Year round fruit from a small space garden

Tigger melon

Sunday, November 21, 2021

I was recently asked if you can get fruit in a small space garden.  You can and if you are up for freezing, water bath canning and/or drying, you can have fruit from your garden year round.  I will share just a few options that I employ in our small space garden.  There are an infinite number of other options out there.

Spring

For spring,  strawberries and kumquats are ready for eating fresh.  Early cherry trees can bear fruit as early as June.

I have kumquats from a small tree I grow in a pot and early strawberries.  In the Midwest, we do have to bring most citrus indoors each winter to an unheated garage or inside the house.  Both have worked for me.  Kumquats fruit basically year round.  They are not a real sweet fruit.  It is their rind that is sweet and the pulp that is tart.  You eat the entire small fruit.  A great way to get your daily vitamin C!

I am growing 2 more citrus varieties that are hardy to my zone, a lemon and grapefruit tasting types.  They are still small so I am not sure how their fruits will taste and how hardy they will prove to be in the garden.  I have them in pots right now that I will overwinter again indoors.  Next year, I will transplant into the garden.  Since they are citrus, I will plant close to a wall with southern exposure.  This is the warmest spot in the garden.

You can grow many different varieties of strawberries to extend the harvest from late spring through fall.  They are perennials and hardy in the Midwest.  I plant them in between where I will have summer veggies and close to the front of my flower/edible garden bed.  

Strawberries ripening

 Summer

Summer and fall are prime fruit season.  You have many options for small space gardens.  Strawberries will continue to produce.  Raspberries, blueberries and blackberries will all fruit during the summer.  Like strawberries, different varieties can fruit at different times over the summer.  You can plant early, mid and late fruiting varieties to extend the season.  

Melons are typically ready starting in July and continue through until the first frost.  Try smaller fruits like Tigger Melon if you want something for a couple of people for each fruit.  If you are planting to train the vine up a trellis, look for shorter vine lengths or pinch it off when it reaches the top of your trellis.  You can also let them ramble between taller plants as well.  They do a great job of shading out weeds!

I just planted blackberry bushes this year so mine should start fruiting next year.  There are thorny and thornless varieties.  I am trying both.  I do go pick wild blackberries each summer as well.  

I had planted an everbearing raspberry last year.  It fruited from late spring all the way through fall.  Here in Kentucky, we have a new pest fruit fly that they are encouraging us to plant varieties that fruit early in the season. It is the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzuki.  It is only 1/10" long and has red eyes.  If you have late fruiting plants, harvesting frequently will keep them in check.  I like to take a walk around my garden every day.  It is relaxing and fun to see how things are growing, seeing any issues arising, and, best of all, pick what we are going to eat for dinner!

The berries are easy to freeze.  I just put any I don't eat into a quart freezer bag.  When full, I move to our deep freeze.  Be sure to label with the variety and date.

Berries can also be dried or canned.  Here is a blog on drying veggies.  Same procedure applies to drying fruits.  Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies

If you are one that likes to add sugar to your fruits, you can employ water bath canning to preserve the extras, too.  Be sure to follow the recipe exactly.  The pH has to be acidic enough to insure your canned goods stay safe to eat.  If you are concerned about BPA used in canning lids, here is a blog on other options in canning jars  Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty  

For me, my go-to method is freezing and drying.  The advantage of both canning and drying is you don't have to use up valuable freezer space if you don't have a deep freeze.

Fall

Summer and fall are prime fruit season  Fall fruits include late or everbearing raspberries, kumquats, figs, apples and pears.  

Depending on the variety, pears and apple season is from August to as late as November in our area.  The great thing about apples as there are many varieties that store for months in a cool spot over the winter that will keep you in fruit until spring.  Some apple varieties stored just in the basement can last over a year.  Each apple should be wrapped in newspaper and stored in a cardboard box.  Good storage apples include Arkansas Black, Newton Pippin, and Winesap.  There are many more.  Stark Brothers is a reputable nursery to mail order fruit and nut trees from.  

I am going to plant Arkansas Black because it has very good disease tolerance in our area.  I am going to prune it so it stays small and easy to pick.  How to prune fruit trees for small spaces   You can use this method for any fruit tree.

