How could you possibly go wrong living in a place where you can grow tropical fruits, visit nearby beaches, and garden outdoors on a year-round basis? Here’s Barbara to share some interesting information about her garden in the charming little country of Belize:

Eat Your Heart Out there are Fruit Trees Galore

We have a Mammee fig and a shaving brush tree close to the river. We also planted Paw Paws and Tamarinds on each of the two bottom corners of our property. Tamarind is a tree with SO many uses.

Moving closer up the bank to the house, we have coconuts, lipstick trees, bananas, plantains, starfruit, and soursop trees. There are many bay cedars, craboo, and guavas that we put in, breadfruit trees, seven coffee trees planted on the outskirts of the breadfruit trees’ shadows and trumpet trees.

Then in front of the house we have a really large mango tree, custard apples, avocado trees, limes, the huge humming ceiba, a grapefruit, cycad, cashews, I think that is all. We also planted oranges, lemons, key limes, almonds, more avocados, pomegranate, loquat, and tangerine trees. Then there are mulberry and lychee trees on order.

You’ll Find Gardening Woes, even in Paradise

We use no pesticides at all at all. We do use a copper oxide spray for killing black fungus on the trees. The fungus seems to attack the custard apples and grapefruit especially. In the past we have used poison to get rid of leaf cutter ants as they can overnight eat ALL the leaves off ALL the citrus trees, plus all the lettuce and the roses; leaves and all.

Previously we tried using everything from urine (yip) to egg to control the ants! It works less well but we do not like the idea of poisoning things. Hopefully now I have cooked the leaf cutter ants goose; I got a beautiful bean, called Jackbean and planted it around the trees and around their nests. It ought to chase them away. The bean is large and pearly looking and comes up within five days, amazing!

Currently it is a real battle to keep things alive as it is the dry season and it is very, very hot, or did I maybe mention that fact before? We do not have a proper irrigation system but we directly use the grey water from the washing machine and the kitchen sink. We must water a quota of trees on a three day rotation system.

A Seedy Situation for Gardeners in Belize

We plant each and every seed on which we can lay our hands. American seeds are sold here when the sell by and plant by dates have passed already. And even then it is still sold for the equivalent of 2-3x the USA price printed on the packet. It is frustrating as the coming up rate is of course not good at all.

So we do seed saving where we can but with GM seeds also being sold here, the seed saving can be problematic as it either does not seed or the seeds are juvenile. They want one to repurchase rather than save your own seeds, but I’ll step away from the GM topic as I usually have a soapbox hour if I start thinking and talking about it.

I wanted a bit of color round the house so I bought sunflower seeds sold as parrot food. They came up very well but some are 4 INCHES off the ground and they start flowering, tiny, pathetic flowers which do not even follow the sun and the mature flowers did not make seeds at all.

Thanks Barbara, and I really do hope to make my way to Belize sometime in the near future! For now I will simply be content and try to control the envy as I enjoy the virtual visits through your correspondence.

So far we’ve journeyed to a garden in Patzcuaro, Mexico, visited a plot growing in Northern Virginia, and spent time today in Belize. We’ll wrap up this tour with a final stop back in the States as we check out a colorful edible garden in Tennessee.

I have to admit that I wasn’t overly optimistic about the odds of success when I attended the Backyard Fruit Grower’s grafting workshop. Mainly because this wasn’t my first attempt at grafting and the previous try was a complete failure that ended with one graft and absolutely no sign of life from the poor plant.

If at First Your Fruit Tree Graft Does not Succeed…

That was a part of the logic behind my decision to try grafting a total of SIX apple trees this time around! I also considered that the dwarfing rootstock I used would be perfect for creating a hedge-like compact ‘step-over,’ which is a low growing single tiered row of apple trees that I could use as a border around part of the vegetable garden.

But still, I really didn’t anticipate winding up with half a dozen living apple trees on my hands. During the grafting workshop it all seemed so exacting and precise to carefully cut a notch into the rootstock and then mate it to a similarly notched piece of fruiting wood. There was just no way that my rookie attempts at apple tree grafting could have gotten everything right!

