Orchard People

[00:00:00] The Reality of Growing Fruit Trees
Hi everyone. So when it comes to growing fruit trees, there's the dream. And then, there's the reality. So the dream is that you can go out into your garden at any time and harvest and enjoy delicious, organic fruit. The reality is, there is lots of work involved in growing fruit trees successfully.
You need to learn how to prune them, how to protect them from pests and diseases, and you need to learn how to feed them correctly. But those are all skills that can be learned. I teach fruit tree care skills online at OrchardPeople. com and I write about it in my award winning book, Growing Urban Orchards, which you can find on Amazon or in your local bookstore or library.
[00:00:45] Introducing No Fuss Fruits
And yet, there are some types of fruit that are super easy to grow. All you have to do is plant these fruiting plants, you can water them, and then just wait for the harvest. And in this show, that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to explore growing no fuss fruit. today in the studio I have two very special guests who will tell me all about it.
[00:01:11] Meet the Guests: Stephen and Emma Biggs
So my guests today are Stephen Biggs, a horticulturist, and the author of a number of fantastic books about growing edibles. And my second guest is Steve's 12 year old daughter Emma, who grows food with her dad. And like her dad, Emma is also an author. And she's finishing off her second book on gardening for kids.
Now, before we dive into the topic, I encourage you as listeners to email in your questions, your comments, and your stories during the live show. All you have to do is send an email to InStudio101. Let's meet our guests, Steve and Emma. Welcome to the studio today, guys. Thanks for having us, Susan. Hi, Susan. Thanks for having us. Yeah, it's great that you came in. You found your way, no problem, to the studio, the secret studio, Reality Radio.
Very special place. So now we may have another guest. Oh, another guest may come in a bit. But first of all, let's dive into our topic today. We're talking, Steve, about no fuss fruits. Now, I know you. I've seen your garden. You're not a no fuss gardener. You've got a lot of stuff that you do that's very fussy that you work with.
So why is this a topic that's of interest to you? I like the, the no fuss fruits because it leaves me time to do some of those more fussy, time consuming tasks. that I like to do in the garden. tree fruits are great, but they sure take a lot of time. And when I'm talking about no fuss fruits to people, I'm talking about things that really practically take care of themselves in the garden.
They're great options for people who are busy or, have other things to do. So when you're talking about no fuss, is it literally, Steve, planting something, forgetting about it, and coming back in a year or two, and then Enjoying the harvest. Is that what it's going to look like? Yeah, it can be coming back in a year or two.
It could be coming back in 40 years. And I'll tell you, Susan, how I got into this, topic.
[00:03:17] The Story of Quince Japonica
What gave me the idea was, in my former house, I had these wonderful neighbours, Anna and Chris, and they had in their front yard a quince japonica bush, which had been there for decades. it was there before they got the house.
And one year my neighbor Chris said to me, there's these fruit in the japonica bush, the quince bush. Would you like them? I said, yeah. I was very excited and at that point I didn't even realize that quince japonica was different from quince. So I thought I was getting quince fruit. And anyway, I cooked up these things and I made, I made a jam and I took it over to my neighbors Anna and Chris afterwards.
We sat down to eat and I can picture Chris taking the lid off to put the spoon in this jam and the spoon bounced right back because I'd overcooked it and I'd effectively made rubber. So he, took the knife to it and cut these nice rounds of, rubber for our tea. He was a very gracious host. But, the way that got me into no fuss fruit was simply that bush had been there for decades with almost no pruning and no care.
And it was in a hot, sunny, dry location. And I thought, now, isn't this the kind of fruit that we all should grow or that we all should have grow in our yards with a minimal amount of input. So what is, how is it different from a quince, quince japonica? What, does the plant look like? they're two entirely different things.
So there's the quince that people know as a quince and the quince that's well known in history. And, and it can be a small tree, is usually a small tree. The quince japonica is unrelated, and it's a small bush with these bullet hard fruit. But they do have a bit of a similar smell and taste when you prepare them.
And I'm, I don't know how they, got that quince in their name. Maybe that's why. But they're very different, but you can use them in similar ways. So tell me, what would have the right way to prepare the, what, how would you have prepared the, quince japonica? Were you more successful later, playing around with it?
I overcooked it. And with a lot of, jams, if you overcook them, you can make them too firm, Okay, and so again, it's something that needs a lot of sugar, but delicious. And then what do you do? do you remember this stuff? I guess you don't remember the rubbery one, huh, Emma? I don't remember. I think I was too small.
oh, we've got another guest coming into the studio. Hello. Welcome. We've got Anna Baranowski coming into the studio, and she is going to join us and listen in, but she may also participate. So she's going to put on her headphones right now, and when she talks into the mic, if she's going to talk into the mic, she's going to get very close to the mic.
