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Pics from Greg's Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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posted 5 years ago

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My son had some mushroom hunter friends over to walk our 12 acres. I took them for a quick walk around orientation and then left them to their hunting. They didn't do too badly....came back with some lobster mushrooms (it is Maine after all!) and chanterelles. While walking them around I got excited because for the first time I have paw paw fruits developing! I took some pictures and thought I'd share. I posted some monarch butterfly pictures I took on my milkweed crop here, so I'll skip reposting those. So first my cute little paw paw fruits.

my-first-paw-paws-ever-are-expanding.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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posted 5 years ago

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Not far from those paw paws is an old Austrian fig I bought off an older collector that had to reduce the size of his collection. It's in a pot that got stranded late last fall out in that section of garden with about 20 others. They hadn't gone dormant yet due to a hot weird fall and then a sudden freeze and heavy snow hit. I laid them down on the ground and threw two tarps over them, which was all they got for winter protection, which is no where near enough for most figs. 16 died, 6 partially died, but have rebounded, and this one from Austria had no damage!!! Not even to the dormant fig buds which then pushed these figs out for me. More cold hardiness testing to follow.

cold-hardy-austrian-fig-that-stayed-out-all-winter.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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posted 5 years ago

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My sweet cicely is covered in seeds if anyone needs some (just send a PM). Here are some of them surrounding an apple tree. (sorry about the pic quality on some of these...was a lot of dew out and I somehow got a drop of water on my lens and didn't notice for a bit)

sweet-cicely-seeds-aroung-the-apple-tree.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Fuki is trying to take over the honey berries growing between a cherry, an autumn olive, a juneberry and a walnut. I'm actively keeping those fuki plants in check. I do think they're a beautiful edible, but they are very expansive.

fuki-trying-to-take-over-the-honeyberries-between-the-walnut-cherry-and-autumn-olive.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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posted 5 years ago

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Here are some unripe schisandra berries growing up another autumn olive.

schisandra-berries-climbing-an-autumn-olive.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Speaking of unripe berries....looks like there will be a bumper crop of elderberries ripening in August. I picked up Alicia's book to help me figure out what to do with them all!

elderberry-with-unripe-berries.jpg

elderberry-with-unripe-berries-2.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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When my goumi was smaller the birds used to get almost all the fruit, but now that it's larger and with so many other berries ripening at the same time I can get all I want. Here it is after eating from it for weeks....still pretty loaded. And this plant is mostly in the shade under 60' tall trees.

goumi-kicking-out-berries.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Here are some purple flowering raspberries growing in the shade under another apple tree.

bee-working-the-purple-flowered-raspberries.jpg

purple-flowering-raspberry.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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posted 5 years ago

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Heading back into the house I saw this moth that I didn't recognize. Anyone have any idea what species it is?

mystery-moth.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 5 years ago

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Greg Martin wrote:Heading back into the house I saw this moth that I didn't recognize. Anyone have any idea what species it is?

It is a Clymene moth...quite striking

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Haploa-clymene

Wonderful to see all of your photos...fruitful!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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posted 5 years ago

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Thank you Judith! I wonder if it's drawn in by my peach trees? It looks so elegant. Almost like it has an evening gown on :)

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Pics of my Forest Garden

James Freyr

steward

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Location: West Tennessee

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Dang Greg great thread and thanks for sharing all those pictures! I'm not familiar with Goumi berries, are they good eating fresh or are they better put into jams/preserves like currants?

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Hi James, goumi are related to autumn olives. They have larger berries and ripen earlier, but have a somewhat similar taste. They need to be fully ripe or they have a bit of a drying effect on the mouth. I eat them fresh by the handful. This weekend we had two nieces and a nephew over and they all adored the fruit. The nicest thing about the bush is how easy it is to care for. No issues of any kind and they have walnut sized nitrogen fixing nodules on their roots that give them a great leg up. It's growing in bright shade in dry sandy soil at the northern edge of the clearing under a forest edge. I haven't tried cooking with them, but today as I was eating them I was thinking they'd probably be great juiced and in a drink. I make fruit leather with autumn olive and I suspect that goumi leather would be quite good too. Probably would make a nice jam too. My bush is about 8' tall and 10' wide and is completely filled with berries. I planted a bunch more around my Chinese chestnut trees to help give those a growth rate boost.

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Burl Smith

Posts: 576

Location: Richwood, West Virginia

posted 5 years ago

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I just planted a paw paw I ordered from a mail order catalog. How old is yours before it started bearing?

Litter As An Edible Forest

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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I planted it 8 years ago. I'm a bit surprised it took that long as it's a grafted tree, but Maine is kind of close to its northern limit, so perhaps it takes longer up here. It flowered for the first time last year, but no fruit. Can't wait for them to ripen. I'm the only one in my family or neighborhood to have ever eaten them before so I can't wait to share.

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Burl Smith

Posts: 576

Location: Richwood, West Virginia

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Thanks. Did you plant more than one? I probably need to obtain another.