Especially when you consider that after cutting and splicing the first couple of grafts my attention was focused much more keenly on keeping my fingers intact then it was on making exact cuts and perfectly aligning the separate “twigs” together to form an ideal union between the two.

Wonders Never Cease in a Backyard Edible Garden

Surely the rootstock would reject this foreign object that I was basically taping to the end of it. And how is it possible for two inches of wood taken from an unrelated apple variety to meld with the strange rootstock in such a way that the roots will nourish and support the fruiting wood above the point where it was attached?

Can some life-force flow upward from the ground, through the rootstock, into the attached scion and unite all the layers of bark, sap, and heartwood from one piece of branch to the other? Will this fragile connection then grow and endure to the point that one day the two will work together to actually bear delicious fruit?

Well this is just one of the wonders that I’m currently observing in my backyard garden. Now I have to come up with a trick of my own and figure out how six apple trees are going to coexist in a landscape full of veggies, herbs, berries, and other gourmet edibles. Guess it’s a good thing that I selected the extra dwarfing rootstock for these surprising grafted apple trees!

And of course the varieties offered were rare, antique, and unusual cultivars that are grown and maintained in the orchards and backyards of the organization’s members. It was a great opportunity to expand a fruit tree collection, or as in my case, to learn the tricks of crafting a fruit tree from two slender twigs.

Pros and Cons of Grafting Fruit Trees for the Backyard Garden

Grafting is the practice of uniting a scion (the fruiting wood) to a rootstock (base and roots) to create a tree that will grow to the desired size and bear the fruit of your choice. If you’ve purchased a fruit tree from a nursery all this work has been taken care of for you already.

The advantages of grafting your own fruit trees include the fact that it’s a lot more economical than purchasing grafted trees. Also, the grafting process is relatively easy to do, and it gives you total control over the varieties of fruit and the size at maturity of the trees that you plant in your backyard.

On the downside, grafting may result in longer wait before you taste your first fruits since trees purchased from the nursery will be older and further along. Also there’s no guarantee that a graft will take, especially if you are just learning the process. Care is required as there is knife work required to cut, notch, and splice the end of the scion wood to the rootstock.

Scion Wood for Use in Grafting Antique Fruit Trees

The scion wood available for grafting at the workshop was all contributed by BYFG members from prunings that were recently cut from mature fruit trees. There were over fifty antique apple varieties, and a smaller number of pear scion wood on hand for participants to select from.

The scion wood looked like ordinary tree trimmings that you could find lying around the lawn. Most were the thickness of a pencil or slightly thinner and up to a foot in length. In theory all you need is a small section of fruiting wood with a couple of live buds to perform a successful graft.

There are advanced techniques and varying preferences for grafting fruit trees but during the workshop we were using a pretty basic whip and tongue graft to mate the scionwood to the rootstock. Skills such as interstem grafting or grafting multiple varieties onto a single tree weren’t covered but once you get the basic technique down there’s no limit to the types of grafts that can be experimented with.

Rootstocks; Starting a Fruit Tree on a Good Foundation

If you ever hear a group of apple growers tossing around strange combinations of letters and numbers, they are talking rootstocks… M 27, ELMA 26, BUD 9, GENEVA 30, and MM 111 are just a few of the common rootstocks used to graft fruit trees.

Selection of the appropriate rootstock is very important as it will determine the ultimate size, vigor, and height of the mature grafted tree. The rootstock can maintain a tree at a dwarf size that can be harvested without a ladder or allow it to grow to the proportions of a full sized fruit tree .

To create a whip and tongue graft you match the thickness of a rootstock to the scion wood, make diagonal cuts and grooves in each, and the lash the pieces together with grafting tape. It’s not quite as easy as it may sound and takes a little practice to get the technique just right.

While even experienced fruit growers don’t achieve 100% success with their attempts at getting grafts to take and grow, youngsters like Olivia pictured above prove that grafting can become child’s play with a little care and practice.