Welcome, Anna. Welcome, Anna, and it was Anna's quince fruit that I cooked up into this rubber the one time. Anna, do you remember? The time. Okay, so come close to your mic and tell us about what did this quince japonica jam look and taste like? I don't think I actually tried that. I guess it didn't look too appealing.
No, you know what? We had a tree that had all these beautiful fruits and I had no idea what they were. They were just a strange shape and Steve apparently knew what they were. I had no clue. And he just took it upon himself to rescue all of these fruits which would not have had any attention if it wasn't for the genius.
Genius of Steve's knowledge of what to do with these bizarre fruits. Yes, he's that kind of guy, isn't he? Your dad's that kind of guy. Definitely. have you ever, Emma, had the opportunity to taste a correctly made quince japonica jam? I don't think so. My dad's cooked up a lot of weird things, but I don't think any of them have been that.
Okay, we're going to hear about more weird things. things today. Will we? Hopefully we do. Weird is good. I have lots. I have lots. I am curious. What, weird things are you referring to? there's lots of weird, when he cooks things up, he'll bring something in from the garden and it turns out in kind of an unusual manner sometimes.
he's that kind of guy. Yeah, I've made parsnip wine before, I should mention. Okay, alright, so Emma, I know, I want to talk to you a little bit about your experience with your dad in the garden. Now, you are 12 years old. It is true. Yes, you're accomplished. Yes, you've written a couple of books, or you're writing them, but, do you remember starting to work with your dad in the garden, and do you, remember, was fruit, did, it lure you out there?
Did it help you, encourage you to be outside with your dad out there? I remember, I don't really remember this, but my dad has a photo of me sitting in my high chair, de-stemming currants. And I don't really remember that, but that's definitely something I've always done since I'm little with fruit.
But the one thing that I do remember is Cabander Stew. And that is my homemade creation, which I made in an upturned frisbee in a pot, with lots of water and mud and whatever I could find in the garden. And that is probably my earliest memory of gardening. But, ever since then, there has been lots of, fruit used.
that has gotten me into the garden. And from me and my cousin picking and eating currants, fruit has definitely lured me into the garden a lot. I guess it makes it interactive and fun for kids. gardening, if you're growing flowers and stuff, they're pretty, but somehow when you can stick something in your mouth, maybe for a kid, that's fun.
Yeah, definitely. Now this mud pie thing you made in a frisbee, I'm I was hoping that you didn't eat it, I didn't. Don't worry. What a relief. Okay. And if you did, you turned out just fine. So there you go. That's great. Okay.
[00:09:13] Currants: The Perfect No Fuss Fruit
So, Steve, tell me, for instance, with easy no fuss fruits, what would you say is the top, your favorite no fuss fruit that really would be so easy for anybody to put in their garden?
Yeah, currants are at the top of the list, and I should say, so no fuss, I'm thinking minimal pruning, no spraying, something that tolerates shade or partial shade will tolerate poor soil, and so currants just fit the bill perfectly. And, actually looking back on that first house I lived in next to my neighbours Anna and Chris, in their backyard was this beautiful old apple tree, a wild apple tree.
And growing under that apple tree was a red currant bush that was there before they moved in. And I remember that bush because when they didn't pick the currants, I would reach through the fence and I would pick them. And this, bush that had been there for decades, hadn't been pruned, didn't get any care, just kept making currants every year.
And here it was growing in the shade of an apple tree in a heavy clay soil. And so that really, that's a perfect example of currants being such a great no fuss fruit option. And, they tolerate partial shade, they're not fussy when it comes to soil, and, you can certainly prune them to, to get a better crop, but you can also take a totally hands off approach and still get some currants.
so they fit beautifully. Now, there are different types of currants, different colors. Have you experimented at all, or do you know much about the different types of currants available? Yeah, so you could, very broadly, you can break them into red currants and black currants. And, I guess they're, both great in the sense that they, fit that no fuss.
And the other neat thing about them is that they're quite difficult to find in grocery stores. You just don't see them commercially available. You do see them sometimes at farmer's markets, but they're rarely for sale. So to me, that makes them twice as worthwhile. And, so they're, both no fuss.
Now, a little bit of a difference, when it comes to pruning the, reds and the blacks. The, The red currants, you're really growing a more permanent framework. They fruit on older wood, and so you're creating a more permanent framework, whereas with the black currants, they fruit best on second year wood.
So you're, pruning a little bit differently so as to encourage new growth all the time. So let's say that black currants are a little more fussy than the red. What about white currants? Yeah, so the white currants, and there's also pink currants, and you can treat those as you would red currants. So what kind of thing guys would, when you do the harvest, and Emma, when you were, you were taking the little stems off the currants, what did you guys do with them?
