In the last 3 yrs. I have planted: 10 apple trees, 4 peach, 2 fig, 2 pear, 2 plum, 2 cherry, 12 muscadine, 6 blackberries, 6 raspberries, 8 blueberry, 100 strawberry plants, 3 pecan trees and garlic. I have the following herbs ready to go into a bed as soon as the weather is right: 4 kinds for mint, sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary and lavender. My question is; have I missed anything that the 'homestead' orchard might need? BTW-I am getting honey bees Saturday! And I am sure I'll have 1000 question then! thanks!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 12, 2001

Answers

You're doing great! I also love to plant fruit trees and bushes, and can usually find room for a few more every year. :-) Have you tried persimmon? I know they are awful if they are not quite ripe, but they are great for muffins. We have a tree the previous owner planted long ago--had to ask my mom what is this and is it edible? :-) What is muscadine?

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), March 12, 2001.

Thanks! We have wild persimmons but I have thought about planting one of the Japanese type. Do you know what type that is in your yard? Muscadines are grapes that have thick skins. They are very hardy and the birds don't bother them too badly! They grow wild in our part of the south. They make wonderful jams, jellies and wines!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 12, 2001.

Don't forget chives, they are way easy and perennial. I also like to grow comfrey to use in salves I make as well as for other healing purposes, and to feed to the animals. I am too far north to plant pecans, I think its great that you can! Here we have chestnut, hickory, walnut and butternut.

Why not consider mulberry? They are a large tree, wonderful for shade and treehouses, and the berries are terrific in cereal or plain.

You've got a great set-up, I hope you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor soon!

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), March 12, 2001.

Birds love mulberries. I have seen them mentioned as a 'lure' away from cherries -- the birds eat the mulberries and leave the cherries alone -- but I have only read this, not tried it myself. I have a mulberry tree, though, and the birds do love to eat them, and then make messy poops everywhere!

-- Joy F (So.Central Wisconsin) (CatFlunky@excite.com), March 12, 2001.

I have a fondness for mulberries...but my laundry on the line doesn't. The same goes for blackberries, pokeberries and raspberries here. Perhaps the mulberry tree could be planted away from the others as a distraction?

We have peach, apple, pear, plum, and various nut trees. I want to plant mulberries here (we had them where I grew up) this year. Since I want them to be able to grow unchecked, I will plant them where they might grow as large as they are able.

"Here we go 'round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, here we go 'round the mulberry bush, the monkey chases the weasel."

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), March 13, 2001.

How about a swing or bench?

-- Terri Perry (teperry@stargate.net), March 13, 2001.

I hadn't thought of a bench or swing--sounds good to me!Thanks everyone.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 13, 2001.

Sounds like you forgot almonds - nuts highest in protein, lowest in fat, and very useful for morning sickness besides. (Oh, and a few almonds canned with your peaches in any form adds a nice rich flavor)

-- Marty (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), March 13, 2001.

Cherries: sweet or sour? Sour in self fertile but most of the time sweet cherries need two for pollination. Try nectarines (can grow anywhere peaches can), pawpaws (also known as Hoosier banana), apricots, pluot (75% plum)& aprium (75% apricot) (these are a cross of a plum & an apricot developed by Stark Bros. nursery. They have 30% more sugar then either parent alone. You can pollinate with each other or plums & apricots.). For nuts there are black walnuts, english walnuts, chestnuts, hickory nuts, almonds, filberts (hazelnuts), butterheart nuts (japanese walnut hybrid), & butter nuts (related to walnuts). For more fruit (vines & bushes not trees) there are cranberries, lingonberries, boysenberries (simialr to blackberries), tayberry (blackberry/raspberry cross), june berries, hucklberries, elderberries, gooseberries, currents, hardy kiwi (it's not the kiwi fruit you see in the stores. It's a vine that bears fruit smaller & sweeter then regular kiwi's & has no fuzz. It can be planted farther north, has 20 times higher vitamin C than most citrus & contains almost as much potassiun as a banana.), jostaberry (gooseberry/current cross), chokecherries, & I just can't think of any other small fruit.

I hope this list can help you, as there's just so many plants that will renew themselves every year (trees, bushes, canes, vines, etc...), so you won't have to plant every year, just harvest.