For my time and effort I left the grafting workshop carrying six heirloom apple trees. Two Esopus Spitzenbergs, an Ashmead’s Kernel, a Caville Blanc d’Hiver, and two Yellow Newton Pippens, all grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks. My ultimate goal is to train the trees into a simple tiered espaliered shape, but the first I’ll have to cross my fingers and wait and see if the grafts will even take.

Following are a few tips to help you get started with incorporating fig trees in your backyard by growing them in simple and convenient containers and pots.

Planting Stock: Fig trees grow and bear fruit quickly so don’t pay a premium to obtain large starter or mature nursery plants. I’d rather save the cash or purchase more fig trees by choosing younger, smaller sized planting stock. If you have a friend or neighbor who is growing figs, another option is to take cuttings and propagate new plants that way. Local nurseries sell fig trees and they are also available through mail order and the Internet.

Fig Containers: Plastic, clay, even wooden planters or half barrels will do fine for potting up fig trees. Porous materials such as clay will dry out quicker and require more frequent watering. Also, be careful with black or dark colored pots that may absorb too much heat and stress the plants. Smaller containers are okay for young trees, but move up to 15 or 20 gallon containers to accommodate the trees as they grow and increase in size.

Potting Soil: Use a light potting mix, but not an overly rich one to plant your fig tree in. Incorporate amendments such as sifted compost, vermiculite, worm castings, perlite and even builder’s sand to lighten the mix and ensure that it will drain well. Your choice of a lightweight mix will also make things easier when it is time to move the container to shelter during winter.

Great Surroundings: Find a warm spot with plenty of sunlight for your potted fig tree to soak up. The plants are ornamental and tropical looking, making them an attractive addition to the patio, deck, or even a balcony. A sun room or unheated greenhouse can be a great location for your fig tree provided that there is plenty of ventilation during the heat of summer.

Feeding Your Fig: Figs are not heavy feeders, so select a slow release organic fertilizer that is high in phosphorus and low in nitrogen to use when feeding your containerized fig trees. Bone meal is one commonly used organic source of phosphorus for garden plants.

Watering the Trees: As mentioned earlier, the type of container used can influence how often your fig tree will need to be watered. Your climate and high temperatures can also create the need for more frequent visits with the watering can. Provided the container has good drainage, over watering potted figs shouldn’t be much of a concern for you.

Pruning and Training: Fig trees are thought to enjoy having their root system somewhat constricted, but potted trees may still need to be root pruned once every three years or so. Whenever you root prune be sure to prune the top growth also to balance the foliage to the reduced root structure. Even in a container fig trees can easily reach well over seven tall and grow almost as wide.

Winter Protection: In cold climates DO NOT leave your potted fig tree outdoors in the winter. Fig tree roots that would survive the winter if planted in the ground may not be as fortunate when over-wintering in an exposed container. Moving the plant into an unheated building or garage will allow you to maintain the tree’s shape and encourage earlier fruiting. Water the fig tree sparingly once every three of four weeks during winter storage. The dormant tree does not need any light and can be stored in a total darkness.

Choice Fig Varieties: You may have to do a little research to identify a fig variety that will grow best in your growing region. My friend Bassem grows over a hundred fig trees in his Pennsylvania backyard and provides detailed information on a large number of fig varieties on his website at Trees of Joy.

I’ve encountered fig trees that just refused to bear fruit for one reason or another, so be prepared to start over and move on with a new selection if necessary. Overall fig trees are very easy to grow in the backyard garden, and if you’ve never tasted a fresh fig you are in for a delicious treat!

For the record, most fruit trees can be demanding in their space requirements, and less than welcoming about sharing territory with other plants. But fig trees will happily grow within rather confined quarters, and container grown figs are easy to train and maintain into a compact, standard tree form.

