Boost your nutrition with these exciting small fruit trees

I recently attended a lecture by Jim Gilbert, owner and plant designer of One Green World.  They grow and sell edibles tested for NW gardens.  My favorite fruit out of the entire lecture was the Pawpaw tree, Asimina Triloba.

Pawpaw (Asimina Triloba) Think of an avocado that tastes like banana, is high in protein (great for vegetarians) and is easy to grow.

This is a yummy fruit with high proteins and nutrients that tastes like sweet banana, but is low sugar. Since I can’t eat sugar having it taste so good was very exciting to me! Plus, you can’t buy these in a store. Pawpaws can’t be shipped since they bruise easily. “It’s not like an apple that you can just dump out into a bin” according to Jim Gilbert.  The most important advise I can give to clients is to select the best tasting and easiest to grow fruit trees.  Don’t waste the time it takes to grow a plant to a mature fruit bearing size, when you can buy that same fruit at the supermarket.

The Pawpaw is a small tree native to undergrowth forests in Appalachia. Native Americans introduced Lewis and Clark to the Pawpaw. It’s easy to grow because this naturally dense compact globe shaped tree needs little pruning. It needs afternoon shade so you can plant it near or under an existing tree. This means there is room for this tree even if you have a small yard.

It was fun to hear Jim Gilbert brag about the heavy crop of Golden Sentinel apples from his columnar patio tree. This tree stands out for it’s compact size, disease resistance and it’s flavor which is like an improved Golden Delicious. It’s versatile too, eat them fresh, use them for baking or cider. There are many apple trees that would pollinate a Golden Sentinel, but my favorite is a Callaway Crabapple. I selected this tree because it matures at 6 feet tall so should fit into even a small landscape, and flower and fruit are quite beautiful. Plus it is still disease resistant and great for fresh eating and jelly.  If your space is very limited use another columnar variety.

Crabapples are a great pollinator and great for eating.

Check out this article Exotic Edibles to read more about some of the new super foods that you can grow to increase your nutrition and good health.

Big news for One Green World! Their farm outlet store is now located at 6469 SE 134th Avenue just off of Foster Road opens January 21st, 2014.