If you are a big apple lover, you can plant a few different types of trees to be able to eat fresh apples for months.  Also choosing ones that store well can keep you in apples until harvest begins again next summer.

Pears are a little different than most other fruit trees.  They do not ripen until after they are picked.  You tell if they are ready by lifting the fruit sideways and if the stem easily comes off the tree, they are ready to be picked.  I have a neighbor that has a few pear trees.  He is happy to bring me many 5 gallon buckets of fruits.  I wait until they ripen (they will have some give when pressed and a sweet aroma when ripe), slice them in have, cut out the core, sprinkle with cinnamon, and bake on a cookie sheet.  I'll then set them in the freezer until frozen and put into gallon freezer bags.  This way you can pull out individual half pears to eat whenever you want.

Baking brings out the sweetness in the pear.  I simply heat up and top with whipped cream for dessert or use frozen with milk in a blender to make a quick cinnamon pear shake.  What can be easier?

You can also slice and dry your pears and apples or can them.  If canning, follow the recipe exactly.  I like drying; they make good snacks as is or are easy to plump back up in water to use in recipes.

The last fruit that ripens in my garden are Chicago figs.  This year, my fig tree begin ripening in October and continue all the way through until a hard freeze.  I dry my extra figs.  It concentrates the sugars and makes a great snack all winter long.  You can also make fig preserves.  Be sure to follow the recipe exactly; pH is critical for safe and tasty results.

Ripe Chicago figs

Pawpaw and persimmon trees are another fall fruit tree.  Pawpaw typically bear starting in August into October while persimmon ripens starting in September and go into October.  They are both native fruit tree and can be found growing in the woods.  Pawpaw have a banana mango taste.  Persimmon have a sweet honey like flavor.  Drying is a good option for preserving the extras.

Winter

Fruits eaten in the winter are either those that you have stored, preserved or tropicals you grow indoors.  You can get storage apple varieties that will last a year or more in a cool area of your home.  The dried, canned and frozen fruits you preserved will be at your fingertips until spring arrives and strawberries begin again.

If you want fresh fruits, there are miniature indoor tropical fruits that will bear during the winter months like kumquats, mandarins, grapefruit and oranges.  They do require lots of direct sunlight to fruit indoors or a helping grow light.

What to plant in the November edible garden

Portable row cover 

Sunday, November 7, 2021

You can still plant for the edible garden in November.  Plant seeds of cold loving crops and they will get a head start in spring.  Cover can be used for all the harvestable edibles to extend the harvest all the way through to spring.  

What is a four season garden?
You can garden year round in small space
Planning for a four season garden

This month you can sow more greens, carrots, beets and herbs in the greenhouse.  You can also transplant perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Don't forget garlic if you haven't already planted yours, you still have time!   Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Here are the crops you can start in the November Midwest edible garden:

November seeds outdoors
Austrian winter peas

Fava beans

Garlic

Rutabaga

Lettuce-winter hardy varieties

Snow peas

Spring bulbs

November seeds under cover

Arugula

Broccoli and Sprouting Broccoli

Celery
Corn salad

Endive
Escarole

Frisee

Lettuce, Winter Hardy types

Mustard and Mustard Greens

Parsley and Parsley Root

Radicchio

Rutabaga

Scallions

Sorrel
Spinach

Swiss Chard

November transplants
Asparagus

Cabbage, Oxheart

Winter and Perennial Onions

Trees and bushes

Transplants for winter and overwintering

Portable greenhouse

Look for cold hardy varieties when planting for winter harvests.  You will be surprised to harvest all through the winter months things like greens, onions, Austrian peas, carrots, and cabbage.  You can also extend the harvest by looking for the same crop with different days to harvest timing so that they mature at different times and those that are advertised as winter hardy.  

 Fall planted crops take longer to come to harvest than they do in the spring.  Rule of thumb is to add 2 weeks.  It's because the days are getting shorter rather than longer and the temperatures are falling.  Planting in November, it may actually be spring before they sprout.  

