Trees for my garden

[DumbStick 13]

I'm getting slightly ahead of myself here as our concrete foundation isn't ready to build on yet but, no time like the present!

 

Trees! I like them, but I know next to nothing about them and certainly have never looked after them!

 

I'll have a nice garden space to work with in the future, and thinking that I'd like to get a few trees going there. Snowy area in winter.

 

Any top tips on good trees? I love the ones with dark purple leaves. if I can remember the name.

 

Sakura is nice, but peak time is so short, I would prefer something that is pretty for a much longer period.

 

Thanks!

 

[Chriselle 158]

Growing up we had apple, pear, cherry and peach trees in the yard....it's a big back yard. All are nice trees to look at and the bounty was plentiful most years. In Japan I have enough space for my habanero and jalapenos but that's about it... Given the choice I'd always go with a variety that produces fruit.

[sanjo 2]

If you plant a banana tree, you might get some local monkeys gathering.

That would be very cool.

[NoFakie 45]

With trees it depends what you want. Screening for privacy, shade-how big and how open, blossom, tree shape, autumn colour, fruit or nuts, attracting tweety birds, leaf shape and colour, bark colour, speed of growth, ability to suck up groundwater and dry your garden out (that one just for British readers!), all sorts of stuff. GN will probably know a few more.

 

The common purple one in British parks and gardens is the purple beech. The odd dealer sells them in Japan but they are pricey. The purple-leaved tree I see most often in Nagano is a Nomura kaede, a cultivated type of Japanese maple. They are more crimson than the beech which is kind of purple-black. I think there is some kind of purple leaved birch too, but you'll probably have to pay for the novelty.

[DumbStick 13]

Screening for privacy, shade-how big and how open, blossom, tree shape, autumn colour, fruit or nuts, attracting tweety birds, leaf shape and colour, bark colour, speed of growth, ability to suck up groundwater and dry your garden out (that one just for British readers!), all sorts of stuff.

 

Lots to think of there!

 

Privacy isn't such an issue.

Shade is a good one. Also pretty and attracting tweety birds (but ones that don't poo!)

 

Hmmm. Good job I have lots of time hey!

[Thundercat 60]

I'm pretty partial to Biwa trees. I love the look of them and of course they produce a rather delicious fruit. They also grow quite quickly!

[JA2340 16]

... pretty and attracting tweety birds (but ones that don't poo!)

Good luck with that!!!

 

Seriously, for a bit, I'd be looking to get a couple of productive trees - you know, the ones which produce edible fruits that can be frozen and/or preserved so you can use them after the season is over.

We do that with our Apricots and Mulberries (if/when the birdies leave some for us, that is!).

[NoFakie 45]

Some fruit trees need much more maintenance than others to produce edible fruit, so it's worth asking someone who knows what's good for your area.

 

I've had more joy growing berries than bigger fruit so far.

[big-will 7]

What do you do re: birds eating them, other than politely asking....?

[NoFakie 45]

Local blueberry growers use nets but I've not had to so far. Maybe its easier for birds to spot a whole field of them than just a few plants.

 

The blossom and the autumn colour of blueberries are both pretty. You get white flowers, then the fruit, and then deep crimson leaves. If you want a more tree-like plant, the same blossom, fruit, autumn leaves thing applies to amelanchier (Japanese "juneberry"). You can grow it single trunk, but it tends to throw up lots of stems like a bush.

[Chriselle 158]

What do you do re: birds eating them, other than politely asking....?

[Chriselle 158]

Local blueberry growers use nets but I've not had to so far. Maybe its easier for birds to spot a whole field of them than just a few plants.

 

The blossom and the autumn colour of blueberries are both pretty. You get white flowers, then the fruit, and then deep crimson leaves. If you want a more tree-like plant, the same blossom, fruit, autumn leaves thing applies to amelanchier (Japanese "juneberry"). You can grow it single trunk, but it tends to throw up lots of stems like a bush.

What kind of yield do you get for blueberries? I love frozen blueberries.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

What do you do re: birds eating them, other than politely asking....?

 

 

Hey, if they are buxom beauties with a nice figure, skimpy clothes and they ask politely.....I would be happy to allow loads of birds to eat from my trees

[DumbStick 13]

Oh that's naughty Chriselle, I would never harm any lovely little birdies.

 

Blueberries sounds good.

 

Something else to spend time researching.