Did you eat them just as is? my dad said, I don't really remember this, that me and my cousin, We would sneak outside, and we'd go and we'd pick his currants, and we'd eat them right there in the patch. And we do a lot of that still, and sometimes though, my dad'll get all three of us, me and my brothers, Quinn and Keaton, outside, and we'll all go out to the very back of the yard, where the currants are planted, and we'll take big bowls with us, and we'll just spend the whole day picking currants.
And then later that night, we'll go inside, and my dad likes to freeze the currants. So he'll put them on cookie sheets, and he'll freeze them. Then he'll take them out, and it's easier to de stem them once they're frozen. And so we'll do that, and then my dad turns them into juice. And so he makes the most delicious currant juice ever.
really nice. So the juice is cooking them Yeah, so we, freeze most of the currants. It's busy in the summer, so throw them in the freezer. And, over the course of the winter, as we need juice, we pull out a bag of currants and I make a juice concentrate. I cook them up with a bit of water, add a bit of sugar, sieve out the seeds and the skins and any stems that are remaining.
And, and it makes a juice concentrate. And, if you've seen the Ribena black current concentrate, it's exactly the same idea. And so that's what my black current concentrate tastes but I'm also doing it with the red currants. And it's, not a lot to say that a person with a, an average yard can grow and freeze enough currants to make a good part of their juice for the year because they're productive little bushes and you can squeeze lots into a small space.
They are super productive. I have one in my backyard. They're so pretty as well. beautiful, berries and the way they hang down. And it's seems that none of the animals seem to go for it. the currants. I don't know why. I don't have any problems with it. you bring up such a good point because when you get into these smaller fruits like currants, that's another one of these advantages.
And a big fruit, if you're growing say an espalier peach in a city and it has a half dozen to a dozen peaches on it, on your little espalier peach tree, if you have one industrious squirrel, That could spell the end of all your peaches. And I really remember my one neighbor seeing him one day with a two by four in hand chasing around his driveway.
He was just fuming because the squirrel had made off with the last of his dozen or so peaches off his espalier tree. peaches, those big tree fruits, even when they're espaliered, I don't think they're a good fit for urban yards. But these small fruited things like currants are fabulous.
Perfect. There's enough to share.
[00:14:59] Listener Questions and Comments: Where to get the books, Nanking Cherries, Soil Prep
Now, we have an email from a listener, Ari, from Aurora, Illinois. You know what Ari says here? He says, Wow, an author already! And I think he's talking about you, Emma, not your dad, who's also very youthful. He says, Where can we get Emma's book? Emma, where can Ari order a copy of the book if he wants to ? You can get the book at stephenbiggs.
ca and you can click on the books page and all the books for sale by me and my dad, they're all for sale online. Perfect. So that's great. Now I have some other comments here. So here's one from Scott from New Hampshire, and Scott says, I grow Nanking's cherries. He says, it is too easy. He says, planted shrub, wait three years, eat fruit.
And he says he grows them in New Hampshire, bought from Fedco Nurseries. So I think we're going to talk a little bit later about Nanking cherries, aren't we guys? Okay. So thank you, Scott. Now, David wrote in to say about his favorite no fuss fruit. He wrote on to say after a couple of years, raspberries have taken off a good pork portion, taken off a good portion of my backyard, so raspberries, awesome.
Delicious, productive. No fuss though, so David doesn't fuss. They can be no fuss. Absolutely. Yeah, so that's a good one. Now. We've got an email here from Chuck. Now. Let's say Chuck, I don't know where Chuck is from you can email us back to tell us but he says just saying hi Love the show. I would like to enter the contest.
Thank you. You are hereby entered Chuck Thank you so much for emailing in and at the end of the show we'll find out who wins. So now we've got, what else have we got here? We've got a bunch of feedback off of Facebook and we've got Karen from Texas wrote, I had, this is interesting, I had a lemon tree that produced lemons that were so bitter.
That I went and cut it down. I do get some peaches and pears, and last year I had the best figs ever. But the bees were up in the house, and I had them, I guess the bees, removed. They were fine, and the fellow promised to take good care of them, so she saved the bees. So with the bees gone, do you think I'll get figs again this year?
I have to cut that tree back in February. It's up over the house and only the birds and squirrels will get the figs. She's not happy about that. So actually, Karen, I don't know if you realize that we do have, Steve is a fig expert. So her lemons weren't good. She gave up on the lemons. But what about the figs?
If she got rid of the local bees, will she have fruit? I guess the question would be, what are the, bees doing? Is it, I, know around here the wasps will often get in and start eating the ripe figs and maybe that's what she's talking about. So hopefully there's more to share. Oh, wouldn't that be nice.