Covering plants when there is a cold snap in the fall will keep them warmer and growing quicker.  I cover my edibles with the portable greenhouse or row coverings once daily highs are no longer getting into the 50's and night time temperatures are dipping down into the 20's.  You can use cover to extend the harvest all the way to next spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants  Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter

November 2021 Edible Garden Planner

Late November edible garden

Monday, November 1, 2021

November is a beautiful time of year as Mother Nature is getting prepared for the cold, wintry days ahead.  Late fall chores should include cleaning up your garden beds, reflecting on the gardening season completed, and preparing for the first freeze.

Garden bed clean up

To prepare your garden for its winter nap, remove gardening debris from your beds.  For any diseased vegetation, be sure to throw these away and not compost.  You don't want to propagate and spread any diseases to other parts of the garden.  A really hot compost pile will kill them but it isn't worth the risk going into winter.  I keep the seed heads on the flowers in the garden for food for the birds over the winter. 

This is a good time to decide if you would like to make your own compost.  Compost is referred to by gardeners as “black gold.”  It provides nutrients, beneficial microbes, fertilizer and overall improves your soil’s condition.  Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors  Outdoor compost piles go slowly in the fall and winter, but speed up as temps rise in the spring.

I have used an electric composter called NatureMill that we kept in the garage by the door.  It was easy to keep an odor free bucket made just for this purpose in the kitchen to collect fruit and vegetable scraps and empty weekly into the composter.  The small indoor buckets are called compost keepers or bins and come in a variety of decorative styles.  

You need greens and browns to keep the compost odor free and "cooking".  Wood pellets, chopped up leaves, or shredded paper work well as "browns" with the "greens" of kitchen scraps.  You get finished compost in a couple of weeks with an electric composter.  An outdoor tumbler takes a few weeks in warm weather.  I emptied one side of my outdoor bin to have plenty of room over the winter for kitchen scraps.  You can store the compost you are making in a trash bag to use when preparing your spring beds and to revitalize potting soils.  Re-energize your potting soil!  It is great for flowers and vegetables.

I have been using an outdoor, tumbler type composter for the last few years.  I first had an insulated, metal one by Jora.  It ended up rusting.  I now use a plastic tumbler.  I bought a grill cover to put over it to keep the compost from getting drenched with each rain.  You could also keep under an eave.  It works year round but much better in the summer.  It is critical to keep the greens and browns in the right ratio to keep the compost cooking in the winter.   Here are some tips if your composter/compost pile starts having issues  Troubleshooting your compost pile

After your garden clean up, look to give your garden a nutritional boost for the winter months.  Doing a nice layer of compost and organic fertilizer, topped with mulch, will allow the nutrients to seep into the garden soil, ready to give your spring plants a boost.  The mulch will keep the soil more temperate during the winter months for your winter edibles and keep weed seeds from sprouting.  Organic fertilizers take a long time to release their nutrients.  Using in the fall will give the spring garden a running start.  It is best to get a soil test done to make sure you are keeping the nutrients in the right balance.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

Reflection on the past garden season

While the past gardening season is still fresh in your mind, now is a great time to jot down some notes on what went well, what didn’t, and what you would like to research over the winter.  Make a list of the varieties that did great that you want to replant, which plants you want to be sure to have more, or less, of next year.  Also make note of how many plants make sense to plant for next year.  Here are my reflections this fall for the edible garden.   Reflecting back on the 2020 edible garden; planning for 2021

Keep track of what you eat over the winter to give you a good idea of what and how much to plant come spring.  How much to plant?  Use this winter to figure out what to grow in the spring!

Even if you have a small area, you can grow most of what you eat.  How to decide what to plant for small spaces?

Fall is a fabulous time to make new garden beds.  It is super easy, too.  Just use a hose to outline your new bed, fertilize, put down a layer of cardboard (earthworms love cardboard!), a layer of compost, and cover with mulch.  By spring, the new garden bed will be ready for planting.  Easy ways to make a new vegetable garden bed

Gardening after the first frost

For northern Kentucky, the average first frost date is mid-October.  We have not had a frost or freeze yet, but they are calling for our first frost this week.  It is below normal highs for this time of year.  When the lows start getting 28 degrees F or below, this is a killing frost for the summer veggies.  Be sure to harvest the remaining tomatoes, peppers, and squash before the first hard freeze.

