Plants That Produce
Another New
Year
By Richard Frost
Welcome to 2010, another
year of growing possibilities! I hope the previous year was a good one and all
of your new year’s resolutions come true. And if it wasn’t on your list, be
sure to add a resolution to attend the local horticultural society meetings
here in San Diego. If you’ve never attended, please go to www.sdhortsoc.org right now to learn more about it. You’ll be glad
you did.
I never seem to run out
of room in my garden. Last year I deleted a section of lawn in my backyard so
that the vegetables and herbs that my wife adores could be closer to the house.
Well of course that made more room in the orchard. My friend across the street
has pointed out that if I want a lot more space, I could just lease land from
the neighbors but that’s another story. For the current extra space, I’ve made
a New Years’ resolution to … plant more fruiting plants!
In the fig department,
the Violette de Bordeaux is considered the holy grail of dark, fruity figs. I’m
going to plant one of those in the ground, and a Rouge de Bordeaux adjacent to
it in a 25-gallon pot. These additions will make a more-or-less complete set of
fig flavors in permanent residence.
Two years ago I began
collecting pomegranate varieties with strident flavor characteristics. In
addition to the Eversweet, Golden Globe, White Flower, and Arianna already in
the ground, I will plant Sirenevi and Myagkosemyanni Rosovyi. The spectrum of
flavors here is analogous to wines – from muscadine to cabernet.
Speaking of grapes, many
of you are aware of the Black Manukka seedless table grape. This is not well
liked by commercial growers in the California central valley because the fruit
clusters are loosely packed and have poor market appeal. However, this is a great
property to have in our local mildew-infested environment. While at the
Wolfskill variety collection last summer, I discovered there is also a Gold
Manukka seedless table grape! I have ordered some scion wood of this hybrid and
will graft over my existing red flame grapes with them late this spring.
In the pit fruit
department I am looking to add the black apricot “Black Alexander”, a very
sweet white apricot “Miramudi” from the temperate
foothills of Pakistan, an un-named white nectarine from the nearby region Garam
Chashma, and the Italian plum “Morettini”
– which is actually the Japanese Shiro x Santa Rosa.
If fireblight turns out to be too much of a problem
for these plants, then all the ornamental pear trees which host the disease in
the north county may mysteriously disappear this summer.
Finally there is the
matter of fruiting mulberries. I have a beautiful Che which has been faithfully
waiting in a 2-gallon pot for some months now and a Geraldi Dwarf scheduled to
arrive in March. These also will find homes in the orchard. Of course, that
still leaves room for a winding miniature golf course from top to bottom!
SDHS member Richard
Frost is a certified edible gardening nut. For copies of past articles and more
information, please see www.PlantsThatProduce.com.
Reprinted with permission from January 2010 "Let's Talk Plants," the newsletter of the San Diego Horticultural Society, www.sdhortsoc.org
© 2010 San Diego Horticultural Society