Backyard foraging – proposing perennials

June 3, 2025

_{Backyard peaches can be left to ripen to perfection. (Photos: Caroline Cameron)}

Many of us were foragers in our early years, coaxed into a series of expeditions, from gathering wild strawberries, to late fall cranberry sessions. Money was not plentiful in families, but labour was free with a handful of children, and adults welcomed being able to leave behind the concerns of home.

We often made the annual trip to Cape Mabou to find the large strawberries on the “‘cradle hills” of the farm that our mother knew as a child, and we then went back for the blueberries later in the season. And we knew where the good summer apples were for pies and apple sauce, and then the crab apples for jelly.

The habit of foraging fell out of practice when cash became more accessible, with smaller families to feed, and goods being so available on the store shelf. But the pendulum swings again, and we find food more expensive. Many discover how good local foods taste, and there’s a greater interest in finding cleaner, healthier food sources.

If you’ve lost the habit of foraging, or the access to favourite patches, you’re not really prevented from connecting again with that primal practice of food gathering. You need only to travel to your back yard for the pleasure. Everyone can consider replacing an ornamental shrub with a perennial food plant that returns year after year—like that stubborn little rhubarb that still grows on the abandoned Cape Mabou farm.

If you plan well, you can be greeted yearly with some special treats, or a whole seasonal procession of crops.

Rhubarb, fiddleheads, asparagus, haskaps, strawberries, currants, Saskatoons, raspberries, plums, pears, peaches, apples, blackberries, grapes, horseradish, hazelnuts, walnuts, Jerusalem artichokes, cherries, garlic, leeks, even hops! There’s also a couple of new-to-me native species that I am anxious to get growing: the ramp (wild leek), and the ground nut, an edible root used by the Mi’kmaq.

That’s a pretty good start on a list of perennial foods that can be grown in your yard. These ones only require planning and pruning in order to have crops year after year.

Considerations:

• Most people fail to account for the amount of space that the mature plant will require. That little high bush blueberry plant will be about the size of a fridge when mature. And for goodness sake, check the label for mature size of fruit trees (look for dwarf varieties)!
• Fruit production is typically better in sunny locations, while the fiddleheads like to grow under leaf trees, getting spring sun with summer shade, and currants do well with less sun.
• For the most part, shrubs and trees are pretty forgiving of low fertility soil, and only suffer when the texture is extreme, like mucky clay or dry sandy conditions. Feeding the soil, watering, and attending to drainage will help.
• The most important consideration in deciding whether to invest in backyard food production is how much you want to be thinking about dealing with a crop in the middle of the summer, when it is competing with beach time and cèilidhs. It is far easier if you actually enjoy the process of harvesting. It is not everyone’s cup of tea.
• Raspberries and cherries ripen right in the peak of the summer season. I am okay with making the time for harvest because I’ve gotten into the routine of driving everything into the freezer (even the crab apples), and then coming back for winter enjoyment, or making the jam, jelly, or pies later on when things quiet down. When these treasures come out of the freezer, I feel as though I am eating like royalty, for free.
• When life goes sideways, one can always leave the crop unharvested, but I really try to avoid leaving the fruit on the ground near the plant, since I worry that it may encourage disease problems.
• Another aspect of planning is the size of the harvest. You can avoid having to deal with a tree’s-worth of apples if you partner with a few friends: someone grows pears, another grows blueberries, another apples, another peaches, and so on. Everyone has a reasonable quantity and enjoys a variety of fresh fruits. And if, for example, two different kinds of pears are required for production, perhaps your next-door neighbour would like to plant one of them.

While there’s always hiccups and challenges with growing, I suggest that you make these your problems, rather than being bothered with too much screen time, and not enough exercise. The benefits extend in many directions!

Happy Gardening!

Caroline Cameron lives in Strathlorne, and offers gardening and guiding services around Cape Breton Island. Please submit any gardening tips, questions, and news to strathlorne@gmail.com and visit Facebook at Nature/Nurture Gardening & Hiking.