If she doesn't have the bees around. And it's also from my perspective, when people have established trees, it is so beautiful. And often people think that the tree is bad because the fruit doesn't taste good. When really it's about. starting to prune the tree and care for the tree so that fruit starts to taste better and pruning plays such a big role in that.
I think she's gonna do very well Karen with the fig tree. Now Chuck just got back to us to say oops Sorry, I am from Vancouver BC. thank you so much Chuck. So let's see where we are right now. What I'd like to do is let me just see. Oh, here's one more. Here's one more, also from Facebook.
Ryan writes, okay, Ryan writes, I'm just getting started with fruit trees and clay soil. Any advice? He's from Eastern NC. What's NC? North Carolina. North Carolina. Zone 7 8 ish. He says, I just learned I need to spend another season preparing the clay into soil, working on it and researching it. And is all the advice I got so far.
Ryan, for me, I, we also have pretty clay soil here in Ontario. And I often use, green manure. So I often plant white clover. I, sometimes we have used, radish seeds. to break up the soil. And so I think it's amazing, Ryan, that you are preparing in advance before just popping your tree in the ground.
So it'll give your tree a really good start. That is the best way to start to think in advance. What, advice do you have, Steve? with clay, it's always a question of adding some kind of organic matter. And, for me, the easiest thing is always leaf compost. We have a lot of big silver maple trees in our neighborhood, and I can Collect the leaves from mine and from my neighbors.
And, and compost those. And those are a very inexpensive, easy way to lighten up a clay soil. Oh, perfect. That's great advice. Emma, do you have any advice? I don't know. I'm not big on growing trees. I think my dad's the best person to ask for that. He is the best person, though. give you a couple of years.
I think you're going to be teaching us about growing trees, that's for sure. Yeah.
[00:20:30] Books and Gardening Tips
Okay, in a minute, we're going to hear a few words from our sponsors, but Before we do, so the listeners have the opportunity to win these books by you guys, Steve and Emma. And I'm just wondering if you could tell us a bit about the two books and what they are.
So Emma, do you want to talk about Grow Gardeners? What's that? Okay, so Grow Gardeners is Filled with kid tested gardening with children ideas. it's a four step approach, so growing, collecting, playing, exploring. So it's pretty much saying, make the garden fun. And it gives a whole bunch of ideas of how to do that, whether it's having an asparagus tickle fight, or a snail race.
It's just ideas to try to get kids into the garden. Now I have never had an asparagus tickle fight. Anna! Have you had an asparagus tickle fight recently? Not in the recent past. I am wondering what exactly that is. a lot of ideas come into my head. Maybe Emma, you could give us a little bit more detail about that.
So asparagus, when you leave it for a while, it gets a bit ferny and it feels when You touch it, it feels soft, but it feels tickly, so I don't think that's a word, but I don't know how else to describe it. It's like a fern, Somehow I feel like your younger brothers are the ones who are getting most of the tickling done on them.
Yeah, I correct? Definitely. Yeah, would you dare tickle your dad with that? I've tried, it's hard. He probably runs pretty fast, that guy. Yeah. He's pretty wiry, And then we also have, Steve, your book here. Tell us about grow figs. Yeah, it's grow figs where you think you can't. And the whole essence of the book is how do people grow figs in climates where you don't think they'll grow.
And here in Toronto, you can make your fig trees survive the winter by burying them, by taking them into unheated garages sometimes, or into the basement. And it's amazing how many people. grow fig trees and how many different ways there are to do it. So the book gives ideas on how to make these plants survive winters where they normally wouldn't.
And Steve's figs are the best. Oh, living nearby, Anna, you probably get to taste them. they're very, and they're all different. there are different varieties, right? I'm up to 50 something varieties now. Oh my gosh. And they all have a. Slightly different taste and different shapes to them, I think.
That's right, yeah. I'll tell you, it's pretty great living near them. Oh, I bet. I live a little too far away to get the bounty here. I think we gotta move, actually. I'm gonna talk to the hubby about that really, but 50 different cultivars, quite amazing. So we have an email here from Mark, now let's see, where is Mark from, I have a feeling Mark is from Ontario, but let's see, Mark says, Hi, I would like to thank Stephen for writing his fig books because it made me realize that I overcome climate fears.
Made me realize that I overcome climate fears, and thinking that only apple and plums could grow in my zone 4. So now, thanks to your inspiration, he says, I grow quince, pawpaws, persimmon, and other fruits. Mark, that's nice. Thank you, Mark. That's really nice. Thanks for writing, Mark.