[Chriselle 158]

[snowdude 44]

Well last year I bought 3 blackberry bushes 3 rasbery bushes 2 blueberry bushes and planted them in the corner of one of my fields to see how well they would grow.

 

Blueberry bushes hardly any fruit.

Raspberry bushes hardly anything.

Blackberry bushes averaging 1.5-2.5kg of fruit per week.

Thing is space is needed as they grow like crazy all over the place but they need sod all attention.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I used to like eating the wild raspberries and blackberries that seemed to grow everywhere around the outskirts of my hometown. Whilst on an Outdoor ed trip with a group of kids from the high school I worked at, me and the Outdoor Ed instructor found some razzers and blackberries and starting picking and eating them.....the look on the kids faces were priceless........."what, you're just gonna eat that right off the bush?!" "Can you do that?!"

 

Its amazing that kids don't know where some of their food comes from.....that said, these type of kids, they probably only thought raspberry and blackberries were flavours of sweets!!

 

We used to have great fun teasing them about stuff like that, things like when we were going Gorge walking in May (water is very cold, still a lot of the snowmelt), we told them we phoned the farmer upstream and got him to turn the hot water tap on so's the river wouldn't be so cold.......in they jumped with happy, innocent faces!!

[JA2340 16]

Oh that's naughty Chriselle, I would never harm any lovely little birdies.

 

Blueberries sounds good.

 

Something else to spend time researching.

Chris can come over here, bring the weaponry and do his damndest to rid me of Indian Mynahs and Starlings anytime he wants! I'll even find him a bed and feed him if he wants!

[NoFakie 45]

With us, maybe three or four years now. I tie them up and try to protect them in winter, but they do get smashed about. I think it would be much easier to grow fruit without snow. Blueberries aside, most locals don't bother. I only do it out of curiosity, and am increasingly losing enthusiasm.

 

Raspberries: very little off standard upright canes. The dwarf variety has proved to be invasive (but still not very productive) and has thorns so is a pain to remove.

Blackberries: Only two plants which died within a year. Our neighbours have very productive ones though under the eaves of their house that get no attention at all. Most blackberries I've seen on sale in Japan have been vines, not bushes. I'm giving up on raspberries but think I'll have another go at blackberries sometime.

Blueberries: Increasing year by year, still not so many though. Given the relative prices of fresh vs. frozen, I try to eat them all fresh. Attractive plants though.

My biggest problem with them is that the two biggest blueberry plants I have seem to be an identical variety and won't cross pollinate with each other or the other smaller blueberry plants I have. I got a lot of fruit off them the first year (pollinated at the growers' place?) but nothing since.

Juneberries: Increasing year by year, small fruit so a pain in the arse to pick. All round good garden tree.

Strawberries: Loads in years where I've looked after them. Not much when the weeds have taken over. Weeds grow way faster in Japan than in colder/dryer countries.

Gooseberries: Maybe three berries total so far off just the one bush

Redcurrants: Increasing every year, I seem to get more off the plant that was sold as a "redcurrant" rather than the Japanese version (suguri)

Blackcurrants: Only two bushes, but two big bowl fulls of berries. A bit sour to eat as is.

Nanking cherry: Dunno much about it but the bush is now massive and was covered in blossom this year. I bought it because I saw it in the shop and remembered that permaculture types go on about it. Yuzura ume in Japanese.

 

Anyway, anyone who says you just have to plant a few things and you'll automatically get a massive harvest is talking out of their arse.

Self-sufficiency/back to the land/permaculture books in particular are guilty of this.

[JA2340 16]

With us, maybe three or four years now. I tie them up and try to protect them in winter, but they do get smashed about. I think it would be much easier to grow fruit without snow. Blueberries aside, most locals don't bother. I only do it out of curiosity, and am increasingly losing enthusiasm.

You talking about blueberries, or maybe birds? not able to determine from a quick reading.

[NoFakie 45]

Its a reply to snowdude about my experience trying to grow different soft fruit compared to his. I've been doing it longer, but not with much more success.

I wouldn't stop anyone else trying, but in this area I wouldn't recommend people go out of their way or spend what may be a limited garden budget on fruit bushes.

If you want something to eat, veggies will give you a far bigger yield.

[KlingKlang 1]

Gooseberries: Maybe three berries total so far off just the one bush

Love those. Hopefully you'll get more. What are they in Japanese?