Over 35 Edible Perennials in a Backyard Garden, Fruits You Have NEVER Seen!

what's going on growers it's James Prigioni coming  to you live from jersey today i want to take you   with me as i share over 35 edible perennials  that i'm growing in my own backyard let's let's jump right into it what i'm going to do is  go through the garden show you all the perennials   the edible perennials and then i'll put a list  on the screen just uh letting you know how many   we're at or what number we're at and the garden  i'm in right now i'm in zone 7a in new jersey   the space that i have my whole property is about  one-third of an acre and i probably garden on   about one-third of that so all this takes place  on about a ninth of an acre i would say to start   out we've got some gooseberries right here these  gooseberries are some of them are ready to harvest   like this one here they're such a delicious little  fruit with a great flavor and this is number one very good but we have to keep moving because we  have a lot to show right behind me is the next   one right here are emerald carpet raspberries  these are not like your typical raspberry it's   a completely different kind you can see some of  the flowers that are starting to form so this   is an excellent ground cover it'll just cover  the ground like this and root into the ground   next we have yellow raspberries over here  these are the more regular raspberries   and these are my favorite flavored  ones these yellow ones here so good   so delicious and so sweet i would say sweeter than  your red raspberries i do have some red ones too incredible flavor and we prune these so that  they're ever bearing raspberries which is   very nice then right here what i like to do is i  like to mix my my um herbs within my food forest   so this is just a monster uh thing of oregano  as you'll see i'll never have to plant another   oregano plant this thing just thrives and  expands every single year like the rest of   the forest above me here you'll notice we have  grapes here's the concord grapes this is one   of my favorite varieties the smell is incredible  the taste is incredible the appearance of them is   just like everything else in nature it just  blows your mind to the left of me here we have   a wild apple tree you could say this is my  prisgioni apple the one that i planted from seed   it's got a lot of fruit on it this year  so it's leaning over even though the   plum circular going after it still looks  pretty healthy here we've got more grapes   we won't add this to another tally because it's  the same thing but i just wanted to show you as   i walk by we've got a lot of them in here these  are the niagara grapes next we've got figs i've   had a number of people ask me james why don't you  grow figs i've got figs in i just don't show them   very often so this one's looking really good it's  got a lot of figs on it and you'll notice where   we planted this we planted this next to the side  of the greenhouse the idea is that the greenhouse   will hold in some of that heat and then allow some  of that heat to kind of transfer over to this in   the winter this way it kind of forms a little  insulation in the winter next we've got a pear   tree right here we've got a number of pairs but  this is a european pair we've got a lot of asian   and european pairs next up we've got nuts this is  a should be foundational for permaculture people   because these things last almost forever once  you get them producing this hazelnut is loaded   this year it was last year but i did get a lot  of blanks on it thing that excites me so much   though is that the other hazelnut is loaded too  look at all these fruits look at all those nuts   it's nuts how many there are there and this is  the one though that really gets me super excited   because i'm seeing a lot of fruit more fruit  than i have ever more nuts than i have ever seen   and then another edible that's also a medicinal  or a medicinal that's also a perennial is these   echinaceas right here so these flowers serve so  many functions for us one of them is bringing   bringing in pollinators one of them is medicinal  and another one is just pure beauty and right here   we've got some cilantro so what we do with the  cilantro was we eat it when it's young we let   it go to flower it brings in the pollinators it  goes to seed you could then get coriander from it   or you could just let it drop down and reseed  you'll notice the ground we've just got cilantro   growing everywhere and we'll continue to  allow it to grow because the perennials   and the flowers annuals or whatever that have  that umbrella shape they really bring in a lot   of good pollinators and then uh we've got asian  pears here this is a three grafted asian pear next over here we've got the persimmon tree this  thing is just gonna be loaded with fruit again   just like last year great pollination great  overall health excellent tree then under under us   right here we've got the asparagus the asparagus  patch is all done for the year we're letting it   go to fern so that it could grow large for the  future so we're investing in our future that's   one thing i love about food forest and fruit trees  is that it's always an investment for your future   let's move over to these cherries though we've  got some ripe cherries let's grab one or two   taste them and i showed you guys the bing i  mean the rainier cherry that we had a lot of   cherries from just the other day but this thing's  finishing up too so cherries is another edible   perennial you got to get in you may notice a theme  you'll see some of the this white on the trees   this is just surround a kaolin clay powder we  use that to keep the the plum cuculo off and it's   it's just kale and clay it's  natural you could eat it next up   we've got some apples we've got some nice looking  apples here good varieties and we're spraying them   with the clay you can see a little more clay  would be better