Published: June 05, 2008 02:30 pm            

Extension Service - Small garden fruits

We’re on the second part of “resolution” number four – “Grow and eat nutritious foods” – from the list of five that I started writing about with the first column of 2008.

Fruits can be divided into two groups – small fruits and tree fruits. Fruits like watermelons and cantaloupes, although they are fruits, are studied with what we call vegetables, since they’re more similar to vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers in the way that they are grown.

Small fruits include strawberries, blueberries, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, and some more unusual ones, like currants and kiwis. It’s illegal to grow currants (and gooseberries) in North Carolina, due to the fact that they are a host of white pine blister rust, so I won’t say any more about those.

There is a good bit of variability in growth habits within the “small fruits” group. Strawberry plants are herbaceous perennials that spread along the ground via runners. Commercial growers usually grow them as annuals in the South, because they tend to get diseased and decline in productivity over time, but home gardeners can try growing them as perennials – a single patch can last for several years. A few cultivars to consider are “Apollo” (you’ll need another type, too, to pollinate this one), “Earliglow” and “Allstar.”

Blueberries grow in shrub form. The type that grows best in the Piedmont is called “rabbiteye.” Within the rabbiteye species (Vaccinium ashei), there are a number of cultivars, including Tifblue, Climax, Premier, Columbus and Ira. The last two are relatively new and were bred by a professor at N.C. State.

Blackberries and raspberries are referred to a “brambles,” and you may be most familiar with ones that trail along the ground. However, some varieties grow in a more upright form and, if your memories of blackberries includes some discomfort, you may be excited to learn that there are now tasty “thornless” (the thorns are actually prickles, but that’s a technicality) varieties of blackberries. Arapaho, Ouachita and Navaho are several that have relatively high sugar levels (i.e., they taste good). There isn’t as much good news for prospective raspberry growers in the Piedmont – most raspberry varieties are not well-suited to our climate, besides still being prickly – but there are potential developments on the horizon. A professor at N.C. State, who happened to be my grad school advisor, has expressed intentions of breeding raspberries that grow and produce well in our mild climate and taste better fresh than the standard Dormanred. Southland is a relatively heat-tolerant variety that you might try, although it is reported to be less heat-tolerant than Dormanred. You can try some from cooler areas but be aware that they may not live for many years. Heritage may be one of the better choices.

Grapes, of course, grow on vines, as do kiwifruit. Muscadines are a native grape and the one most popular in the home garden, and with good reason. They sustain less disease damage than do many other types of grapes and have been observed to be generally more tolerant of weather-related challenges. Many people refer to muscadines as “scuppernongs,” but Scuppernong was actually the first cultivated variety (cultivar) of muscadines, and many that are called scuppernongs now are probably some other variety. A couple of muscadine cultivars that I like are Supreme and Summit. Supreme only has female flowers (as do some other varieties), so if you grow it, you will probably need to get another variety that has both male and female flowers, unless you have wild muscadines nearby with male flowers. If you want to try some of the non-muscadine grapes, some varieties to consider into are Himrod, Delaware, Niagra, Reliance, Sunbelt and Vanessa.

Did you know that kiwifruit could grow in our area? The fuzzy kiwi that we commonly see in the grocery store is considered subtropical. A more promising species for our area is the hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta), which is smaller and smooth-skinned.



Mary Helen Ferguson is a horticulture agent with the Randolph County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service in Asheboro. She can be reached at (336) 318-6003.

        

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