It’s Not Mission Impossible to Raise Fruit in the Home Garden

Where many tree fruits are considered almost impossible to cultivate without yielding to complex spray schedules to combat insects and diseases, fig trees are comparatively pest free and a cinch even for no-spray organic gardeners. And fig trees don’t leave you clinging to promises of the future; they’ll often begin bearing delicious fruit within a year or two!

The backyard orchard’s arsenal of ladders, pruning saws, grafting tools, pesticides, and fungicides are all obsolete and unnecessary for the fig grower. In fact, if you stick with the “Common” fig varieties you don’t even have to rely upon your friendly bees and other pollinators to do their job as many fig trees are completely self-fertile.

Relax and Enjoy a Hassle Free Harvest of Fresh Figs

When harvest time arrives there’s no guessing to determine when the fruit is ripe, and no stretching, bending, or straining is required to harvest the fruits from container grown fig trees. Just reach out and touch the figs that are delivered at about eye level with your feet never leaving the ground.

Sure there are other fruit trees that you can plant in containers but they just don’t take to it as naturally as a fig will. With fig trees there are no dwarfing rootstocks required, no special varieties that have been bred to grow in an unnatural manner, and no foreign insect pests to struggle against.

Special Care for Container Grown Fig Trees

I know, nothing’s perfect and there are a few obstacles or challenges involved with cultivating fig trees. First of all they are more of a sub-tropical and cannot tolerate cold weather with the same ease as an apple tree. However with container grown fig trees the way to get around that problem is simple; just move the potted tree into an unheated garage or building for the winter.

Fig trees aren’t generally heavy feeders and don’t require a lot of water, but container grown plants will need to be monitored and attended to on a more regular basis than trees that are growing in the ground. You will occasionally need to repot or root prune figs that are container raised to keep them healthy and productive.

Other Considerations for the Fig Grower

There are a couple of pests and diseases such as mosaic virus, leaf rust, and root knot nematodes that can afflict fig trees but they are not usually a major problem in the home garden. While figs are not as popular with birds and four legged bandits, you may need to provide some protection against pilfering as the fruit matures and begins to ripen.

I’m expanding my collection of fig trees this spring and they will all be container bound, as that will work best and allow for the most flexibility in my backyard. The trees will spend the summer lounging around the patio and I’ll just move them into the garage before winter arrives.

If you’re ready to broaden your gardening in the direction of offering more backyard fruits; fig trees will make a great addition to the home garden. The next post will offer a few specific tips for growing figs in containers.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t so dangerous, and most of the Paw Paw trees were actually fairly tame and cultivated varieties rather than those growing wild, but it was still a new and interesting experience for most of our group. The BYFG Paw Paw tours take place each fall but this was my first opportunity to attend the annual outing.

Introducing the Unusual and Rare Paw Paw Tree

If you’re not familiar with the Paw Paw don’t feel bad because they’re pretty uncommon and seldom find their way into the typical backyard landscape. They do grow wild in Pennsylvania and other areas on the East Coast, with a range that extends down into the southern states.

Paw Paws are a medium sized, upright growing tree with large dark green leaves, and clusters of fruit that ripen early in the fall season. The tree is attractive and often takes on a pyramid like shape with a wide base narrowing to a peak at the top.

There are many different varieties of Paw Paws including; Sunflower, Mango, Collins Select, Pennsylvania Golden, Davis, and Rebecca’s Gold. Growers are also currently working to develop new varieties of Paw Paws in attempts to improve its growth, quality, and productivity.

Cultivating Paw Paw’s in the Home Garden

For a plant that grows wild you would think that it would be a cinch to raise Paw Paws in the back yard or garden. Unfortunately that isn’t necessarily the case. While some gardeners are quite successful cultivating this fruit, others struggle with the temperamental and painfully slow growing plant.

The first challenge for the gardener is due to the Paw Paws odd cultural requirements. The plant does not take well at all to being transplanted. Then the young seedling grows best in a shady location, but for fruiting and mature growth the plant prefers to be situated in full sunshine.