but we just did have some rain   so they're doing quite well and we've also  got a loyal dog here so maybe we should see   if we can grab a pee or something for him  if he's hungry talk you want a snack boy   this guy loves his garden snacks peas are  one of his favorite i love the peas too and   it's getting to the time of year where our carrots  and stuff are getting ready also so i wonder if   there's a small carrot we could we could let them  have maybe i don't want to take one too early i've   got some big red ones it looks like but i might  try to save some of those huh let's try this one   it's like a black carrot whoo-hoo the black  acita look at that the black acidic carrot   pretty cool looking we'll let them snack on it  needs to get much larger but we'll let it go   next up right here we've got some lemon balm this  is another one that seeds on its own and we just   let it continue to expand go throughout the garden  because it smells great and i just like the plant   next to me right here let's grab some more  fruit we've got the currants the white currants   and you might not see at first  appearance but you lift these   branches up this thing's loaded with currants  and the white are my favorite currants   such a delicious berry a  gentle flavor but very good a little bit of tartness but so good and then  growing within this which isn't what i wanted but   it's happened is mint so this is another edible  perennial we've got a bunch of different kinds of   mints and then right next to me here you'll notice  these massive leaves these are the rhubarbs we've   got a number of rhubarbs just growing in the you  know the uh the forest floor then above me here   which i've never actually got nuts off of but it's  a it's a pretty tree i hope i can in the future   but this is the almond tree the all-in-one almond  and then as we move this way we've got a few more   things i want to get into let's keep moving along  right underneath me here we've got the chocolate   mint and what i love doing in this section is  i love just walking by kind of kicking my feet   and then if you just wait a second the the aroma  from the chocolate mint will just blow up in it   it smells amazing and it's great for making uh  teas and stuff too so it's a cool one i have a   couple different kinds of mints when it comes  to mints it's suggested not to plant it into the   ground like this because it can get crazy you're  better off planting it in a pot so it doesn't just   keep expanding because this stuff is invasive  as we go over here we've got some blackberries   we love our berries in jersey and as you  can see the strawberries are just finishing   i'll show you some strawberries later but  all the next rounds of berries are coming   so the currants the gooseberries the raspberries  the black cap raspberries the yellow raspberries   you know all the good stuff and then we'll  keep moving along over here and i've got a   check this one out this is pretty cool  from seed we've got the pawpaw tree   so my neighbor has a couple of paw paws and  we planted some of the seeds here we've got a   nice pawpaw growing in a good location and it's  right underneath a plum tree and i talked about   it in the other video but i have three plum trees  that i planted that were supposed to be apricots   and they're not so i'm just going to pull them out  i think because they're not the kind of tree that   i want to put in here i only have so much space  so i want to make sure i'm getting the most out   of the space that i'm using so we've got that this  paw paw i'd like to allow that to space and just   basically remove this next to me here we've got  more currents this is the same variety over there   but it's my favorite variety that's why  i grow so many of them but look at this   it's also quite productive it's  going to be some delicious snacks   and then we'll keep moving down here we  have another number of other perennials   here's a perennial where i i haven't actually  gotten fruit from yet this is a wolf berry   i don't really know how this one tastes  but i've had some of the autumn olives   and the goat goomies i have autumn olives in the  back i'll show you and they don't taste amazing   this looks like it's in the same family so it's  it's a cool one but i don't suggest probably   planting a lot of it i'd rather grow blueberries  as we move along over to this section we've got   the red raspberries so we got all different  kinds and then an important skill when you're   a gardener is to is to know what things look  like when they're young so if we look right down   here we don't want to pull these out because  this looks like it's chamomile and if i come   back over here that's another one of our edible  perennials we use for teas chamomile we've got a   nice looking plant back there i've got another  one growing behind the bed over there and then   you know we just allow them to keep reseeding  because we love having them here is time german   time you'll notice we put a number of herbs under  the trees we just like doing that we think it's   fun so we use this for our steaks and our chicken  and stuff then i want to show you something that's   crazy i bet not a lot of other people have it  i'm talking about an orange tree in new jersey   i'm serious let me bring you back here in this  section in the back corner it's not your typical   orange tree this is a it's not you're not going  to be able to just crack the oranges open and   eat them fresh it's more for making like orange  a's and stuff but this is in the orange family   and if you creep back here you'll notice we've got  some oranges on it in the back some more back back   there so it's pretty cool self-pollinating orange  i'm excited about i think it'll be a lot of fun   and then we've got more perennials right next  to it here look at this monster horseradish   so you can eat the leaves of this but i mean  you want the root to make horseradish sauce but   