Goumi

[Digeroo]

Elaeagnus multiflora
Seems it produces nice berries.  Has anyone tried this?
Maybe it will produce more than a gogi!!!

[Digeroo]

[ed dibbles]

I have been after one of these Elaeagnus multiflora plants for a while. The only places I have found that sells them are Kore Wild Fruit and the Agroforestry Trust. Both are sold out.

http://www.korewildfruitnursery.co.uk/elaeagnusUmbellata.html

https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/product-category/plants/soft-fruit/elaeagnus/

I have a recently planted Eleagnus Umbellata variety Big Red that I hope to see fruit in due course. As I understand it Multiflora fruits in summer while Umbellata fruits in autumn oct-nov.

If you know of a Eleagnus multiflora  source please let me know.

Today I planted a Goji From Lubera that is claimed to be a reliable cropper and sweeter than usual called Goji Turgidus.

http://www.lubera.co.uk/plants/lubera-novelties/novelties-2016/2016-additional-novelties/goji-berry-turgidus

It is rather pricey but the plant is a good size and I managed to take a hardwood cutting from it and will try layering it in the summer to mitigate the expense. 

I have never grown goji before and I have read that too much feed and rich soil discourages fruiting. Our allotment site slopes with the best soil being at the bottom and almost pure clay towards the top. It is in this poor soil the goji is planted so hopefully a struggling goji will be a fruiting goji.

Lubera have another Goji called Instant Success that I may try another year.

http://www.lubera.co.uk/plants/ornamental-plants-for-outdoors/hedge-plants/wild-fruit-hedges/goji-lubera-instant-success

Getting into unusual fruit in a big way at the moment.

[Vinlander]

pure clay towards the top. It is in this poor soil the goji is planted so hopefully a struggling goji will be a fruiting goji.

Getting into unusual fruit in a big way at the moment.

Hi Ed,

In terms of fertility, clay is a long, long way from poor soil - unless it has been actively depleted by growing heavy crops for many years without any injection of nutrients. Even poor clay left fallow can recover.

It will never count as rich soil so that part is OK but the problem is it is still clay - and rooting through it is damned hard work for any plant, especially a transplant.

You need to improve its quality without improving its fertility too much.

If you genuinely want a transplant to thrive in poor clay then you need to dilute the clay content by digging in huge amounts of something genuinely poor like sand and grit - we are talking enough to double or triple the volume of soil over several metres. Peat and leafmould are useless - the soil will collapse back in a few years.

The simpler solution is to fill a builders bag with rotted woodchip > 2yr old and transplant into that.

Either method will automatically provide levels of lightness and fertility that eg. carrots will grow well in but not go mad.

As to unusual fruit I recommend you should look at the custard banana (Asimina triloba) and also named saskatoon clones specifically selected for fruit quality.

The "pineapple guava" is also reliable, delicious and very pretty - if you don't mind the hint of iodine/TCP - but you really must get a named fruiting variety - the florists versions from the garden centre are useless - and ideally get a named self-fertile one - if you do have room for two then get two different self-fertiles - no point going for a male and females unless you have room for 2 or more females.

Finally look for 'epi hybrid' cacti - fantastic huge flowers and delicious fruit if hand-pollinated - they are half-hardy at best and you need a few varieties to make sure some are making pollen while the others are ready, but they are so brilliant and compact in hanging baskets that you can fit them into places nothing else likes - especially as they are almost spineless. Quite a good yield of fruit per cubic metre from a space that isn't in use. NB. they taste much better than dragon fruit (the cactus equivalent of watermelon).

There are flavour varieties of dragon fruit that are never sold here but they really need a big sunny "pool room" to grow well (I'm not talking about miniature billiards here) - if you have one contact me - I've a few cuttings I'd like to give to a good home...

Cheers.

[Digeroo]

Just realised that I have one in my garden and have had for more than 30 years. But never seen anything in the way of red berries.  Perhaps the birds have had an annual feast.

[ed dibbles]

Pure clay is probably a bit of an exageration, Vinlander. Although the soil is very heavy and the subsoil not far below.

Some plots are worse than others depending on how long they have been left fallow or whether fruit trees or bushes have been planted helping to prevent the soil migrating downslope. I did amend the soil for the goji along the lines, though not as extensively, as you suggest.

I was put off the custard banana (Asimina triloba) because it looks like you have to have two different kinds and hand polinate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXN3WB2ZPYI

But I would like to try them if possible, not least because the fruit is spectacular. Perhaps one for next year along with persimmon kaki.

The unusual fruit I now have in no particular order are:

Arctic Bramble

BEACH PLUM Prunus maritima. rare, sounds interesting.

SALMONBERRY Rubus spectabilis

Thimbleberry Rubus odoratus

SILVER-STEMMED BRAMBLE Rubus biflorus

Black chokeberry, aronia. variety Nero. (I have since found a fruiting aronia on a disused plot) The fruit has a robust good flavour. Claimed to be better cooked but I did not find them too unpleasant fresh.

