Some edible plants
My parents gardened. I also gardened for years, but here in Fort Wayne I stopped. Instead I’m planting perennials, trees, and bushes: the food equivalent of passive income. This year I planted asparagus at the southwest corner of my house; I was advised it would like full sun and heat. That corner is getting blasted this week. I watered the asparagus last night and forgot to turn off the water. My son went downstairs to check the laundry and said there was nothing in the washer but "a pipe is making noise". So I went outside and turned it off. Hopefully the little feathery leaves and roots enjoyed their bath.
I have two baby pecan trees with tiny leaves at their tips, and two baby bush cherry plants with lots of leaves.
We harvested a couple gallons of mulberries over several days, by spreading old blankets and sheets under the tree and shaking the tree. Mulberries grow in ones and twos all up and down the spreading branches; they hold onto the tree only until the moment they are ripe, and then they fall right off. Hard to harvest by picking. Delicious, though. I froze three pints and we ate the rest.
Black raspberries are ripe this week; they're not as sweet as red raspberries, and with the hot dry weather they're not quite as juicy, but still good. In a few days the gooseberries will be ready. I have two small gooseberry bushes. One is behind my daughter's parking space; she ran over it in the winter. This summer it's growing but didn't produce any fruit. The other bush, much more protected on the other side of the house, is covered with green berries the size of small marbles. They're not super sweet, and when they turn purple they have a jammy texture. Delicious also. I'm grateful for food-producing plants.
At the corner of the house next to the driveway is a lilac bush, quite tall; the branches are in front of my dining room window. Birds like to sit there and we can see them easily. I'm having that window replaced with a newer one later this month or next, whenever it arrives; I asked if they would have to do anything to the lilac. The salesman and the guy who came to get exact measurements seemed to think they can replace the window without hurting the bush, but I question. The roofers last year dropped a gutter on my outside faucet, which caused the plastic water pipe inside the house to snap. They repaired it but we lost a lot of water pressure. No doubt my dad would know exactly how to fix that.
Under the lilac I planted a bunch of angelica. Online uses for angelica include candy which I'm not going to make, and say it tastes like celery. I've tried eating the leaves; they're nothing to write home about (except I'm writing to tell you they're not good but not inedible). Turns out the plant is supposed to be used literally like celery: the stalks are like extremely thin celery stalks, crunchy and chewy and stringy. It spreads like wildfire; I have it restrained by keeping it next to the house between driveway and sidewalk. I'm not a fan of celery. At least it requires literally no maintenance; you'd have to work to kill it off.
