Shrubs: Edible fences make well-fed neighbours

If Fort Knox isnt what you need for a garden fence, consider something edible, instead of the usual cedars, boxwood, privet, or forsythia.

A dense planting of fruit- or nut-bearing shrubs or small trees is a beautiful, ecofriendly choice, offering privacy, providing the bees with nectar, and the birds and you, if youre quick enough with delicious produce.

Europeans have been planting rows of edibles for centuries, says Mary Ann Van Berlo, a certified master gardener in Ottawa. Unlike most North American homeowners, Europeans dont share our addiction to interlocking brick, pressure-treated lumber fences and green lawns. In England, homeowners often plant gooseberries and currants to delineate property lines, and Van Berlo is starting to see a shift toward this with younger Canadian homeowners. Theyre very interested in backyard food production, she says. They want to know what theyre eating, and if they grow it themselves, they know.

Klaus Tiessen, of Glen Echo Nursery in Caledon, Ont., has been in the plant and landscape business for more than 50 years, and has seen an uptick in fruit-tree sales, especially cherries, for the blossoms and the fruit. A trend that has come from Europe, just last year, is the $10 fruit tree; the price lets people put in fruit hedges, he says.

According to Tiessen, his supplier, Winkelmolen Nursery of Linden, Ont., is barely keeping up with the demand for 60-centimetre, $10 apple, cherry, plum, pear trees.

Its a trend that started in Germany and Holland they sold 20,000 little fruit trees last year and is going to be big here, very soon, he predicts.

But before you start digging, consider these factors:

Patience: It takes three to five years for most fruit-bearing shrubs, vines, and trees to establish, fill out, and bear fruit. Asparagus takes five years; nut trees need seven to 10 years.

Purpose: What is its function? Are you visually delineating an area, creating privacy or a windbreak? To discourage trespassing, go for prickly varieties: blackberries, raspberries, stinging nettles. For something more open, a border of asparagus is delicate and soft. To create a wind barrier, think of a row of tall shrubs, such as serviceberry, Nanking cherry or hazelnut.

Plant for the right conditions: For a shady spot, think fiddleheads (ostrich ferns). Sunflowers and sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) are good choices for sunny, dry areas theyre tough, drought-tolerant, can grow upward of three metres and with time, as the plants spread and mature, youll be able to harvest more, while still maintaining a lush screen.

View original post here:
Shrubs: Edible fences make well-fed neighbours