Honeyberry, five different varieties so cross pollination should be good.

Mahonia aquifolium, edible berries, also want some berberis, vulgaris, aggregata, already have darwinii.

Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) variety northline, I also picked up three seedling saskatoon from ebay for a very good price. These are self fertile but are said to crop better with others in the vacinity. Looking forward to these.

Ribes aureum, also ordered a named variety from lubera (they call the fourberries) so have two kinds. These sound excellent for the bee friendly flowers as much as the fruit. 

Tayberry. Unusual to me.

black raspberry. Really looking forward to these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKRI7On08L4&index=1&list=PLblOtw3UOFliiCK91iLMUtnol5SS13uMl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YSAotXw8X0&list=PLblOtw3UOFliiCK91iLMUtnol5SS13uMl&index=3

Yellow raspberry, variety all gold.

Balloon Berry Rubus illecebrosus, Spectacular looking fruits. Insipid taste apparently   
     
Cornelian Cherry Cornus mas

Autumn Olive eleagnus umbelolata – Red Cascade , not Big Red as mentioned earlier.  Also looking for goumi e. multiflora 

Chilean Guava – Ugni
Chilean Guava – Flambeau Both in pots for now.

Also goji as mentioned.

I also have a Chaenomeles cathayensis planted last year so looking forward to a fruit or two this season coming.

Upon your recommendation I will look out for a pineapple guava. An online search uncovered a couple of named varieties. (again I was Put of by tales of poor cropping)

A couple of japanese plums are ordered from this site.

http://www.gb-online.co.uk/prestashop/category.php?id_category=123

The red fleshed plums you buy in the supermarket are japanese plums rather than the european ones. (czar, opal, victoria, etc.) They also sell rootstocks and scions so may try my hand at grafting next winter. (order already in for this year)

And to top it off about six varieties of cultivated blackberries inspired by this:

https://fruitforum.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/which-blackberries-are-best-suited-to-the-uk/

Digeroo, I asked if you know a goumi source and you do. Not too sure about the lack of fruit. Perhaps you need another for pollination.

[Vinlander]

Hi Ed,

The right selection of pineapple guava bush has no problem producing a good yield up to a few kilos in a good summer (not many of those since 2006) but you do need to taste one first - most people like fruit salad but not all of them enjoy a touch of TCP in it . Everyone likes the flower petals though - only their shape stops you thinking they are marshmallows.

I can recommend the flavour of strawberry guavas unreservedly (P.cattleaneum/littoralis) especially the larger yellow one 'lucida'. A delicious guava crop around now when you need fresh fruit most, and without the tomcat guava smell. They aren't fully hardy and have to be brought in to fruit but they have roots that cope well with our long cold dampness - I refuse to risk overwintering citrus at 4C without capillary matting to control the moisture levels, but potted strawberry guavas are almost as happy in a drip tray. They are also OK in ordinary soil as long as they have a New England style coldframe with a big heat sink right next to them - traditionally an oil drum full of water.

If you are unfamiliar with the tayberry you're in for a treat - they are sweeter than loganberries, so not necessarily better cooked but much better out of hand (having said that the first tayberry jam I tasted was the best jam ever - but it was an 'artisan' product and commercial products have since been comparatively disappointing).

More importantly this makes them edible at bright red, ripening to delicious maroon in maybe 10-20 hours (depending on the weather) and are still enjoyable the next day until they shrivel. By comparison I have jokingly described the 'picking window' for each individual loganberry as about 40 minutes before it becomes bleh - it's actually only a slight exaggeration.

One more thing - the more usual thornless version is very good and very convenient, but the thorny version has a lot more vinous 'topnotes' that make it exceptional - now I think about it, that might have made the difference between a good jam and a historic experience...   

Yes a good saskatoon needs netting against birds - they go crazy - but only for one week if you are vigilant enough. I have to admit I've missed a crop several years by being a day late with the net. The flavour is good, I'd describe it as between apple and plum - not as weird as it sounds.

Self fertile custard bananas exist - but impossible to source here since Clive Simms stopped importing them. Fortunately very young trees seem to be able to pollinate long before they are able to fruit - so you can buy a good variety and plant its partner as a seed in the same year. They like hot summers and cold winters - but they don't really like pots - I'd recommend planting them in a greenhouse border but taking the glass out in Winter (or more sensibly moving the greenhouse over something with the opposite requirements). Pollinating a dozen flowers or so is no trouble since the fruit are the size of an alphonse mango and can rival their taste too.

I once tried growing several arctic raspberries which were delicious but a magnet for vine weevil that murdered the lot the following winter.

Cheers.

PS. Berberis darwinii berries can be crushed to release a juice that sets immediately - basically a raw jam - but do it in private because it's hard to keep the juice off your hands where it congeals to give that "axe murderer" look... Delicious with meat, game etc. - much better than cranberry jelly.