You know how a good book feels in your hand? The weight, the smoothness of the cover, the delicious, powerful words that live on the cool alabaster pages within? You can’t get the same feeling from the internet, but RJ Ruppenthal has been generous enough to share an excerpt from his book Fresh Food From Small Spaces. Tell us what you’re growing in a small space by commenting below, and be entered into a random drawing to win a copy of this smooth, cool and informative book for your very own grower’s library.

From the back of the book:

[RJ Ruppenthal 's] Fresh Food from Small Spaces is a practical, comprehensive, and downright fun guide to growing food in small spaces without relying on complicated and energy intensive systems like indoor lighting and hydroponics. Readers will learn how to transform their balconies and windowsills into productive vegetable gardens, their countertops into sprout and mushroom farms, and their patios into a haven for honeybees and chickens.

CHAPTER 6: GROWING FRUITS AND BERRIES IN YOUR SPARE SPACE

Container growing for small fruits and berries
Even if you have no ground to plant, you can grow small fruit trees and berries in containers. Some fruits and berries that naturally grow well in containers include figs, blueberries, and strawberries, but the fun does not end there. Dwarf fruit trees provide urban gardeners with a lot of options these days, including natural genetic dwarf varieties of cherries and nectarines, as well as apples and pears that are grafted onto dwarfing rootstock. In climates that will support citrus growing, a dwarf lemon, lime, or mandarin orange will provide plenty of vitamin C for your family in late fall and well into winter. Avocados and pineapple guava (feijoa) also can be grown in containers where climates support citrus.
Growing in containers also allows you to move your trees or bushes according to where they get the most light. I used to garden on a balcony, for example, that had summer light on the left side and winter light on the right side, so I would move some of my planters according to the season. To make this task easier and prevent a back injury, you could get a planter base with wheels. I have not used these, but have seen them sold at nurseries for only a few dollars. Placing your potted tree atop one of these bases will allow you to have an ambulatory container without needing an ambulance for yourself.

Container growing tips

Here are some thoughts about growing particular fruits and berries from containers. This is not a complete list, but it covers many common fruits and berries that can be grown in containers. Other types of fruits may be dwarfed or pruned to container-growing size as well, so if you don’t see your favorite fruit here, don’t despair. Do some research, find out what others have done, and experiment for yourself. You may learn something valuable to share with other aspiring urban gardeners and orchardists!

• Apples and pears: A mature dwarf tree can bear as much as 50 to 100 pounds of fruit per year.40 Apple cultivars of your choice can be grafted onto dwarfing rootstock such as M9, M27, or Bud-9, which keep the trees somewhere around 25 percent of their normal height at maturity.41 Humans have been grafting apples for thousands of years as a means of propagating these trees.42 For pears, which are closely related, look for any varieties that are grafted to dwarfing quince or OHxF rootstocks to keep the trees small.43 Numerous nurseries sell dwarfing apples and pears; if your nursery person does not know what a rootstock is, turn around and walk out the door. Some good mail-order sources include Bay Laurel Nursery in California, Vintage Virginia Apples in Virginia, Cummins Nursery in New York, Raintree Nursery in Washington, and Stark Brothers in Missouri. Finally, even dwarf apples and pears can grow 10 to 12 feet tall and nearly as wide, so if you have a truly small space and a container, consider one of the newer columnar apples. These are small, vertical trees, which can fit in a pot or very small ground space. Look for columnar varieties such as Scarlett Sentinel Columnar, Northpole Columnar, and Golden Sentinel Columnar. You may need two varieties for pollination.

