Make this the year you take advantage of planting blueberries, grapes, strawberries, peaches, cherries and apples from bare-root stock. These crops are considered the most pesticide-laden when grown conventionally, but they’re a snap to grow organically at home.
Because of all the rain that fell in December, the growers are late getting into their fields to dig up the 2 million bare-root plants they’ll harvest and deliver to your local nursery. The Santa Cruz Mountains stay cooler for a longer period in the winter, allowing dormant trees, shrubs and vines to be available to the home gardener in bare-root form throughout February, too.
The early bird gets the worm as far as best selection goes, so today, take a look around your property and decide which yummy fruits and berries you’ll be adding to your garden.
I love blueberries. They are low in calories and so-good-for-you. They contain the highest concentration of antioxidants of all fresh fruit. They have lots of vitamins and help boost your immune system. The list of benefits goes on and on. On top of all that, they make beautiful hedges with stunning fall color.
One variety I’m dying to try is a hybrid from Australia called Brigitta. This northern highbush variety is sweet yet slightly tart. The grower says they possess an amazing shelf life. They’ve stored this blueberry for over a month in the refrigerator, and they were still crisp with a great taste. The berry is medium to large and ripens late in the season. The bush is a fast grower to 4 to 6 feet, with deep green foliage and bronze-tinted new growth. It is semi-self fertile, but it produces more berries when it’s planted alongside Bluecrop. Try planting them each in their own wine barrel where you can control the soil, watering and sun exposure.
You know the saying: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” There are lots of apple varieties to choose from. Honeycrisp is a large, scarlet-over-yellow apple with a well-balanced sweet-tart flavor. The texture is similar to a crisp watermelon or Asian pear and is very juicy. Fruits ripen in late September.
Another crisp apple to grow is the Braeburn. The skin is green, overlaid with orange-red, while the flesh is firm, crisp and juicy. It is mildly sweet-tart with an excellent flavor, is a heavy producer and stores well. It ripens in October to early November.
Do you love biting into a juicy peach in the summertime? Try growing Santa Barbara, which considered the best-tasting peach for home growers. The flesh is yellow, freestone and red near the pit. It has a melting texture that’s delightfully sweet, combined with the delicious peach flavor. Peaches are self-fertile. This variety requires only 300 hours of chill below 45 degrees, so is good for warmer winter areas, as well as the mountains.
Say your favorite fruit is cherries, but you don’t have much room for a big tree. The compact Stella cherry is the tree for you. The fruit is firm, sweet and dark red, with good flavor and texture. It’s excellent for eating, canning and preserves, and it’s self-fertile and a good pollinizer for all sweet cherries.
There are other edibles available now, too, like figs, pomegranates, persimmons, apricots, pears, plums, asparagus crowns, artichokes, strawberries, grapes and blackberries. They all sound delicious.
Jan Nelson, a landscape designer and California certified nursery professional at Plant Works in Ben Lomond, will answer questions about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Contact her at ja******@ao*.com or JanNelsonLandscapeDesign.com.