[00:24:04] Emma's Pick - Ground Cherries
So let's talk today Emma. Shall we talk about ground cherries? Tell me a little bit about ground cherries. Okay, so ground cherries, they're a tomato relative, and they're sweet, and they're small, but even though they're a tomato relative, to me, they're more like a cherry. And I have friends, and they do not like tomatoes at all, and They have tried them though, I've somehow convinced them, and they love them.
Cause they taste nothing like tomatoes, so even if you don't like tomatoes, I highly recommend that you try them. And these ground cherries, they have a husk around them. And so it's a papery, thin, golden husk. And they're really fun for kids, because the way it works is you pick them off the plant, And you peel the husk off around and you uncover the golden cherry inside.
And so they're just a really great fruit for kids. Do you know, I am so not surprised that's on your list. Because we, my husband Cliff told me about ground cherries, I never knew about them. And we planted them from seed, or maybe plants, but they plant themselves. Oh boy, do they plant themselves.
They spread a lot. And one year we had so many. In our garden, the garden was filled with them and they're delicious, vanilla flavor. That's how I would describe them. So we had so many and we got our neighbors and neighbors a few doors down and they had some kids. We said, kids come into the garden, try ground cherries.
And these kids were running around, harvesting them, having a blast. So I can totally see why that would be a really good kid friendly plant.
[00:25:36] Planting Ground Cherries
Yeah. Ground cherries are so great for kids. Now, how do you guys plant them? Do you get seed packages or? most of the time, we'll have a package of seeds for ground cherries somewhere, and we'll sprinkle them if we know specifically that we would like to have them somewhere.
But most of the time, some of them, we miss them, we go away somewhere, and they fall, and we just get ground cherries. Which is good, because we never plant enough. Exactly. You go through all of them, huh? Really? Yeah.
[00:26:03] Ground Cherry Flavor and Uses
Yeah, so what would you say the flavor is do, Steve, do you? pineapple comes to mind when I'm thinking of a ground cherry.
It's not as acidic as a pineapple, but I, a pineapple like flavor. That's what I think. And it's interesting because, Emma, you say it's a relative of the tomato, and we, all forget the tomato is a fruit. Yeah. But honestly, I, unless you had told me, if you hadn't told me that, I wouldn't even have known it was related to a tomato.
Yeah, you can't tell at all. So when you grow them, the ground cherries, do you just eat them fresh or do you guys prepare them in any way? Most of the time, by the time we're done picking them, there's none left in the bowl because we eat them all, so we've never actually, I don't think, prepared them into anything.
If we're lucky, they'll get into lunch bags, but that's as far as they ever get. The kids are grazing them all the time, so we don't get a big harvest to set aside, but I have seen recipes for ground cherry pie. And, even once I was surprised, I was in northern Quebec, and I saw ground cherry liqueur for sale and it was little bottles of this liqueur with a beautiful golden color.
So you can use it in different ways.
[00:27:12] Ground Cherry Cultivars
Now, I'm not aware, can you get different cultivars of ground cherry or they're just, they are what they are? I think there's a couple. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's good. If any of the listeners have had experience with different cultivars, let's, let's hear from you.
In the meantime, we have an email from Megan. Hi, we're a family of three with a dream to grow a food forest on our newly acquired eight acre property in Prince Edward County. Oh my goodness, I'm coming to visit. Anyways, Prince Edward County, Ontario. It sounds like you have a great plan in Prince Edward County. And we've got an email here from Mark. So it seems that there are not too many books, Mark says, about growing fruit trees in pots. There are some about growing small fruit trees.
In something pots, small fruit trees. I'm not much, but I'm not much about growing them in pots year round. Okay, there is definitely a need for that because taking care of fruit trees is complicated. Does Steve or Susan have any thoughts about the subject? Okay, Mark, and Mark is in Quebec.
[00:28:23] Growing Fruit Trees in Pots
So Mark, my feeling about growing fruit trees in pots, sometimes people, have a very sunny, patio, but they don't have a garden.
And there are some fruit trees you can grow in pots and bring inside in the winter. So I think it's doable. My preference, the way I grow trees, I like to grow them in the ground because I have space in my local community orchard. but Steve, what are your thoughts about that? So my two cents are that I grow my lemons and figs in pots, of course.
Because they don't stay in the garden over the winter. But when I lived in the UK, I saw more fruit trees in pots. And I would see apricots, peaches, cherries in pots. And these things would go for the winter into the conservatory. Or in the summer they might place them where there'd be more radiated heat to ripen the fruit.
Against a brick wall, for example. it is true. done, but I haven't seen a whole lot of it here in, in the Toronto area, but, looking for resources, it might be worth looking, towards the UK and see what kind of resources there are there. That's a great idea. And also, later in the show, we'll be talking a little bit about potted, easy grow plants.
