Carol Manda

This is the most information about hazelnut trees/shrubs that I have ever seen in one place! I planted one 15" tall sapling in 2015 and now it is about 12' tall. The pollen catkins were strikingly abundant this late winter, but I have yet to see a nut on that bush!  What is most interesting in your article is the information about coppicing. I have pruned my shrubs and small trees and used the prunings for beanpoles, etc. but have only cut shrubs to the ground in an attempt to do away with them! (I am trying to eliminate one viburnum opulus which is vastly overgrown and in a terrible spot. It doesn't want to die, even after I dug around the roots and hacked at them) With coppicing, does the entire shrub need to be cut, and how much stem do I leave above the crown? I only have the one hazel and do like how it looks much of the year until the Japanese beetles have their way with it. Space is at a premium in my small yard! What if I cut a few large branches each year, like on a 3-year renewal cycle?

Hello Anne! We are so glad you are with us here! I'm currently in the Midwest (Ohio - neither Upper or Lower Midwest) gardening on a smallish suburban plot in a mature community (you know what that means - large trees!). I'd like to learn as possible about the possibilities of medicinal forest gardening!

I just noticed something in your lovely photos, aside from the lush tomatoes and strawberries - there is a serious fence around the garden!  Do you have problems with deer?

Acadia, your book needs to be in my hands!  I'm very much looking forward to learning more about what small-scale suburban gardeners can do to fight climate change in our own small corner of the planet.

What a wondrous thread!  There is SO MUCH priceless information here about what is edible and where it grows.  May I share?  I've two related books, "Edible Perennial Gardening" by Anni Kelsey, and "The Minimalist Gardener" by Patrick Whitefield. Both books reference some perennial vegetables (sea kale, Daubenton's kale, sea beet, etc.) which I'd be hard-pressed to find in my area (sw Ohio) but many of the plants grow on multiple continents.  Here are the more or less permanent edibles in my 50' x 25' yard:

Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian mountain spinach, perennial)  I just planted these seedlings out for the first time this spring.  Hope the slugs don't find them.
Allium cernuum (Nodding wild onion)
Allium tricoccum (Ramps) - they are not in an ideal spot and have been languishing - will divide and move to a shadier/woodsier spot. The leaves have a very intense garlic/onion flavor.
Common garden chives
Corylus americana (American hazelnut) (Five years old, no nuts yet)
Amelanchier (Serviceberry)
Lindera benzoin (Spicebush) - the berries from this can be dried and used as seasoning.
Mountain mint (teas!)
Marsh Mallow (the actual plant - roots used for tea)
Viburnum opulus (Cranberrybush viburnum a.k.a crampbark) (I've not sampled the berries which are edible but can cause stomach upset raw.  Also recently discovered that its bark has medicinal properties.  I've not tried it out yet. The "bush" has gotten immense!)
Daylilies
Violets
oxalis

And the self seeding volunteers

Purslane (a slightly tangy, fleshy leaf with a lot of Omega-3)
bittercress (like other cress, slightly peppery)
chickweed (mild)
dandelion (Harvest roots in early March or before they start trying to flower for best taste. I cook and eat them, and they remind me of artichokes with a somewhat bitter aftertaste. Wait too long to harvest, and they are bitter as can be, but still OK for teas. The greens are also best in March, )
Hopi red dye amaranth (young leaves in salad, mature leaves in soups/cooked, and I think the seeds are edible as well)
rustic arugula (sylvettica)
calendula
catnip
chamomile

Currant bushes would be nice, as I adore currants, both red and black!

Have considered, but not planted, chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa) for the berries (have to cook to make edible, plus the plant suckers/forms colonies) and pawpaw trees a.k.a. Michigan banana (Asimina triloba) for the fruit (need maybe 2? plus the critters would definitely get these before I do!). Actually there are quite a few native plants that I'd plant if it weren't for the size or the suckering/colonizing habits.  The yard is too small!

Thank you for the advice, Scott! I saw your earlier post about winter peas and could try that this winter.  How soon before frost do you sow them?  

Purslane goes into summer salads!  I also planted Hopi Red Dye amaranth about 15 years ago and we still get a lot of seedlings each year!  They are edible and pretty and easy to remove if need be. The gift that keeps on giving.

Some "rustic wild arugula" got out of hand about the same time, and we had almost solid beds of arugula for a few years.  Too bad they were very pungent - we couldn't eat all that much of it. Still have a few seedlings pop up each year, few enough to manage.

We have nearly neutral soil, with a healthy amount of clay. It's fertile but kind of hard to work with, which is one reason why we have raised beds. But the yard is small, the veggies need to be rotated, so things need to be moved outside the beds sometimes, like the garlic.  The only issue with garlic is having to dig deep to harvest the bulbs. The clay sticks to the bulb. I use a spading fork and try to slip the plant out of the ground with as little soil attached as possible.  Good thing this is "small-scale", right?

Hi, I'm new to this forum!  I have a small backyard (SW Ohio) with two low raised beds used for edible things.  Lately I've been experimenting with cover crops: two years ago I tried winter rye and red clover.  The winter rye needed to be tamped down in late spring or it would keep growing, and the red clover lasted mostly frost. I seeded buckwheat in early summer, but birds must be eating it because not much germinated. Last winter/this spring I planted oats and crimson clover.  The oats winter killed but the clover is very happily growing now.  The rabbits adore it.  I wanted the clover flowers for tea; I may have planted the wrong variety.  Anyway, I'm seeding and transplanting in the beds now, pulling up clover to make room as needed.  I am wondering if having the clover in the veggie beds is a good idea or a really bad one? The white clover from our lawn sometimes creeps into the beds and is a pain to dig up, but the red clover doesn't seem to run.  Usually I don't have enough mulching and am pulling all manner of weeds up, but some of those weeds are tasty and good for you, like the purslane. To be carbon-friendly, I'm trying to minimize digging and pulling up things in favor of leaving plants in the ground.

Right now I have hardscape garlic up around the yard, and in the beds are onions, peas, and a variety of greens.  Summer veggies will be tomatoes, beans, carrots, and squash with herbs scattered throughout.  And a few artichokes that I started back in Jan and are cold-hardened (my experiments). I have never used wood mulch for vegetable beds: where should it be sourced?  

I like growing herbs like calendula, parsley, chamomile and basil, and let the chamomile and calendula seed in place to return the following year.  Maybe I should let the herbs become a summer cover crop, but how to cover the ground in winter if I'm to let summer herbs go to seed?

Sorry, this is a somewhat disjointed post, which might reflect my state of mind these days!