Food Forests & Edible Landscaping -- SFTF
Evans Cherry 3 years old, and starting to produce. Evans is not as sweet as a Bing or Rainier cherry, but they are good enough to eat out of your hand, and they make wonderful pie, syrup, ice cream topping, cherry whiskey...
There is no reason why your landscaping can't be useful as well as pretty. Here are all the trees and shrubs, and a few perennials that can look good, and taste good too.
Caveats: I've taken a few liberties here: While chokecherry is edible, it's really only 'jam-able' The berries on their own are high in pucker power. You will find a few like that. On the other hand, things like Silverberry, while edible, you have to be close to starving. Bleeechhh. They are NOT listed in this section.
Room
The trees -- apples, pears, plums, apricots take up a fair amount of room. Few urban lots have room for more than one or two.
One of the answers to this, is to share. Plant trees as boulevard trees, and let everyone know what kind it is. Offer to trade your pears for John’s plums, and Mike’s apples. Same thing with bush fruit. If you have a single Ben Nevis currant, but your neighbour has a Ben Lomond, both of you get more currants.
Put up a note on your telephone pole or superbox saying, “What fruit trees do you have? Interested in sharing? 780-555-1212”
Fruit Types Overview
Apples
There are a bunch of hardy apples, applecrabs, and crabapples that do quite well here. The tradeoff for our short growing season is somewhat smaller fruit. Typically 2.5 to 3 inches is the upper end.
Pears
There are few hardy pears. All are cultivars of a russian pear. Fruit is good, but only about 2" long.
Berries
There are a ton of berries possible. Berries have the advantage of shorter waits for production. This group includes well known ones -- raspberry, strawberry, blueberry saskatoons, haskaps (honeyberries), red and black currants, gooseberries, goji berries
Stonefruit: Cherries, Plums & Apricots
Seven kinds of cherries. Four kinds of plums. Two apricots.
Grapes
No, you can't have muscatel, or even red table grapes but you can have your own grape jelly, and there's lots of new grapes in the works.
Nuts.
Or rather Nut. So far the only one is Black Walnut, unless you count acorns as nuts. Looking into hazelnuts, and russian almond. Butternut is in the works, but this is basically a football shaped black walnut.
Perennial Veggies
Asparagus. Rhubarb. Sunchokes
Not all the foodies are here. High Bush Cranberry is in the Ornamentals, with the rest of the viburnums. Silver Buffaloberry, Canadian Buffaloberry and Sea Buckthorn are also in Oleasters in Ornamentals.
You really do have to read the entire website.
More information:
Devonian Garden Fruit Growers Group is sponsored by the garden. They have two meetings a year -- a scion wood exchange in mid April, and a fruit exposition in the fall. Their website is http://dbgfruitgrowers.weebly.com/
Hardy Fruit & Nut Trees of Alberta is a facebook group. Good place for local questions. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1484297785164334/
NAFEX (North American Fruit Explorers) is another facebook group. Lots of experts on this page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/21070015101/
Edmonton Permaculture Guild Lot of non-fruit topics here. General interest on sustailability, self reliance for food. https://www.facebook.com/groups/EdmontonPermaculture/
Pruning Trees Four common tree pruning forms Also, search on youtube.
Got something to say? Email me: sfinfo@sherwoods-forests.com
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Want to talk right now? Call me: (8 am to 8 pm only, please) 1-780-848-2548
Do not arrive unannounced. Phone for an appointment. Why? See Contact & Hours That same page gives our hours of operation.
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Sherwood's Forests is located about 75 km southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. Please refer to the map on our Contact page for directions.