perennial suggestions??? please and thank you

I'm really not too sure how o do this, but I do have a question for Crystal:  What are your "must haves" when creating an edible yard?  We recently bought an acreage (zone 5) and have a blank canvas.  We have a small garden and 2 apple trees but nothing perennial just yet.  Would love some outside the box suggestions.  I am too chicken to forage and haven't figured out the whole picking/using dandelions just yet either.  We haven't sprayed or put down chemicals since we moved here 2 years ago so I'm thinking the dandelions should be ok???  Also, any perennials for discouraging moles??  

I am looking forward to reading your book!

Thank you!

Michele

Moles, like the evil ground squirrels that I deal with, are a frustrating issue, especially if you don't want to poison them. So you just have to outsmart them. We raised our gardens with boxes on stacks of old pallets and ran sheet metal around the tops. We also set bathtubs, easily and cheaply squired from places like Restore, up on concrete blocks. I plant tomatoes in stacks of tires wrapped in sheet metal. Although we don't grow as much as we probably would if we could plant in the ground we have enough produce for me to can and because my gardens are waist high, gardening is easy. At 78 I appreciate the ease.

You are just starting out and, as you suggest, you have a blank slate. So these are just options to consider. It took me a few years to figure things out. This works well for me and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am smarter than your average ground squirrel.

I would plant Jerusalem artichokes for zone 5. Mine came back every year in CO ( high altitude/9000'/harsh weather), even after my chickens decimated them the year before. You can go wrong with a food & fodder plant.

Michele Sundholm wrote:I'm really not too sure how o do this, but I do have a question for Crystal:  What are your "must haves" when creating an edible yard?  We recently bought an acreage (zone 5) and have a blank canvas.  We have a small garden and 2 apple trees but nothing perennial just yet.  Would love some outside the box suggestions.  I am too chicken to forage and haven't figured out the whole picking/using dandelions just yet either.  We haven't sprayed or put down chemicals since we moved here 2 years ago so I'm thinking the dandelions should be ok???  Also, any perennials for discouraging moles??  

I am looking forward to reading your book!

Thank you!

Michele

I love integrating fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs.
I try to plant a variety of heirloom tomatoes, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, greens, squash, and so many other veggies that I can sell, cook , give away, and preserve.
I try to plant fruit trees ad fruit-bearing shrubs every year.
My favorites are serviceberries and elderberries.

I discuss a lot of my favorite varieties in the free gardening webinar:
https://permies.com/t/143790/Free-Webinar-Gardening


These are my go-to items:
mushrooms
https://shop.mushroommountain.com/collections/plug-spawn
fruits:
https://onegreenworld.com/plant-sale/
Seeds:
https://www.rareseeds.com/

Best of luck!

Mole - they can be effectively controlled with various mechanical traps. We have used spring scissor traps in the past. These days we use a really neat explosive system. There is an electronic detonator unit, a charge about the size of a firecracker, and a trigger stick. You find a fresh mole hill and remove the soil exposing the tunnel. Put the explosive in the bottom and setup the trigger system. Moles respond to light in their tunnels by moving soil and pushing it out above to seal it up. This action of pushing soil presses on the trigger stick and activated the charge.

Very effective. We use it to preserve some critical ornamental lawn areas, but tolerate moles elsewhere around the property.

i am also in zone 5, this is my list of fav perennial foods, most from experience, some from reports or nutritional analysis. some are hardy to zone 6, but placed in the right spot should do fine.

Giant filbert (Corylus maxima)
Carmine goumi
Currant white versailles
Titania black currant
Invicta gooseberry
Indigo gem haskap (blue moose as pollinator)(aurora as pollinator?)
Vdb fig
Caucasian caper (Capparis herbacea)(hardiness?)
Blackberry 'ebony king'
Raspberry ‘caroline’
Chinese yam (Dioscorea batatas)
Caucasian spinach
Seedless concord grape (V. labrusca)
Supreme muscadine (with protection the first 3 years)
Kiwiberry issai
Kiwiberry kens red
Watercress (Ontario)
Ostrich fern (Ontario)
Udo ‘sun king’
Wild leeks (Ontario)
Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)
Walking onion
Kernza?
Silphium integrifolium? (perennial oilseed)
Hostas (edible ground cover around trees) yuki urui
Comfrey (bocking 14 is sterile)(good pig food)
Stingless nettle (Urtica galeopsifolia)(harmful to kidneys if harvested after flowering)
Basil mint (tires)
Fennel (tires)
Oregano (tires)
Tarragon (tires)
Thyme (tires)
Horseradish
Scallions (tires)
Myoga ginger
Asparagus (staple)(variety?)
Maidens tears (Silene vulgaris)(Ontario)
Perennial arugula (Diplotaxis tenuifolia)(staple)
Turkish broccoli (Bunias orientalis)(staple)
Kaleidoscope kale (staple)
Spadona chicory (oxalates)
Blonde de Lyon Sorrel (oxalates)
Strawberry mara de bois,
cabot)
Blueberry (bluecrop)
Opuntia humifusa (staple) (tires)
Physalis subglabrata (tires)
Peach (reliance,
calanda
harko nectarine)
Cherry (black tartarian,
sato nishiki)
Pawpaw susquehanna
Nikita's gift hybrid persimmon
Canadian white blenheim apricot
Superspur aestivalis mayhaw
Jujube coco
Apple (komitsu,
cox orange pippin,
granny smith,
roxbury,
Antonovka
pitmaston,
winesap,
arkansas black,
cinnamon spice)
Best golden russet bosc pear
Hosui nashi
Sweet lavender mulberry
Plum (Graf althans,
Mirabelle)
Trifoliate orange
Japanese heartnut (Juglans ailantifolia)
Carpathian walnut
Almond oracle (late bloom)(3)
Ultra northern pecan deerstand
Chinquapin nut (2)(nsf)
Pinus edulis (most commercial american species, 25mm, good cooked)
Yellowhorn (oil)
Chinese toon (Toona sinensis)
Sugar maple (10)(Ontario)
Emperor oak
English oak (Quercus robur)(black truffle tree)(10 trees)
Camellia japonica
Tea bush (sochi)
Jelly vine (Cocculus orbiculatus)
Salavatski pomegranate
Tonda di giffoni hazelnut
Noir de spain black mulberry
Uzbek pistachio
Musa basjoo (hardy banana)
Dolnamul (Sedum sarmentosum)
Bangpung (Peucedanum japonicum)
Monkey puzzle tree (need male/female trees)
Eia popeia passionfruit
Phyllostachys nidularia (most delicate flavored, best species to eat raw)
Montmorency sour cherry
Chestnut marrone di marradi
Grape (somerset,
Neptune seedless,
ruby roman
corinth
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)(edamame like seed)  
Calycanthus floridus (cinnamon alternative)(toxic)
Caragana arborescens (Siberian peashrub)(Ontario)
Chaenomeles japonica (japanese quince)
Hovenia dulcis (japanese raisin tree)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)(Ontario)
Maclura tricuspidata ‘norris’ (che)(can graft on osage orange)
Myrica pensylvanica (wax myrtle)(bay leaf substitute)
Zanthoxylum piperitum (japanese pepper)(the best zone 5 pepper)