So we can talk about that too. But yes, it is a challenge and, it's something that we're all so yes, interesting question. We also have an email here from Rita, and Rita says, can you see this Emma? Yep. Rita says, I cannot believe how knowledgeable Emma is. She sounds like a scientist. So she is definitely a scientist in her own garden.
okay, so ground cherries.
[00:30:08] Cape Gooseberries vs Ground Cherries
Now, what about Cape gooseberries? Tell me, what are they? Cape gooseberries are related to ground cherries, and so they're just like them. They're sweet, they're like a cherry, they're a tomato relative, and they're in a husk. Except they tend to be bigger. A bit sweeter, and this flavor tends to be a bit more intense.
And it's always a war because I think ground cherries are definitely better. My dad thinks that Cape Gooseberries are definitely better. They are. Oh dear. Anna, have you tasted both of these? Do you want to vote? I don't know. I like those ground cherries. They're like really good. Yeah, ground cherries are the best.
I really like the fact that you pull the, what did you call it? The husk. A husk off of it. And, when you get that fruit inside, it is always a delicious surprise, and I'd never had them before. I, guess I got a few from you, Steve, and they, and I haven't seen them really in the grocery stores at all.
But, when you were talking before about just throwing them on the ground, I wondered about, as a complete and utter gardening novice myself I'm talking about, if I threw some in my garden, would they actually grow? the birds will eat them. Sometimes they'll get them. I'll eat them and they'll fall.
And so I guess they would grow because, for us, we don't touch them. We just, they pop up places that we didn't know they would grow. So do you have to put them under the soil or do anything with them? Just throw them on top? There's always an ideal way to do something and a less than ideal way. And ground cherries will often do well in less than ideal circumstances.
They're borderline weeds, depending on who you ask. They tolerate neglect well. Exactly. I'll tell you something. They will plant themselves. They, in our garden, we don't have grass. We have, stones, pebble stones as our ground cover. And then we've got our raised beds. And sometimes these ground cherries are flopping over into the area where there's the stones and landscape fabric and all sorts of stuff.
Somehow they grow. In the stones, landscape fabric, they grow everywhere. So Anna, this is an empowering place for you to start growing fruit. so where would I get my ground cherries if I really love them? Your neighbor Steve. Your neighbor Steve will supply them. And if, for the listeners, if you don't have a neighbor Steve, you can definitely, order them online from all these great seed companies.
But yeah, definitely this is a place to start. anyway, so yes, so we were talking about, so basically you're outnumbered Steve, I'm so sorry. Do you feel bad about that or? I'll live with it. Okay.
[00:32:55] Serviceberries: The No-Fuss Fruit
Now, Steve, you were going to talk a little bit about Serviceberries, and I know that's a plant that goes from, on very different, various different names.
So tell me about Serviceberries. Yeah, I think if people are looking for no fuss ideas for backyards, hands off fruit. Serviceberry is very high on the list. And we're not actually talking about one plant. It's a family of plants that are related. And they have fruit that resembles a bit to a blueberry.
Maybe a little bit less juicy than a blueberry. Sometimes they're a bit more on the pinky side. And the flavour can vary. It's not quite blueberry like. And some are really good. And I've tasted Serviceberries that aren't as good, because it's this whole family of, plants. Now, some of your listeners might know the, the Saskatoon berry, and it's part of that clan.
but you also have other ones, there's the Downy Serviceberry, there's the, Canada or Thicket Serviceberry, and there's more. And, but what's nice about these is, In the fall, they have wonderful, ornamental appeal. The leaves go this beautiful, vibrant scarlet colour. They're just stunning.
They're beautiful. And, and some of them will grow into small trees or, tall shrubs, like the, Canada Serviceberry. And so in an urban yard, if you don't have a lot of space, you can combine a little bit of shade with something that gives you edibles. So, they're really, they're low maintenance, they're beautiful, they fit into a, in a backyard setting just perfectly.
They are amazing. So before I learned to grow fruit trees, we had planted a Serviceberry in our yard. And I would run out in the morning to go get the Serviceberries from the tree and put them on our morning porridge or cereal or whatever. delicious, beautiful tree. We had another one in the front.
And so they are beautiful. And really easy to grow. The only thing that I've found is, we have a beautiful garden downtown, here in Toronto, the music garden, and there's a lot of Serviceberries there. One year when I was working in that garden, there was fungus. So that was a year that all the I've never seen any problems with Serviceberries except for that year where they got fungus y and gross and horrible.
And so that was a shame. But other than that, I haven't seen any problems. What about, have you seen pest and disease problems in Serviceberries? for me, the only thing that we've experienced is the robins, who happen to love Serviceberries. And they will come in and clean out a tree pretty quickly.