beautiful looking root i mean beautiful looking  leaves very healthy and then we've got another   perennial i want to show you right behind us over  here and this is the japanese raisin tree this   thing is getting quite large too a cool tree not  something common that a lot of other people have   and then you know we are known for our blueberries  so we have so many blueberries over here here's   our new row of blueberries looking fantastic  and then some more chamomile like i mentioned   right on the outside of the bed so we've got  chamomile growing and coming up everywhere we   love to see that when flowers expand that's one of  the things with the food forests as i walk by this   apple here i want to show you something that's  pretty incredible and it's this whole idea of   perennials in food forest this this idea of  self-replication and expansion the food force   is always trying to replicate itself and always  trying to expand its edge and its borders a great   example of that is over here where i showed you  these hazelnuts that are just loaded with fruit   so the hazelnuts are loaded with fruit they're  trying to uh you know extend their width and then   drop seeds down to kind of move their uh plants  and extend the edge of the forest like right here   the hazelnut dropped down this and now it's grown  on the outside of the forest so it's kind of like   trying to take over the whole garden i just think  it's it's such a fascinating thing about food   forest in general let's check out some other  stuff in the oh and the new food forest right   here before i bring you to the young food forest  i want to show you some things that we're growing   in the chicken pen that are perennials and that  are edible too but before i do that i want to   show you some squash we have that just came up  from my compost pile looking massive already and   some zucchini back there too but right here we  have an edible perennial that i have planted for   the chickens these are autumn olives and not only  are they going to provide food for the chickens   because they're just small berries right now but  they're also providing a beautiful amount of shade   as i pull this back you'll see percy back there  so when it gets really hot and stuff the chickens   love coming back here hanging out in the shade  and then in a short period of time they'll be   able to eat the fruit too so we've got this idea  of multi-functionality where it's providing a   shelter but it's also providing food too then  right here we've got pigeon peas this is another   chicken feed but it's also a nitrogen fixer  so are not i think they're called chickpeas   so they're not chickpeas but i'll put the exact  name so that's what they look like they've got   those small pods when you see things with the pods  like that you can be pretty sure that those are   nitrogen fixers so that's a nitrogen fixer which  is fantastic we love having those in the garden   looks like tuck is having a having a lot of fun  chasing the chickens around he's always doing that   as we move over here we've got a lot of grapes  and grapes are one of the things i just love   growing we've got them going along the whole  entire fence line and one thing you'll notice   in this section but even more over here what  i'll show you and you can see we're starting to   tie our tomatoes up they're looking fantastic but  in this section right here look at all the grapes   one thing you'll notice a theme is i went crazy  with the pruning that's how i like to do it   so i took off any big fan leaves or anything that  are covering those grapes because i want good   i want those grapes to get good sunlight direct  sunlight that's very important let's drop down and   look at another perennial right here here we've  got rosemary this is a great edible perennial and   it is a companion for your brassicas and your and  your broccolis all those kinds of things so it's   a great one to have in the ground which is also  a companion let's move over to the section more   in the corner and continue getting some perennials  let's check out the perennials in this corner now   got peaches to the left of me strawberries  underneath a lot of strawberries they're still in   production they've slowed down a little because  the peak season has passed but we've still got   a lot of fantastic strawberries and i've  eaten too many of these to even count   next to me here we have peaches i love growing  peaches this is the betty peach you'll notice the   white on it again that's the surround i like to  have more on there but it's okay for a base coat   just to discourage the plum perculio this is  another persimmon tree the other percentage i had   over there is nikita's gift that's the one that's  uh it's a hybrid it is astringent so you have to   wait for it to get soft this is a fuyu this is a  non-astringent you can eat those persimmons when   they're hard it's nice to have both kinds because  the the astringent persimmons those aren't ready   until like the late winter when it gets very  cold while the non-stringent ones are already   earlier so it's like extending your harvest  more peaches here grapes along the fence line   right here is a wild plum look at this one  i've got a couple wild plums that i have   planted in here i think it's pretty fun  i've also got the thunder cloud pump plum   so here you can see a little plum on it it's never  been a huge producer for us but we're hopeful that   now that the tree's been in about its fourth year  i think you can increase the production i'm gonna   stay on top of pruning it it's a little different  when it's a wild plum though apples still apples   over here and then we follow a similar theme with  what we have of blueberries apples strawberries   and we've got some a few different things though  on that side garden let me bring it over to that   other food forest we'll check out a few more  perennials to get us past 35. now we're over   by kind of where