Steve Oh wrote:Plant several trees. Pawpaws do not produce much (if any) fruit from self-pollination,

Litter As An Edible Forest

Steve Thorn

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Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US

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Looks great Greg!

I like the Fuki plant, looking for something like that that will spread.

Those are cool raspberries too!

Striving to grow things as naturally, simply, and cheaply as possible!
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Mandy Launchbury-Rainey

gardener

Posts: 950

Location: Galicia, Spain zone 9a

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What a wonderful garden! Wish mine looked as good!

To lead a tranquil life, mind your own business and work with your hands.

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Burl Smith wrote:Thanks. Did you plant more than one? I probably need to obtain another.

Steve Oh wrote:Plant several trees. Pawpaws do not produce much (if any) fruit from self-pollination,

Burl, I planted 3 in that clump and 2 of them were flowering this year. I have a bunch more I planted 2 years ago, so hopefully the fruiting will get out of control!

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Pics of my Forest Garden

bernetta putnam

pollinator

Posts: 232

Location: Mena ,Arkansas zone7

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beautiful, you got my dream garden.

Bee Putnam

Phil Gardener

pollinator

Posts: 336

Location: Near Philadelphia, PA

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Greg Martin wrote:More cold hardiness testing to follow.

It is Maine, lol :)

Great pictures - your plants look wonderful!

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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I'm a serial zone pusher Phil. I've picked up over 100 varieties of figs to zone screen...a few, like this one, seem to have some promise! :) Maybe next I'll post some pictures of my citrus hybrid seedlings that survived this past winter. Too early on any of my zone pushing breeding experiments to claim any real success, but if nothing else it's that little something extra that helps keep me looking forward to every garden season. It's like very slow motion fun.

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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bernetta putnam wrote:beautiful, you got my dream garden.

Thank you Bernetta! Just keep planting and you'll put mine to shame

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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My peaches are ripening now so it's now a race to eat as many as possible!!! The tree is full sized and covered in fruit.

20190817_101619.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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I picked a nice bowl full this morning.

20190817_101349.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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And got cooking and eating (peach crisps and peach amaretto upside down cakes).

20190817_161926.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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I will have to cut the elderberry at one of my path heads back as it's really growing over it. Should have lots of cuttings available for grabs.

The elderberry is to the right (with a peach almond hybrid behind it and a flowering quince in front of it neither of which you can see in this angle), there's a Chinese chestnut to the back end of the path, a cornelian cherry to the left side of the path with beach roses setting lots of hips in front of it. Under the cornelian cherry as edging on the path are garlic chives and sage that you can make out. (I should really take a video as there is a lot more packed in around all these guys)

20190817_160907.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Here's a close up of the garlic chive and sage path edge.

20190817_101934.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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And an ornamental onion with great tasting foliage that grows at the base of my rose arbor....not sure, I think it might be an A. nutans. Anyone know? I'll have to look it up. The flowers are a little more purple in person than they are showing in this pic.

20190817_101724.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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The elderberries are starting to ripen....probably another week or so, which is good as it gives me time to focus on the pile of peaches. I notice the birds are watching them ripen closely too!

20190817_160933.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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This young blueberry needed a bit of help standing up this year. Hopefully it will strengthen up nicely for future heavy crops.

20190817_160529.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Some grapes that escaped into a chestnut when I wasn't looking.

20190817_155716.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Some unripe cornelian cherries

20190817_160740.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

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Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Another cornelian cherry with unripe fruit....these are not too far off from the good stage for brining them into "olives". This variety is called 'Yellow' and is shaped like an olive....even the seed.

You can't see it in this picture, but there's a tomato growing by it's base that decided to climb up into this tree....plants are pretty industrious!

20190817_161012.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Here's a shot of a beach rose showing off it's lovely hips! All my beach roses are from the seeds of fruit I gathered over the years from plants on the Maine coast that impressed me with their fruit. So far mine haven't but they're relatively young plants still building themselves and are nicer every year. I adore the smell of their blossoms so I have a decent number of them.

20190817_161002.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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One of my garden paths has become paved with a nice ground cover of which I have no idea how it got there. I'm pretty sure it's bugleweed (aka Ajuga). It takes mowing nicely as well as light foot traffic. It's actually starting to cover another path as well. I like the way it looks and the fact that I no longer have to apply woodchips where it's taken over. I'm working on a few other living mulches which are nowhere near as nice while this one just volunteered for the job....go figure.

20190817_155613.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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Japanese ginger (Mioga) is a lovely plant, seen here with some garlic shooting scapes and a very young persimmon tree.

20190817_155153.jpg

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3424

Location: Maine, zone 5

1956

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One of my native spikenard plants (Aralia) is well over my head this year....it really likes the forest garden. Here's a picture of the unripe fruit. It will ripen to brown and taste like root beer. I always look forward to eating those berries. So do the birds including the wild turkeys. I have yet to try the spring shoots....on the to try list (so many wonders yet to experience).

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