• Blueberries: Many types of blueberries grow well in containers. A 20 inch pot is big enough for one full plant, but you’ll need to grow at least two different varieties for optimum fruit production. They like acid soil, so be sure to use plenty of peat and a little soil sulfur to lower the pH. Ed Laivo of Dave Wilson Nursery, one of the nation’s premier wholesale fruit tree growers, recommends a mix of 1/3 pathway bark, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 humus-based potting soil along with two tablespoons of soil sulfur, then a high-nitrogen fertilizer in the springtime.44

• Other berries: Strawberries grow well in containers of all sizes. You can grow them along with vegetables. If you intend to really pack in the plants, then deeper containers will give them enough soil space for their roots; shallow window boxes and so-called strawberry pots can really crowd the roots and hamper production (see Chapter 3, p. 27). Blackberries and raspberries grow on canes, and therefore need some vertical support from a trellis. These can be good fruit producers when grown from containers or in a neglected patch of ground. They require very little attention other than regular watering and pruning. One warning: When planted in the ground, cane berries can sucker and spread quickly, so keep an eye on them, and keep them where you want them. There are many other wonderful berries that can grow in containers, including currants, gooseberries, lingonberries, huckleberries, wintergreen, and cranberries. For an extensive selection of mail-order berry plants and fruiting shrubs that will open your mind to new possibilities, try Raintree Nursery in Washington, One Green World in Oregon, Nourse Farms in Massachusetts, Stark Brothers in Missouri, Sandusky Valley Nursery in Ohio, or Hartmann’s Plant Company in Michigan.

• Citrus: If you live in citrus country, your local nurseries should carry dwarf varieties of lemons, limes, oranges, mandarin oranges, grapefruit, kumquats, and more. Lemons, limes, and mandarins can handle slightly cooler summers than oranges and grapefruits. North of the citrus belt, you may want to experiment with indoor dwarf citrus that are grown near a sunny window; try Dwarf Improved Meyer Lemon or Dwarf Satsuma Mandarin Orange.

• Figs: Growing figs in containers provides all the advantages of having a larger fig tree, though the fruit yields will be substantially less. The larger the container, the more the tree can grow. A half whiskey barrel or wine barrel size is optimum, but even a 5-gallon bucket with good soil and drainage holes can grow a small tree and yield a few handfuls of fresh fruit. If you have space for several such containers on a balcony or patio, then you can get as many figs as someone with a larger tree. As the fig tree grows, make sure that the container does not tip over in the wind. Figs like heat, so placement on a south-facing wall, if you have one, is ideal. In early winter, prune the tree back enough so that you can wrap it with some protective burlap or cover it with straw, compost, or newspaper. (Don’t worry, it will grow back with a vengeance next season.) In cold winter areas, container trees may be moved indoors to protect them from the elements.

• Stone fruit: There are a few natural (genetic) dwarf varieties available, as well as more widely known cultivars that have been grafted onto dwarfing rootstock and sold as dwarf trees. Try them in containers or on small patches of ground. Burgess Seed and Plant Company sells a variety of these, including Dwarf North Star Cherry, Dwarf Red Haven Peach, Dwarf Nectarine, and Dwarf Damson and Stanley Plums. Stark Brothers sells a July Elberta Peach Dwarf, Dwarf Methley and Shiro Plums, and at least a dozen more varieties of dwarfing stone fruit cultivars. Gurney’s features a Carmine Jewel Dwarf Cherry and others.

• Warmer-climate choices: These include dwarf pomegranates and bananas. Guavas and papayas also make good container fruit plants. In tropical areas, there is a seemingly endless variety of exotics, many of which can be grown as small trees in containers. Check with your local nursery or the North American Fruit Explorers for more information.

Using neglected ground space
Before using all your available patio or balcony space for fruit trees (rather than vegetables or other uses), take stock of whether you have any available patch of ground in which to plant a tree or berry bush. A dusty patch of soil next to a sidewalk or in the corner of a patio may be a possible home for an apple, fig, plum, or blueberry. If you own the property or can get permission to do so, you may be able to remove a couple of pathway stones, a mailbox, or a flower planter to make room for fruit or berries. Many fruit trees and berry bushes do not need much horizontal space or care; some are drought-tolerant and do not require regular watering after they are established. Where horizontal space is at a premium, trees make the best use of vertical areas with their below-ground roots and above-ground fruiting branches.

