Whatever Wednesday Gardening part 2

Edible Landscaping

Edible Landscape Tip:
Ever thought “I live in an urban setting and don’t have space to grow vegetables, fruit and berries” Give some thought to incorporating food producing plants into your landscape? Add within an existing landscape or develop a plan to begin replacing some trees and shrubs with varieties that produce edible products: Take out that juniper and put in blueberries, replace a birch or maple with a fruit tree. Remove a flowering vine or add a vine of grapes or kiwi on an arbor or fence line. Strawberries work well as a ground cover as well as many herbs and leafy vegetables. Include tomatoes, broccoli or lettuce into an existing landscape if you don’t want a formal garden. Consider container gardening.

Nov – June is the time to plant fruit trees and berry bushes. First decide how much space you want to allocate to your site. Think outside the box. I use a fence line for strawberries, grapes and fruit trees and only use about 2’ of ground space along the fence. I figure a half of a fruit tree against a fence is better then no tree. Vertical gardening is a good option for confined spaces.

When considering fruit; use proven varieties that work well in your area. Select disease resistant varieties grown locally. Be careful buying from the big stores who often sell stock shipped in from other parts of the country, which have popular names, but don’t work well here. Study and ask questions locally or look up WSU Cooperative Extension info. WSU; Mt Vernon Research Station in WA has done extensive study on varieties that perform well in Western WA.

Another important fact to know about fruit trees is to study and understand the appropriate root stock that most trees are grafted onto these days. There is dwarf 4’-6’, semi dwarf 6’-10 or 8’-15’ depending on variety of tree and root stock and standard rootstock that allows the tree to grow to its natural genetic size, but with an improved under stock.

Buy from local reputable nurseries that label their trees with variety and rootstock. Some specialist in fruiting trees and shrubs are: (expect $15 – $30 range)

Hartman Nursery – (trees only) bare root availability Nov – March. 713- 21st Street SE, Puyallup, WA ph 253-848-1484 http://www.hartmannursery.com/

Burnt Ridge Nursery – trees and wide variety of nuts & fruiting plants; yr round but remember June is getting late for bare root plantings. 432 Burnt Ridge Rd. Onalaska,WA 98570 ph 360-985-2873 http://www.burntridgenursery.com/
Raintree Nursery – trees and a wide variety of other plants. 391 Butts Road Morton, WA 98356 ph 360-496-6400 http://www.raintreenursery.com/

There are other good local general landscape nurseries like Gartenmeister on 160th that carry stock as well, but ask questions of any nursery prior to your purchase. Understand soil, sunlight, water, nutrient, and size requirements for each plant. Keep in mind 2 R’s - Right plant in the Right place! “Food for Thought”. Brother Ikerd