Planting an American Hazelnut

While browsing around the local plant store, I came across this American Hazelnut bush aka Corylus americana. I don’t remember seeing one there before. I am very excited to be able to have nuts in my yard from a medium sized bush.

The american hazelnut grows 6-8 feet high and about 6-8 feet wide. It is hardy to –30F and good for USDA zones 4-9 which fits my zone 4 perfectly.

I dug quite a large hole about twice the size of the pot and then filled it with finished compost. I did not replace the soil I took out and filled it with finished compost. The soil in my front yard isn’t the greatest. I am hoping the compost will give the plant a good start. I also put a generous amount around the plant on the surface.

Next, I covered everything with two layers of cardboard to sheet mulch along with a heavy layer of wood chips. The cardboard will break down over time and add organic matter to the soil. Both will do an excellent job holding moisture and suppressing weeds.

A good long slow watering later. The hazelnut is planted and hopefully happy. A week later and it is leafing out nicely. I am looking forward to watching it grow and of course eating some nuts!

Planting a Serviceberry

Like the Jostaberry in my last post, I learned about the Serviceberry in my permaculture class. I bought the Regent Saskatoon Serviceberry aka Amelanchier alnifolia ‘Regent’ from EggPlant.

The Serviceberry is also very hardy and good in USDA zones 2-7 and good down to –50F. It should have no trouble with Minnesota winters.

I started by digging a large hole twice as big as the pot and filling it with finished compost. The soil in this part of the yard is very poor and compacted. I am hoping the finished compost will give the bush a good start.

Filled it in with more finished compost and again around the plant to even the ground out.

I sheet mulched with cardboard and a heavy layer of wood chip mulch. The mulch should do a nice job suppressing weeds and holding in the moisture. The cardboard will break down over time adding more organic matter to the soil. I finished up by giving it a long, deep drink of water.

The Serviceberry bloomed the week after I planted it, so I hope that means it is happy in my yard.

Planting a Jostaberry

I’ve been wanting a Jostaberry aka Ribes x culverwelii since I heard about them in my permaculture class. I am a huge fan of edible perennials! When I saw it this spring at the local plant store, I couldn’t really resist.

Jostaberry is a hardy plant good in USDA zones 3-8 and down to –40F! It should handle Minnesota winters without trouble. This particular plant will get about 4-6 feet tall and about 4 foot around. If I am lucky, it should fruit next year.

The first step was to dig a big hole twice as large as the pot in a sunny spot. I then filled it with some finished compost. I put the plant in and then filled in the rest of the gaps with finished compost. I did not return the original soil since it is of pretty poor quality.

I pushed down with my boot around the edges to make sure it was level and the air gaps were taken up.

Next, I started to sheet mulch with some cardboard. This will help suppress the weeds and grass around the plant.

I covered the cardboard with a thick layer of woodchip mulch.

A heavy, slow watering and the Jostaberry is ready for life in my front yard.

 

Do you have any experience with Jostaberry? Leave me a comment below.

Spring Flowers–The Edibles are Blooming!

I was excited to come home from work today and find a multitude of plants blooming that weren’t doing so yesterday. Spring is such a fun time because the plants are changing and growing so much! It is a joy to find new things emerging or blooming each day.

Yea, ok, the above photo isn’t an edible perennial; it is the part of the bulb gardens I planted late last fall with a friend. The crocus already bloomed, and now we appear to be in hyacinth season. They are quite pretty. I love the strong purple color. I also planted some white ones, but those haven’t come up yet. On to the edibles!

Truly the most exciting thing tonight was to see my northstar cherry tree blooming! I hope the bees do their thing and pollinate it. My new honeybees won’t be here for another week or two.

The pear tree next to the cherry also started blooming today which is amazing since it has almost no leaves. It only had a few blossoms where the cherry has at least a hundred. 

The next surprise is the jostaberry peeking out a few little flowers. Exciting!

The new black currant I planted is also starting to bloom.

The chokeberries have flower buds, but no flowers yet. Soon.

The little sand cherries also have a couple buds.

The serviceberry I planted last weekend is also blooming. It’s not quite a full bloom, it is quite pretty covered in white buds.

While not an edible, this siberian bugloss is blooming with the pretty little blue flowers.

I have dozens of tulips, but only this one is blooming so far. It great to look at during the day when it opens up all the way.

Ok, so this isn’t a flower, and it’s kinda blurry, but it’s one of the new sunchokes I planted not even two weeks ago! The honeyberries are also still blooming. I’m having a lot of fun each day wandering around the yard looking at all the changes.

What’s blooming in your yard?

Planting Sunchokes aka Jerusalem Artichokes

I recently purchased some Sunchokes also known as Jerusalem Artichokes. I first had them a few years ago when I was a CSA member. They came in early spring along with some parsnips. The recipe suggested making a hash out of them. I really enjoyed eating them. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to plant some myself. Well, that is all changing this year.

I was inspired after watching a gardening video over the winter of a guy in Chicago showing how he grew them. His got almost 13 feet high! He harvested dozens and dozens of sunchokes. They grow as a perennial with an edible tuber similar to a potato. I love growing perennials, so I bought some.

I have a sunny spot picked out and a fresh new bed full of finish compost for them to grow in. I ordered three pounds and ended up with four plants shown below. I was expecting tubers, so I’m a tad confused. A couple of them rotted while waiting in a paper bag in the garage. I hope these are viable.

To give them the best spot possible, I planted them in the sunniest spot of the bed along with a handful of finished worm castings (below). I left a couple worms and their cocoons in the castings, so they could help populate the new bed.

There wasn’t planting instructions with these like I have seen for the tubers. I just put what appeared to be the root side down and covered them with some dirt after putting them in the hole with the worm castings. I hope they will start to grow soon.

The finished compost should make it easy for the plants to grow tubers and make harvesting easy since the soil is so loose. Once they start growing, I plan to mulch them with some wood chips. Wish me luck for a good harvest!

Do you have any experience with Jerusalem Artichokes?

Walking Onions Sets to Plant

I just received my order of perennial onions (Allium cepa proliferum) to plant. The “seeds” are actually called sets and are tiny little onions that grow above ground on the end of the stalk. A bulb keeps them going through the winter. They are also known as “Tree Onions” and “Egyptian Walking Onions” because of how they grown and reproduce. The entire plant is edible from the bulb, to the stalk, and including the sets on top. The stalks grow up two to three feet tall and fall over in autumn putting the sets in contact with the ground. New plants sprout up in the spring as the plant “walks” across the garden.

Fall is a good time to plant bulbs, so I need to get these little guys in the ground. They are quite small with the largest at just over 1/4” in diameter. I’m going to plant several patches to give them a better chance to get going. Wish me luck!