Low light berries
A central problem for many of us who garden in the city is a lack of light. This is covered extensively in the vegetable chapters. I mention it again here only to note the problem that shade poses for growing fruit. In short, most fruit trees require nearly a full day of sunlight in order to set and ripen fruit. So what can you do if your only available growing space gets only a few hours of light per day? Here I have two pieces of advice: First, if you are gardening in the southern United States or anywhere with hot weather, then this small bit of sun might be enough, since some trees prefer partial shade in hot summers and can even get burned in full sun. So be courageous and try planting something there. Second, there are a few berries that are proven to be good shade producers, so you can try one of these even in partial shade conditions. In their natural environment, as lower-growing shrubs in woodland areas, many berry plants are used to partial shade. Blackberries, for example, can set nearly a full crop on a few hours of sunlight per day, and other, less common types of berries are solid shade producers as well.
Huckleberries, a wild predecessor of domesticated blueberries, grow throughout much of North America. You have probably come across wild berries while hiking at some point in your life, yet although you and I may not feel safe trying them in the wild, huckleberries and other wild berries have long been staples for Native American tribes, as well as forage for bears, birds, and other wildlife. On the West Coast, we have a several native varieties of huckleberry, including a variety called evergreen huckleberry, which grows well in the shade. It is one of the rare berries that actually grows better in the shade than in the sun, still produces delicious fruit, and is not particular about soil type. In other parts of the country, you may want to investigate whether you have native huckleberries that can grow in shady conditions.

Gardeners in the Midwest, Rocky Mountains, Northeast, and Northwest have other berry options as well. These include currants and the closely related gooseberries. Currants are the better known of the two, with several native varieties growing wild and a long history of cultivation in Europe and the Eastern states. Gooseberries, which are easy to grow and just as delicious, can be planted under fruit trees and still bear successfully in less than full sunlight. According to the University of Minnesota Extension, both currant and gooseberry plants can perform very well in as little as a half day of sunlight. Both grow on canes, much like blackberries and raspberries, but are not often trellised (though they can be). The canes can be pruned as necessary for smaller space gardens. You can order these plants, either bareroot or potted, from many local and mail-order nurseries. Because black currants were once known as a host for the disease white pine blister rust, some Northeastern and Midwestern states outlawed them. Most of these states now permit disease-resistant varieties; check with your nursery or a reputable mail-order supplier for some suggestions.
Other low-growing berries are also worth trying, since their natural habitats are partially shady. Anything that grows as a groundcover (alpine strawberry, cranberry, bearberry) or low-growing shrub (lingonberry, lowbush blueberry, creeping Taiwan raspberry) may bear successfully in limited sunlight. If you have a patch of yard that is mainly shady and space enough for a larger shrub, consider an elderberry. These beautiful bushes thrive in partial shade to produce healthful fruit that makes delicious wine and preserves. Hidden Springs Nursery, Raintree Nursery, and One Green World have an especially wide selection of unusual and edible berries.

