Fruit and nuts and perennial food crops, oh my!

We bought our house and the surrounding acre of property in September, 1992. 

The following April I was delighted  to see hundreds of daffodils blooming in the overgrown beds that flanked the  backyard stone patio. Later emerging gifts from the past  included peonies, iris, and two mature dogwoods flanking the front of the house. Other remnants of the original garden  were not as welcome, including dying ornamental cherry trees and a scruffy forsythia hedge.

Over time I created a hybrid ornamental garden featuring the best of the existing  plants, trees and shrubs  with my own choices- mostly native shrubs and perennials. A new septic system mound became a mass planting of grasses and blueberries where the cherry trees had been.  And every year I either divided old clumps of daffodils or added more varieties. 

I have always planted a few vegetables, but did not become a vegetable gardener on a larger scale until the economic downturn of the early 2000’s, when growing food became something of a necessity — perhaps more of a psychological than economic one. I soon discovered that I enjoy the idea of having control over my food, but I also love the calm oasis of a well designed ornamental garden.

For the last ten years or so, I’ve been working to integrate those two needs by creating a kitchen garden full of vegetables and colorful, often self-seeding annual flowers.

It’s been wonderful, but entails a lot of physical work each season. Although I am  currently fortunate to be healthy and fit, I can’t stop time and the aging of my body. 

So now my garden is evolving again, into something less physically taxing but still food productive. 

 I already had a mature peach tree, two pears, blueberries, blackberries and a large bed of raspberries. 

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Last year I added a mulberry, dwarf self-fertile cherry, persimmon and paw-paw, and even some nuts -- American hazelnuts!

This spring I'll be adding much more. Pics and details to come.

I’ve chosen species that don’t have a lot of insect or disease problems, but are not commercially grown because they aren’t easy to harvest with machines or do not ship well. I’m also expanding my plantings of other perennial crops, including asparagus, rhubarb, fiddleheads, Egyptian onions, ramps and shitake mushrooms.

Eventually I hope to have a garden that will showcase a wide range of wonderful but less commonly grown fruits, nuts and perennial crops, produce food that I can eat fresh and process for winter use, and require less heavy lifting and digging.  I’m looking forward to the journey to that goal!