So I am playing with the design of a new berry and
perennial bed. My primary goal for this area is growing food. Essentially I want a stealth suburban perennial food plot. So I open this up to the collective wisdom of the interwebs...
I am in western Michigan zone 6 with a whole lot of sand as subsoil. Stated averages are 80 inches of snow a year and 37 inches of rain. I've been lurking, reading, and listening to podcasts on this but am still a newbe in this realm.
This area is nominally 41 feet east to west and 24 feet north to south on the west side but 21 feet north to south on the east side.
There are garages on the east, west, and south sides. The north side will be bounded by a
fence with a gate arbor in the center. All areas get full sun. It was grass with a line of daylilies mixed with irises along the north wall of the garage to the south of the area. The photos were taken at about 8 PM and looking north.
This was heavily mulched with chips from a silver maple removed 120 feet to the west of this area.
I plan on the
fence being a wooden framed hog panel fence which will be turned into a living wall (grape arbor wall)
Current plant ideas
4 to 6 table grape vines growing along the north fence and gate arbor (purple in the images)
7 blueberry bushes about 4 feet south of the fence (blue blobs) - we just bought these Bluecrop variety
3 tart cherry
trees (red)
24 foot row of raspberries (pink along the west garage)
Asparagus - meandering through the cherry trees (light green)
East side
West side
We are also thinking about planting Fraser firs or other evergreen trees in the
lawn area north of the new garden. Maybe a carpathian walnut but overhead powerlines are a consideration there.
I am also making a small orchard on the other side of the yard so have
apple, sweet cherry, pear, and peach over there.
The other side of the garage to the south has my typical annual veg garden - some weird mix of raised beds and Back-to-Eden.
Any ideas of other berries or the like to grow in here? Supporting plants to place in here? Other edibles to include - this list was created from our grocery shopping lists.