So transplant paw paws with the root ball intact, provide temporary shade for the juvenile plant, grow the tree in a spot where it will receive full sun when it matures and finally, make sure your patience is high because this is a very slow growing and maturing fruit.

It appears that the location and growing environment are key considerations and that the trees appreciate a nearby water source such as a stream or spring. The paw paw seems to tolerate sharing its space with other trees, will grow in forested areas, and will spread by way of underground runners to expand its territory and produce new offspring.

Strange Sights and Odors in the Paw Paw Patch

A mature paw paw tree can grow over twenty-five feet tall but it may take a decade to reach such lofty heights. You can enjoy your first fruits in less than half that time though, with puny little five foot tall paw paw trees straining to support a paltry crop of heavy and full-sized fruits.

Paw Paws are also “unique” when it comes to their pollination requirements. You typically need more than one variety for pollination and paw paw flowers are described as being “dark and stinky” so good luck in getting a bee to go anywhere near this tree!

Instead paw paws are dependent on flies and beetles to do the dirty work necessary for their pollination. Some paw paw enthusiasts place road killed carcasses near their trees to help draw in the pollinators, but I think I’d test my skill at hand pollinating before resorting to more drastic measures!

Sweet Rewards for the Adventurous Fruit Seeker

If all of this paw paw discussion sounds really, really strange don’t worry, things aren’t about to change at the end of the tale. Paw paw fruits look a little bit like an elongated mango with a creamy yellow or white pulp inside. They are ripe when they begin to soften and should not be removed from the tree prior to that stage. The fruit will also fall from the tree as the ripen.

Ripe paw paw fruits are very aromatic and will quickly fill the room with an exotic and fruity aroma. Most paw paw admirers search them out or grow them not for an ornamental display, but because of the tasty fruit that’s not easy to describe or draw comparisons to.

The best comparison would be with something that’s not a fruit at all… a rich, colorful, sweet flavored custard; that’s exactly how I would describe the texture and flavor of the paw paw’s flesh. I personally like them but at least one of my co-workers that I shared the fruits with had a very different reaction and opinion (but I have to give her credit for trying it)!

Maybe it was the texture and odd consistency that she wasn’t prepared for. All I can say is that paw paws must be pretty delicious — either that or a lot of people are just as peculiar as this fruit is to go through all the effort to forage or cultivate this uncommon plant.

The main speaker was Michael Phillips author of “The Apple Grower,” an incredible book loaded with information related to ecological apple growing. Also on hand to present a lecture on cultivating organic apples was Greg Krawczyk of the Penn State University Organic Research Program.

I met Michael at last winter’s PASA conference where I listened to him lecture and picked up a copy of his book. Michael tends an apple orchard called “Lost Nation Orchard” in New Hampshire and shared a wealth of knowledge about organic apple growing.

Brief highlights from Michael’s lectures included the following apple growing tips and information:

• Healthy apples reflect soil health, tree health, and eco-system health. Nutrient density and flavor in fruit is the result of life density in the soil.
• There is an essential role played by microscopic Mycorrhizal Fungi in the growth and health of an apple tree. These important fungi can be introduced through commercial mycorrhizal inoculants or by incorporating a sample of soil that is respectfully gathered from an established wild apple tree.
• Orchard Floor Diversity – the use of companion plants and herbs such as comfrey, red clover, buckwheat, and goldenrods in the orchard to promote strong, healthy trees and fruit.
• Tree health and vitality, fruit storage quality, incidence of disease, and other factors are all tied to the balance and levels of nutrients maintained in your soil.
• Holistic gardening philosophy – A reverence for all life in the garden is important because there is so much that we don’t know about the interactions that take place in nature and between various insects.
• The advantages of applying gentler organic sprays that employ pest specific toxins (such as Dipel and BT) or insect repellent attributes (such as neem, garlic, and Kaolin clay).
• How to control insect pests with physical barriers such as kaolin clay, white sticky traps, mesh guards around tree trunks, and red sticky spheres.
• More of the gardener’s time should be spent on strengthening their tree’s immune systems rather than to concentrate on killing every bug in sight.
• Organic elements such as neem oil, neetle tonic, horsetail tea, garlic extracts, horseradish infusions, compost teas, and seaweed extracts that can promote immune support and stimulate the natural defenses of your fruit trees.
• Recommended Orchard Fertilizers include carbon-rich unturned compost, calcium sources such as rock dust, azomite clay, kelp meal, greensand, gypsum, and unpasteurized fish products.
• There is something special about growing food that has a way of enlivening the “spirit,” and we can not separate health from the way in which our food is grown.
• Everything that we do in the garden has ramifications throughout the garden and beyond it!

