to the fruit garden

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The Fruit Garden| The Greenhouse | The British Connection| Meet the Herbalist

Short seasons make growing fruit seem all the more rewarding. An amazing variety of soft and orchard fruit can be grown in Newfoundland with just a bit more care and attention. Strawberries, raspberries, sour cherries, red and black currants, apples, plums and gooseberries all do well on the Avalon Peninsula, even with the unpredictable climate.

TREE FRUIT
Apples and plums can be successful in Newfoundland, but there are problems, usually associated with weather. Blossom time spells danger here, as a hard frost, cold ocean air, rain or high winds frequently coincide with this crucial fruit-forming time. Wind and rain are the worst as the keep the bees from carrying out pollination, even blowing the blossom off the trees, so year-to-year crops may vary. There's not a lot you can do to prevent this, just keep your fingers crossed!

The variety of apple and plums that are currently growing are unknown, as they were in place before the garden was established. The apples are definitely eating apples and grow to a medium size are green with a red cast to them.

The plums that we grow here are what I would call damsons and are more suited to preserves than eating fresh. The main problem with all the tree fruit lies on the branches on the ocean-side of the trees. Due to frequent changes in wind direction, an ice-chilled ocean breeze usually means that little if any fruit will form on that side.

SOFT FRUIT

Red and black currants love Newfoundland's acid soil and seem to thrive in the damp cool climate. Currants do love a strong dose of fertilizer (I use well-rotted compost) in the spring and are the first to send out leaves to test the air! followed closely by flower buds.

Strawberries grow vigorously here, but the harvest season usually doesn't start until July. Black landscape fabric holds more heat in the soil, prevents weeds and lets the berries remain clean for picking. Runners can be cut off and replanted elsewhere when needed. A strawberry bed needs replacing after three years, as yields will decrease after that time, so continually replacing plants with new runners ensures a quality crop year after year. With the exception of marauding birds, there have been few problems. Vigilent weeding and the use of netting to protect the fruit seems to work.

Raspberries, too, grow very well in Newfoundland. They should be planted in full sun and mulched well to ensure that they don't dry out. New shoots will grow each year to replace those which have just fruited and by the second or third year the original 12 plants produced enough berries for fresh eating and plenty for the freezer as well.

Updated February 27, 2004

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