Green tomatoes and peppers can be brought indoors to ripen.  Green peppers are great as they are.  You can let tomatoes turn red or eat as green tomatoes.  I remember my grandmother making fried green tomatoes every fall.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!  Many make them into relish, too.

There are many edible crops that can still be planted in November.  You really can eat fresh out of the garden year round even if you live in Zone 3.  Greens, herbs, onions, broccoli, fruit bushes and trees and perennial flowers are a few of the crops that can be planted this month.  For more on planting in November,  What to plant in the November edible garden  

You can cover your veggies with a portable green house or row cover to extend the season for many cool season crops.  For cold climates, using cover is the key.  Frost forecasted? Here’s your to-do list  With a portable green house, we have kept lettuce, kale, mustard greens, sorrel, and celery all the way through winter.  You can garden year round in small space

I still need to transplant my September lettuce starts into the portable greenhouse pots.  Having cover will help them grow and protect them through the winter.  It is late to start seed but will give a boost for spring harvests.  I will move my pots of greens under the portable greenhouse.  I'll use gallon jugs of water inside the portable greenhouse to keep the temperature more moderate.

If you are using pots, putting the pots on the south side, in a sunny local and close to the house will keep them from getting frost bit into November or even December for cold season crops.  It seems to extend the season for 2-4 weeks.  Prepare for hard freeze

You can also cut a piece off your herbs, put them in a pot, and bring indoors on a sunny window to have fresh herbs readily available.  Basil is an easy one to restart indoors.  Chives, thyme, rosemary, savory, tarragon, salad burnet, and oregano can also be harvested into December from the outdoor garden.  Growing herbs indoors for winter

Surprisingly, we found that peppers and some eggplants are great candidates from bringing in for the winter.  Our Jalapenos and Cayennes continued to fruit for weeks indoors and when put back out in the spring, we had peppers a month earlier than when using new plants.  Tomatoes are also contenders for overwintering indoors.  All are tender perennials and need direct sun to do well indoors.  I bring in only the ones that did really well that I want to get a head start on next season and not all do well.  To give them the best chance, make sure they get full sun.

Be sure to use insecticidal soap on any plants you intend to bring indoors a couple weeks prior so you don’t bring in unintended guests.  Just remember that insecticides kill the good bugs like bees as well as the bad bugs so be careful when you spray.  Natural, organic pest strategies and how to make your own bug sprays

I keep my plants out as long as possible to minimize their stay indoors.  There is nothing like sunshine and fresh air for a plant.  For the last 3 winters, I overwintered all my tropicals and edibles in the unheated garage with a hanging fluorescent light fixture with daylight bulbs.  They all did well except for the eggplants.  Eggplants are spotty, but worth the try if you had a great one.  Be sure to save seed so you can keep the plants going that do well in your garden and are disease free. Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver    You can save seeds even from heirlooms you buy in the store to try in your garden.  I have a few that have become standbys in our garden that came from the grocery store and farmers market.

Late November potted lettuce

For the herbs you cut back earlier in the season to dry, November is a great time to now strip the stems of the harvested leaves, dry and put into jars for winter cooking.  You can make your own “Herbes De Provence”.  Thyme, oregano, rosemary, savory, basil, tarragon and lavender are common herbs used in this famous French seasoning.  I mix them up in about equal amounts and store in a sealed Mason jar.  It is great to add to just about anything-sauces, chicken, fish, potatoes, garlic bread.  Makes wonderful Christmas presents, too.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence".

For those that keep on going into the winter, I would prune back the plants by about two thirds and strip the leaves from the cut stems.  Do so when there are warm temps forecasted for a few days to allow the plants cut ends to heal.  Otherwise a cold snap can kill the plant.

Use your herbs for your Thanksgiving meal Use your own herbs for your Thanksgiving dinner  More than likely you will have some edibles still growing in the garden.  Take a look and plan your meal around them.  Some winter hardy edibles include kale, broccoli, cabbage, chives, sage, thyme, corn salad, sorrel, cultivated dandelions, plantain greens, celery, mustards, even some hardy lettuces.