Additional apple culture information covered included the growth cycle of apple tree feeder roots, the big three insect pests in the apple orchard, alternatives to fungicides, and other critical management issues for orchard health.

If you are interested in more detailed information related to growing organic apple trees in your backyard garden I highly recommend that you visit Michael’s website: Herbs and Apples, or pick up a copy of his book; “The Apple Grower.”

All of these interesting antique apples were on display and available for sampling at the Pennsylvania Backyard Fruit Growers annual fruit tasting that was held a couple weeks ago just outside of Lancaster, PA.

If you’re not familiar with heirloom apples you’ll be surprised to discover just how many different varieties of apples exist and can still be found growing in local orchards and backyard fruit gardens. Following is a partial listing of the heirloom apples being cultivated in Central Pennsylvania landscapes.

Super-Sized Heirloom Apples – For those that like jumbo sized apples, there was a score of gigantic fruits, some that appeared capable of producing an entire pie from a single apple. Some of the names give away the fact that these are extremely large fruits. Yellow Bellflower stood out not only for its size but also its unusual shape.

• Sweetheart
• Pound
• Mutsu (Crispin)
• Smokehouse
• Twenty Ounce
• Yellow Bellflower

Small Fruited Apple Varieties – Also represented were the smaller and crab apple type fruits. They may be a little more tedious to harvest but these apples offer their own advantages when it comes to versatility, unique flavors, and the uses that they can be put to. My favorite from this group was Cinnamon Spice; a very deliciously flavored apple.

• Cherry Cox
• Winter Red Flesh
• Cinnamon Spice
• Hidden Rose
• Goof

Famous and Historic Apples – There are a number of time-tested apples that have earned acclaim and fame for their unique characteristics. Their reputations are documented in historical accounts right along side the names of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and others. If you’re into name dropping these varieties are guaranteed to impress the antique apple gourmet crowd.

• Calville Blanc d’ Hiver
• Esopus Spitzenberg
• Newtown Pippen
• Ashmead’s Kernel
• Cox’s Orange Pippen
• Roxbury Russet

Tasty Antique Apples – You’d be amazed by the range of different apple flavors, from tart to sweet and everything in between. While many of these apples wouldn’t make the grade in a beauty contest, they would likely triumph in any taste test against the “prettier” varieties found at the typical grocer. It’s difficult to single one out of this group as they are all just that good.

• Swiss Gourmet
• Virginia Beauty
• Golden Gem
• Freyburg
• Belle de Baskoop
• Pink Sugar
• Hoople’s Antique Gold

Other Notable Heirloom Apple Varieties – My notes listed over eighty different heirloom apples from the PA Backyard Fruit Growers annual fruit tasting, and I’m sure there were many that I didn’t jot down. Here are a few more of the interesting antique apples that are being grown in local backyard gardens and orchards. Some of these names are just as intriguing as the apples themselves.

• Reinette Simerenko
• Razor’s Russet
• Westfield Seek-No-Further
• Paradise Sweet
• Opalescant Beauty
• Ribston Pippen
• Von Zuccalmaglio Reinette

If you’re ready to expand your horizons beyond the same old Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, and Golden Delicious apple varieties, then it may be time to seek out a local orchard in your area that can offer you an heirloom variety or two. Or better yet, you can consider planting an antique apple tree of your own to preserve a bit of history and to treat your family to some incredibly tasty fruit.