Yeah. I don't mind sharing with them. You are a very generous person. What about you? Do you mind sharing with them? I don't know. They're pretty good. They're pretty good. We should, tell the listeners, though, that, Serviceberry, there are other names, and I think it's probably regional, different names in different areas.
So if you're interested in this idea of Serviceberry, and you're looking for them, be aware that they might be called Juneberry, or, Shadbush, or Junebush, or Sugarpear. These are all different names that you might see, depending where you are. Yeah. So that's definitely something to look up. That's great.
And really, when we planted our tree, we just planted the tree. We watered it. We did nothing else. Maybe we mulched it a bit. Yeah. And, here in Toronto, the Parks Department has been putting them in extensively, in, in traffic, islands and boulevards. So places that are very challenging microclimates and they do beautifully.
They're tough. Yeah. They're tough.
[00:36:32] Nanking Cherry: A Hardy Choice
So Steve and Emma, we were talking before and I wanted to go into more depth at the Nanking cherry. Tell me a little bit about it. Who wants to talk about that? Sure, Nanking cherry, it has roots deep in my childhood, because my grandfather in Calgary grew Nanking Cherry.
And if people know about Calgary and gardening, they might think, what a horrible place to try to garden, because it's, you get these wild temperature fluctuations in Calgary. So growing a lot of different fruit in Calgary is challenging. So if you can grow Nanking cherry there, Nanking cherry obviously fits the bill for this no fuss fruit because it is ridiculously hardy and, it's a bush and, No spraying for me and pruning is absolutely minimal.
So it really fits that no fuss, theme very well. But what is the fruit? Does it, and I must say I have never seen one. I've heard about them for a while. I've never seen one. What does the fruit look like? Does it look like a regular cherry? So it looks like a regular cherry. A little bit smaller than, what you might get at the grocery store.
but the stem is shorter. And when you pick this, the stem comes off. And I've heard it said that's why these aren't sold. commercially, the fruit that is, because once the stem comes off, it doesn't keep as well. Oh, interesting. but it's ridiculously productive for a home garden. And, ours, when it's in fruit in our front yard, it's in our front yard garden.
It just looks like a decorated, little tree at Christmas time, just covered with red everywhere. Oh. Absolutely stunning. So you're leaving the fruit on there, for the winter, or when do you harvest it? Oh, no, the kids go out and harvest it as soon as it's ready. Ah, ha, yeah. So I should say, though, that Nanking cherry I don't see it a lot for sale.
It doesn't seem to be widely available in the horticultural industry, which is a shame because for home gardeners, it is easy to grow and it's prolific. And so you can use these little cherries. I'll, freeze some. I will, cook some up and make squares and pies and juices. So they're quite versatile.
And is the plant attractive looking? I can't picture it. Right now in the front of your house. It's a bush, and it's stunning in the spring. Before the leaves come out, you get the flower. They're like little cherry flowers. And now my office faces the street, so when I'm at home, working in my office, I see everything.
I see who walks by with their dogs and I see all these people stopping to take pictures of my Nanking cherry bush because it's stunningly beautiful when it's in bloom. So in the spring it's beautiful. When it's covered with fruit it's beautiful because there's all these little red fruit on it. And then in the winter it has a nice bark and if you've looked at the bark on cherry trees you might have noticed you get the lines and the little The dots, the little lenticels.
So it has quite a nice appeal. So it's a nice looking plant for a landscape. And how tall will it get? Mine is up to about chest height. Okay. So it's not tall. Not huge. And in fact, I'm such a big fan of this right now. I've been saving all of the little seedlings that come up. It's self seeds and I'm making a hedge of it in my backyard.
Oh, very nice. And you're planting it from seed. it's self seeds. I'm not, planting it. It's planting itself. Oh, okay. that's good to know. So if somebody wants to get one, would they get the shrub or would they get some seeds? Absolutely. If you can find the shrubs, I'm a big fan of saving time, but you will probably have to look around.
At least here in Southern Ontario, I don't see it that often. Wow, that sounds great. So what, how, what are your memories or thoughts about the delicious products you get out of the Nanking Cherry? I know that Dad sent, he's the one who sends me out with a big bowl and I fill it right to the top when I go outside.
It's definitely very, productive. It reminds me of the currants, how productive it is. You can just go out and pick a bowl of it. And then, the next day, you could probably go out and pick another bowl. It's very productive, and it looks really nice, too, with the flowers. And, it's really small. I never see Dad out pruning it, even though he does, and if he does.
