Last garden update. I showed you all the annual things that I grow, but I thought I’d give you an update on some of the perennial things I grow.

When I first moved to Alaska I was under the assumption that you could not grow any kind of fruit, domesticated anyway. There’s lots of wild berries, and we pick quite a few wild berries each year, but beyond that, I assumed it was too cold.

As I started talking with local gardeners however, I learned that there are fruit bushes and tree varieties that do grow here. Some have to be grafted onto hardy rootstock so that it can withstand the -40 and sometimes as cold as -50 F winters. But there are quite a number of options.

The first fruit tree I planted was one that I bought from a friend who was moving. It’s a Nanking Cherry. When I bought it, she told me that I needed a second for pollination. I just thought I’d go get one from the local nursery. That was years ago, and I still haven’t gotten it done. I do know they have them though, because I’ve almost bought one a time or two. Maybe before the summer is done I’ll get one planted… The bush does blossom every year though, so I really should get it done.

About 4 years ago I saw a Facebook ad for cherry trees. I went a bought 2. They also had what they claimed to be Haskap blueberries as well, so I bought one of those. The cherry trees have been growing now for 4 years and they have never even blossomed. What I thought was a haskap finally had berries on it last year, but it wasn’t blueberries.

That’s when I began to wonder what exactly I had purchased 4 years ago. I google searched the berries and they were service berries. Not exactly what I had wanted, but I’m glad it was berries of some sort. I then google searched the leaves on the trees I had purchased. Google says they really are cherry trees, so I guess I’ll give them another couple of years to see if they’ll produce anything. They were pretty small when I planted them, so it could be 5 or 6 years before they blossom.

A couple of years ago I purchased two Polar Blueberry plants and one haskap. The first year I got quite a number of berries from the polar blueberries, but the next year I got fewer, and this year there’s hardly any blossoms. They were smaller plants as well, and they are putting on some new foliage, so hopefully they’re just getting used to their environment.

The haskaps need two bushes as well for pollination, so last year I purchased another haskap. This year they both have quite a number of berry flowers on them, and the bushes have grown quite a bit. I’m grateful they’re surviving. I may have to replace my polar blueberries with haskaps if the polar ones don’t survive.

Last year I also purchased two currants. They both grew well last year, and I even got a handful of berries. This year one of the bushes is even bigger with lots more berries, but my husband accidentally sheared off the other one when he was plowing the snow off my garden so it would warm up sooner. The currant came back a little bit, but it’ll probably take a few years to catch up to the first.

The last berry bush I planted last year was a gooseberry bush. I had never heard of gooseberries, but decided I’d try. It produced a ton of berries and had a ton of new growth by the end of the season last year. It came back strong this year, and continues to grow well. I used the berries for jam last year, but I might try a pie and some jam if I have enough this fall.

I have tons of raspberries. It took me a couple of years to figure out the right place to put them, but once they got established, they are huge and loaded with berries every year. I have 2 places I put them, one gets deeper snow because it slides off the roof onto the raspberries. But it hasn’t stopped them from growing, they just don’t get as tall as the others. I guess the’ve adapted.

I planted strawberries a couple of years ago. I don’t think I have them in the right place yet as I get some berries, but really just enough to snack on while I’m weeding or watering, and that’s about it. I will leave them there for this summer, only because I don’t know what else to do with them, but maybe next year I can find a better place to put them so I can get a better harvest.

This year I bought another cherry bush, a sour cherry for pies and jams. This one I purchased from a nursery, so I know exactly what it is. I planted it earlier this summer and it’s doing well. It’ll probably take a couple of years of growth before it starts producing cherries, but I love cherry pie, so I’m excited for it to grow and start producing fruit.

I have a friend that is an avid gardener, and she has given me 2 fruit trees I never thought would grow in Alaska. 2 years ago she gave me a plum tree. I planted it, fertilized it, and then just tried to remember to water it. Last year when the snow had melted, the other trees had leaves, and the weather was warm, I looked at my little plum tree and it looked dead. I didn’t have time to deal with it right then. A week or so later I was walking by and thought I saw a little bit of green. Sure enough it had survived. This year it took a while to get leaves as well, but it did, and there’s new growth around the bottom 6 inches of the trunk. Fingers crossed that at some point it’ll produce fruit.

The second fruit tree she gave me was an apple tree (this year). I just got it planted a couple of weeks ago after having just plopped it in a pot to keep it alive back when she gave it to me. It’s growing really well so far, but the winter will be the determining factor as to whether it lives or not. She wasn’t sure the variety, except that it’ll be yellow and an average size apple. I need to find out if it needs a companion tree.

I love growing perennials, especially when they produce something we can eat. Most of what I’ve planted doesn’t produce anything yet because it’s just starting out, but in a few years I should have quite a lot of homegrown fruit. I can’t wait!

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