweet. This is the kind of information that most books or plant tags don’t have, and only comes from someone who grows and knows the plant. Allyson said she discovered that lots of berries are hidden under the leaves. The fruit gets better every year, apparently.

 

Another fruit in the book is pawpaw, a somewhat tropical-flavored tree fruit (banana crossed with mango flavor?). As the book explains, you need two different trees (not clones) to get pollination and fruit. I am growing it, but started out with only clones, so I not gotten fruit yet.

 

Hazel wild nuts in hand with leaf

Of the nuts, they recommend hazelnuts. These produce nuts as much younger plants than things like black walnut or pecans which are tall trees that require years to produce nuts. You need to have two or more hazelnuts as they are not self-fertile. Scott pointed out that the native species has smaller nuts than some of the named varieties.

 

Pecans are discussed in the book. The biggest difficulty is not growing the tree, but having a growing season long enough for the nuts to ripen. They need 150 to 180 days.  But as the climate changes, perhaps this will not be a problem in 25 years. They note that you must have two compatible grafted varieties to get nuts, as the trees are not self-fertile. These are big, handsome trees and should be grown in full sun and rich soil if possible.

 

A tree that is not native, but produces a lot of food for deer is the Korean stone pine. The pine nuts we use for pesto is most often from these trees grown in Asia. The cones open up in winter and drop their seeds, which are rich in oil and high in calories. Scott said in Siberia tigers indirectly depend on the stone pine because they feed the deer and boar the tigers need to survive.

 

Pawpaw basket

The Hortus Arboretum and Garden is open from Mother’s Day in May until the end of October, Friday to Sunday. Admission is by donation. Because of Covid, they have been scheduling visitors on-line during the season at their website, www.Hortusgardens.org.

 

This book is terrifically useful to anyone interested in growing fruit and nuts. I should note that it does not cover apples, plums and peaches because those fruits are well covered by other writers, and as they say, much prone to pests and diseases. The plants discussed are generally easy to grow and trouble free. Just what we all want!

 

Henry is a long-time UNH Master Gardener and author or 4 gardening books. Reach him by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comast.net.

Filed under Article · Tagged with elderberries, hazelnuts, paw paw tree

Berries

          By now my vegetable gardens is all planted, annual flowers are in, the weeds are pretty much under control. Time to relax and smell the roses? Well, maybe not. There are always tasks for the gardener. This is a good time to plant some berry bushes.
 
          The first thing to do, if you want a good berry patch, is to test the soil to find out if you need to add specific nutrients. Go to your university extension Web site, or Google “soil testing”. You should be able to download a form and get instructions on how to collect a soil sample, and where to send it. All berry patches will also need some added organic matter such as compost, aged manure, or leaf mold.
 
         

Elderberries

Competition from weeds is an important issue for berries. You can’t just use a rototiller to chew up a patch of field or lawn to plant your berries. You really need to dig out the sod – or smother it this year to plant next year. A layer of 4-mil black plastic spread out over a lawn that has been cut short will kill the grass, roots and all, by the end of the summer. Landscape fabric will do the same, but is more expensive. Next spring the dead grass will add organic matter when you mix it in.
 
          If you want to plant this year you have two choices: dig out the sod by hand, or rent a sod lifter – I reject the idea of using chemicals to nuke the grass. The sod lifter is powered by a gas engine; it sends a blade under the sod and along the edges to slice it loose. You still have to pick up the sod and lug it away. And you can’t roll it up like a rug – it’s too heavy. I slice the long strip of sod into 1- or 2-foot sections. Or, for small areas, you can just use a shovel to slice sod into one foot squares to pry out by hand, which is very labor intensive. Ugh.
 
          All berries like sunshine. Six hours per day is the minimum for a good crop. More is always better. Berries do not like root competition, so keep your berry patch away from trees. I planted a rose recently that was more than 50 feet from a Norway maple, and found the soil full of tree roots coming from the maple. So pick a site far from trees if possible.
 
          Raspberries are a great choice for the home gardener: they are expensive at the store and do not keep well. Better to grow your own and eat some every day in season. What are the best varieties? I asked Alicia Jenks, the owner of Green Dragon Farm, a pick-your-own blueberry and raspberry farm in Weathersfield, Vermont. She suggested getting ‘Prelude’ or ‘Killarney’ for an early crop. Then ‘Encore’ or ‘Latham’ for mid-season berries and ‘Heritage’ for late-season berries.
 
          Alicia Jenks suggested planting raspberries 3 feet apart in a staggered double row in a 5 or 6-foot wide bed. Add plenty of compost to the soil and work it in well – a 4-inch layer is a good. She adds Pro-Gro, an organic, slow-release fertilizer to the soil at planting time in each hole. Although you can buy bare root plants early in the spring, most sellers of them are sold out by now. Potted bushes are still readily available at garden centers.
 
          Blueberries are another good choice for every home gardener. The soil requirements for blueberries are very different than for raspberries, however. Paul Franklin of Riverview Farm, a pick-your-own apple, pumpkin

Blueberries

and berry farm in Plainfield, NH, told me that there are just three important things to get right in order to have a good crop: proper pH, proper pH and proper pH. He went on to explain that the soil must be very acidic in order to get a good crop – in the range of 4.0 to 5.5. So get your soil tested and add a soil acidifier such as elemental sulfur to get the soil pH right. Pro-Holly or Holly-Tone (organic acidic fertilizers) are good for blueberries, too, and can be added around existing bushes now.
 
          Blueberries should be spaced about 5 feet apart in rows that are far enough apart to allow mowing. Most commercial growers mulch with woodchips to keep down weeds. The roots grow close to the surface, so you can’t dig out weeds willy-nilly – you may damage roots. So get grasses and weeds out in a 5-foot circle before you plant, and mulch well to keep them out. Weeds will steal the water and nutrients your blueberries need.
 
         

Elderberries

Elderberries are an easy crop if you have a moist location on your property. I grow 3 varieties on the bank of a little stream, and they do well. Pollination is better if you have 2 or more different varieties. The white, fragrant flowers form big clusters at the top of the bushes and are decorative right now. In the late summer I harvest elderberries by sniping off clusters of berries; later, in the house, I pull the berries off their stems and freeze them. I like to sprinkle them on hot oatmeal in winter and I also make an elderberry syrup to ward off colds.
 
          So go plant some berries, or more berries, or different kinds of berries. You’ll be glad you did.
 

Henry Homeyer is a gardening consultant and Master Gardener living in Cornish Flat, NH. Contact him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. His Web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com. 

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