Maybe twice a year. And he doesn't do it very often. It's definitely very low maintenance. what about, would you be tempted to nibble a Nanking cherry off of the plant or is it just not something you would eat raw? It's something I would eat raw. Definitely. Got it. It tastes like a, a sour cherry, except a bit sweeter, I think.
Oh, okay. that's really good. Yeah. we have an email from Gail. Okay, so she says, Gail says, Susan, this show is such good information for us. For those of us that are terrible at gardening, what a great choice of professionals to be on your show. Thanks for the free advice. Emma, fantastic. And she's from South Valley, New Mexico.
Thank you, Gail. So I wanted to talk to you guys about, you were talking, Steve, about some of the plants that you grow indoor, outdoor, like lemons. Would you say they're no fuss or not really? they're fuss definitely because I have to lug them in and out.
Yeah. Couple times a year. So are, is there anything potted that might be considered a no fuss plant if all I have is a little patio or a little backyard? Yeah, so, the Emma's ground cherries are a great no fuss fruit in a pot. We grow them on our garage roof. The other thing that we put on the garage roof in a pot is,
the Cape Gooseberry, sometimes called Goldenberry.
It's a relative of the ground cherry. And, and then melons are quite easy to grow and grow them in a pot. So I put them on my garage roof too. and for people who are short of space, don't overlook roofs. If, the pitch is such that you can garden up there, you get this fantastic microclimate. And, I can grow stuff on my roof that You know, it doesn't mature until late in the ground, but if I put it up on the roof, I gain weeks.
and that's good information as well, because your roof is going to be hot, and it's going to be dry. And so we've got lots of listeners from really much warmer climates. of the things we've talked about, are there, which are the ones that people living in the hotter, drier climates may be able to enjoy?
I would, I would think something like a melon. A lot of the melons like a lot of heat. You're going to need to irrigate too, of course. And do melons have, weeding, basically. You're not going to have to prune them. Yeah, and they're an annual. You treat them as an annual. And they're an annual. that can make it very no fuss in that sense.
It's not maintaining a permanent bush. Yeah. there you go.
[00:43:35] Encouraging Kids to Garden
Just to wrap up the show, and I don't know how many of you as the listeners have kids that are so awesome and spend time in the garden. But what would you say to parents? as to how to encourage kids to come out and play. I have a gardening talk that I do, and it's about cool crops.
And what that means is unusual crops, weird crops, something maybe that you wouldn't see in the supermarket. something like heat free jalapeno peppers. they're something, they're easy to grow, they're normal peppers, and they look like jalapeno peppers, they taste like them. Except without the heat, so I will take them to school, and I'll show my friends, Hey, I'm eating a hot pepper, and I can just trick them, and they will never figure it out.
And kids like that, they think that's really cool. And another thing I think is, I joined the Giant Vegetable Growers Association of Ontario this year. And so I talked to someone who grew an eight pound tomato. And so that just inspired me that maybe I should try and maybe I can grow a bigger tomato.
Because I've only grown a three pound tomato. So maybe I should keep trying. Wow, that sounds great. So it's weird things, big things. Yeah. And I think it's also what you're saying is Teach kids to garden so they can impress the other kids. Impress. But make it fun. Yeah. I think if there's one word you should think of when you're gardening with your kids, make it fun.
Yeah. Definitely. You know what? I think if I was growing up and my folks were out there having a good time, I'd want to go with them. Yeah. So as long as it's not a burden and it's not with the whip out, okay, kid, get to work. But it's making it fun. You always joke about how you use child labor in the garden.
Absolutely, de stemming those currants. guys, thank you so much for coming to the studio today. This is so awesome to have you guys. It's been lots of fun and we'll get you to come back someday. Thanks for having us. Thank you for having us, Susan.
[00:45:37] Upcoming Topics and Conclusion
and, no, I just briefly, before we wrap up, I want to talk about next month's show.
We have A really important topic, and I want everybody to tune in if you can. And I'm not kidding when I say that your life may depend on it. We're going to talk about Lyme disease. I'm going to tell you about my experience with Lyme, and we'll talk to an expert about Lyme and how you can protect yourself from it.
So as gardeners and people who spend lots of time outdoors, we are all vulnerable. So please tune in next month for more information. Now in February, we will have a special guest host for our show. So guess who it's going to be. Whoever gets in the studio, say the words. Steve Biggs? Yes! Steve Biggs is going to be our guest host and he is going to be hosting the show.
Steve, do you want to give us a few words about what you're going to talk about in February? Yeah, in February we will talk about growing olives. growing olives, olive trees, awesome. So we will give you ideas about growing olives where they grow normally and ideas about growing olives where they don't normally grow.
Perfect. That is perfect. Okay guys, that's it for the Urban Forestry Radio Show. Thank you so much to everybody for tuning in, for sending in your questions and comments.