Has anyone ever of an apple called Scarlet Surprise? It's got more red color then any other tree (apple or not) that I've ever seen. The blossoms are pink, & the foliage, as well as the bark, has a reddish cast. And when you cut into the fruit, not just the skin, but the flesh (right to the core) is a bright red. It's says it's not a novelty but has a great flavor (it says). Ripens early September in Zone 5. But say it can be grown in zones 4-8.

animalfarms (IN)

-- animalfarms (jwlewis@indy.net), March 13, 2001.

WOW!!! Starting a road-side stand in a couple years, eh??? More power to you!!! So far you are doing really great - I wouldn't be able to keep up with you!! Though I wouldn't change a thing, I have a couple easy suggestions in case you really want to expand:

Elderberries, currants, gooseberries, Mountain ash (I forget what the berries are called, but they make a HEAVENLY jam!!!) and perhaps walnuts.

For the herbs: are these for the bees? culinary? medicinal? If you email me, or post again, I have a culinary/medicinal herb garden, and will give you a list of what I have.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 13, 2001.

How about Grapes?

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 13, 2001.

Wow! These are great ideas, thank you all! I haven't tried gooseberries in a very long time can't remember what they taste like - Are they-sweet, tangy, bitter? Thanks again Debbie

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 13, 2001.

I am so jealous of all the ideas listed above that I can't grow in this climate....

I haven't tried Scarlet Sunrise, but I know that some apple orchards offer tasting days where you can go and try the fruit of different cultivars before you plant -- others offer boxes of different mixes so you can try them. If you want to go in for apple varieties, it would be a good way to find out what you like. I had a 'Pink Lady' that I liked very well for eating plain, but did not like it with cheese, gave it a peculiar flavour I would not have suspected. If I had the room, I'd look into old cider cultivars and get myself a press!

If I could, I'd like to try PawPaws one day (too far north...), and we have terrible trouble with Black Knot around here, so I've given up on regular cherries, and planted Cornelian Cherries instead (a member of the Dogwood family). We are so far north that we can't have sweet cherries anyway. However, I am also looking into Russian Mountain Ash/Rowan(Sorbus acuparia) for berries for me and the robins, and planting what they are now marketing as Honeyberries (Lonicera kanchatika)which are a member of the shrub honeysuckle family which does very well around here and has reliably profuse crops of blue fruit. I hope I like it, but if I don't, the birds probably will. Also some of the improved Shadblow/Juneberry/Amelanchers.

Finally, I am working on a lot of hardy roses, Rugosa and their hybrids mostly, for hip production. The rosehips are great in tea, jam, and syrup, and very high in vitamin C. They were what the British used during WWII to prevent dietary deficiencies since they could not get citrus fruit, and you get the wonderful benefit of the flowers for yourself and the bees to boot.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 14, 2001.

I have only seen the scarlet surprise apple, listed in the stark bro's catalogue too. Last year we ordered their special fruit tree combo with 5 in 1 apple, 2 in 1 pear and sweet cherry, and a fruit cocktail tree (necterine, peach, apricot, japenise plum, and prune plum). We deliberetely planted them near my veggie stand, so that people can stare and I can watch! LOL.

A word on pawpaw, they don't look that great when they are ripe, and they go from ripe to overripe in about 5 hours on a sunny branch. I tried my mom's and wasn't impressed.

-- MARTY (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), March 14, 2001.

Wow, now you have me wanting spring to get here. That sounds tempting.

If you can, currents are wonderful. I have red and black, and will be adding white currents as soon as I can find some. I'm also wanting gooseberries, in all available colors. Cherries would be good, but I would add a few mulberries to lure the birds away. I have also been told that the golden cherries don't attract the birds as much because of the color. For 'almonds', I'm going to be putting in edible pitted apricots, sort of a two for one special. ; - )

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), March 16, 2001.

In looking for other possibilities for a far north fruit production, I have seen something called a Goumi (Sweet Scarlet) listed in Park Seeds that might have a prayer of survival here, and is attractive in being only 6 feet in height, and self-fertile. It is touted as a relative of the Autumn and Russian Olive. Does anyone have experience with this shrub?

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 16, 2001.

honeyberries=yummy

-- ganda humasukil (htx@asd.net), September 30, 2001.