Using trellises, walls, and espaliers to grow fruit
Your space is limited, so you must use it well. It is normally not too difficult to keep small trees and berry bushes pruned. This involves pruning off any dead or excess growth during the winter with the aim of helping the tree maximize its energy into growing its main branches and producing good fruit. Pruning also can help promote good air circulation and sunlight for the branches. If you have a particular space that the tree must fit, you can prune most types of small trees to fit your space.
Growing fruit or berries on trellises can help you train these plants vertically and maximize your space. Simple, two-dimensional trellises often are sold in nurseries and commonly take the shape of a fan or lattice. If you have a south-facing wall, consider training a fruit tree to grow two-dimensionally to maximize your space. Apples, pears, grapes, and figs are examples of plants that can be espaliered (trained and pruned to grow two-dimensionally, often into specific shapes and forms). This is fairly simple to do, and a free Internet search for “espalier” will show you some different patterns to try. Your local library mayhave a book on backyard gardening or small orchard management that includes a chapter on espalier. One good book that I found at a local library is The Complete Guide to Pruning and Training Plants by David Joyce and Christopher Brickell of England’s Royal Horticultural Society.
Other fruit grows better on a larger trellis. For vining fruits (such as grapes and kiwi) and cane berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, currants, and gooseberries), you will get more fruit with a three-dimen-sional trellis. Imagine a vineyard, where a row of grapes grows between posts. Their vines are trained along wires or horizontal supports that are strung between the posts. These must be strong enough, and widely spaced, to support heavy vines laden with fruit. Next, imagine an arbor. It is basically four posts with a stepladder placed horizontally on top of them, and perhaps some lattices on each end. Arbors make great trellises because they support three-dimensional growth: upward, across, and outward. What you need for vine or cane fruits, even in a container garden, is a smaller version of these. You can make a simple 3-D trellis above planter boxes by taking four posts and stringing some strong fencing wire around the top corners to make a rectangular frame on top. You can nail the posts to wooden containers or sink them into the ground or container-based soil. Grapes and kiwis will be trained to grow up and then along the wires, while cane berries will be planted into the soil underneath and will grow up through (inside) the rectangular wire frame. This is like gathering flowers in a bouquet rather than setting them flat on a table: Keeping the canes inside the wire frame will prevent spreading and help the berries grow vertically in your small space, allowing maximum berry production and easy harvesting. 3-D trellises can be used above a single large container or several small ones.

Foraging and trading
Not far from my home there is a park with trails that are lined with blackberry bushes. In the fall, these are covered with more berries than the birds can eat. It is a simple matter to fill up some baskets and containers with enough blackberries for my family, and after eating our fill, we still have enough left over to make some blackberry jam. Even in the city, fruit trees often grow on abandoned lots or on property where the owner does not care for them. Keep an eye out for that old apple tree or scrubby chokecherry bush that can provide you with armloads of fresh fruit. You may need permission to harvest from someone else’s land, but if you offer them a couple of jars of applesauce or a cherry pie, they won’t be likely to refuse. Jeff Ball, author of The Self-Sufficient Suburban Garden, also suggests that you can learn the simple trade of caring for fruit trees (consisting mainly of regular pruning), and offer to care for any neighbors’ neglected trees in your area in exchange for half the fruit.
My point is this: In planning my garden, I know that I will never need to grow blackberries. You too may have access to fresh fruit without having to grow it. So take stock of what is available in your vicinity and factor this into your garden planning. Then you can focus on raising food crops that complement, rather than duplicate, what is already available in your neighborhood. Also consider what your neighbors are growing and may have in excess; for example, if someone you know has a persimmon tree or is always trying to give away extra summer squash, you might focus on some other crops that mature at a different time and trade with neighbors to complement your diet.
Most urban areas are in close proximity to parks or surrounding natural areas that may offer you access to wild fruits and vegetables. Especially in lean times, foraging can constitute an important part of your seasonal food supply. If you want to educate yourself more on food from wild sources, I urge you to invest in a guide to your region’s edible plants. A good beginning book for all aspiring foragers, particularly those in the Great Lakes, Northeast, and Eastern Canadian regions, is The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer. This book not only explains some common varieties of edible plants but also helps the reader build confidence in selecting, gathering, and preparing food from wild plants. After reading this book, try to find a field guide to your area’s edible plants, and make sure that it has detailed photographs or drawings to help you identify the truly edible plants as well as similar-looking ones you should avoid.

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Don’t forget to leave a comment about what YOU are growing in your small spaces. We’ll take comments until Monday March 30th at 11:59 PM – and then one of you will win a copy of the book in a random drawing. Thanks go to Taylor at Chelsea Green Publishing for her help and enthusiasm!

Tags: book excerpt, RJ Ruppenthal, square foot gardening, urban

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