we started i just started right  behind me but i wanted to show you this before i   move to the other food forest right here are two  aronia bushes so these are edible perennials too   but there's a few perennials which i suggest that  you that you don't grow because i don't think   they're worth it this is one of them i wouldn't i  want wouldn't plant this again if i didn't already   have it in the ground i don't think they're that  delicious overall it's not a great plant in my   opinion and the other plant that i would never  grow again it might be a little controversial for   some of you but it's the goji berry i've had  them they taste they don't taste good at all   i've dried them it tastes like a bad tomato  so it might be good for you or something but   if it's really good for you i'd rather just get a  powder somewhere and mix it in a drink it doesn't   taste that good but let me keep moving over to the  other garden before i do that this is that purple   thunder cloud uh plum and this has small plums but  one of the reasons i got the tree was just look   at the leaves man this thing is just so beautiful  so just just the side of it and the contrast with   the other trees it really sticks out i think it's  got a nice look to it then over here we've got my   favorite kind of raspberries these are the black  cap raspberries or as i like to say sometimes   the sea of raspberries you'll notice we've got  a big harvest on the way nothing gets me more   excited than fresh fruit right from the tree right  from the vine right from the bramble so good let's   go in there and check out a few more things though  over on the side garden sometimes i call this the   food forest that specializes in berry production  one reason i love this so much is because this   thing is on the north side of my house so this  is like a location where people would think you   probably can't even grow that much so much food in  here right here is another wild plum so it's kind   of like the sister to the other one i have and  then we've just got so many blueberries in here   i love blueberries so we can never have too  many as i walk through all these some of them   are starting to get ripe like this one right  here this variety so we've got some fresh ripe   blueberries not perfectly ripe but man they're  going to be good so we'll pop those in our mouth one of my favorite tasting things behind us over  here too we've got a saskatoon service berry   looks like a blueberry doesn't taste that much  like a blueberry a little more of a subtle flavor   not any of that tartness but still an overall good  flavor i like the surface berries they're good pretty good flavor as we move this way  we've got more blueberries and stuff   and then you'll notice in the ground here i'm not  doing a good job of staying on top of this plant   these are the boysenberries and the tayberries  they're really taking over though if we step   through over here you'll notice all the fruit the  fruit is kind of at the base of the plant more so   we're going to get a lot of fruit in this section  but i need to come through and clean it up because   it's you know by not having it organized and not  having it trellised up along the pants it's going   to make it harder to harvest it and it's making  it harder to weed so we're going to clean this   section up but still another delicious perennial  the boysenberries and the tayberries as i step   out of the side garden i wanted to show you the  goji berries over here you'll notice these have   been neglected because i don't care about them i'm  taking them out i really in my opinion they're the   worst plant because they're so like invasive  too they want to expand they want to grow so   fast and they don't even taste that good and it's  almost like they're rarely fruit i don't like them   instead i like blueberries so we're going  to remove these goji berries and put more   blueberries in that's today's video growers thanks  for watching i hope you enjoyed it i hope you got   something out of it i hope you're encouraged  uh to get some stuff in the ground some edible   perennials because you see the kind of space that  i have sometimes people think that i have acres   and acres of land i don't have that much space i  just really like to pack things all together and   then some people might question why are you  planting so many different kinds of edibles   and things what's the point of all the different  perennials well one of the things is i love all   the different kinds of things it's fun to just be  able to see the different kind of growth patterns   taste the different kind of fruits and to just be  involved in all of it but also when you plant a   lot of different things it forms a kind of kind of  you know harvest insurance because there's always   something that does good every year the weather  is always going to be different so the weather is   always permitting for one of the kinds of things  you're growing if you're growing so many different   kinds of stuff so i plan almost everything that  i can grow in my location if there's anything i   missed make sure you guys let me know but before  i let you go i wanted to thank robert mattner one   of the new channel members thanks for being a part  of team grow me and tuck really appreciate it but   if you guys enjoyed the video hit the like button  hit the subscribe button share with your friends   don't forget to check out the merch download and  remember whenever you're on amazon start your   shopping with our amazon affiliate link talking  james we'll be back again real soon we out!

Channel: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni

Views: 319,840

Keywords: gardening, organic gardenin, garden, garden harvest, garden tour, edible perennial, raised bed, raised bed gardening, permaculture, garden answer, epic gardening, James prigioni

Id: m8hpGT5x2Ug

Length: 20min 40sec (1240 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021