If you are a vegetable gardener in central Ohio, you have likely been enjoying a variety of fresh vegetables from your garden this month. August is typically the month when harvests of warm-season vegetable crops such as tomato, pepper, squashes, sweet corn and others reach the height of maturity, allowing gardeners to enjoy the fruits of their gardening labor. But have you considered adding fruit crops to your garden or home landscape to increase the fruits of your labor?
If you have considered adding some fruit crops to your gardening repertoire or would like to learn which types of fruit crops can successfully be grown on a small scale in central Ohio gardens and home landscapes, consider attending a free Backyard Fruit Growing Workshop and Twilight
Tour, scheduled to be held on Aug. 26 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The workshop and tour of a fruit planting containing 40 different tree and small fruits, which can be grown in the backyard, will be held at the Waterman Farm on the Columbus campus of the Ohio State University. Participants will learn about home fruit production from OSU Master Gardener Volunteers who specialize in fruit production and will take home free educational resources that will help you get started growing fruit in your backyard.
The workshop and twilight tour are free, but registration is required. Space in the workshop is limited, so register now at go.osu.edu/growfruitbackyard.
Waterman Fruit Collection at Ohio State
OSU Master Gardener Volunteers have planted and nurtured 40 different species of fruit in the Waterman Fruit Collection. The collection includes common tree fruits such as apple and peach trees, but also includes cherry, mulberry, plum, Asian persimmon and apricot. Several of these tree fruits have produced bumper crops of fruit this summer.
Ohio’s official state native fruit, the pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is also growing in the Waterman Fruit Collection. A large research orchard containing hundreds of pawpaw trees is also located on the farm.
Several fruit species which grow on shrubs are also on display at Waterman Fruit Collection, including figs, elderberry, blueberry and currants. Some lesser-know fruits that grow on shrubs, including honeyberry, gooseberry and goji berry, also grow in the collection. Goji berries are small orange-to-red berries native to tropical regions of East and Southeast Asia and South Africa.
Bramble fruits such as raspberries and blackberries will be highlighted on the tour, and participants will see the types of trellis systems needed to successfully grow brambles.
Several varieties of grapes grow in Waterman Fruit Collection, including Concord grapes, one of the easiest and most reliable fruits to grow at home in Ohio. Concord is a native American variety of grape which grows well in Ohio’s cold winters and humid summers. Concord grapes have better resistance to common grape diseases than European varieties.
Hardy kiwi is another vining fruit which will be featured on the tour. Unlike fuzzy kiwis found in grocery stores, hardy kiwi vines (Actinidia arguta) tolerate cold Ohio winters and produce small smooth-skinned kiwi berries that ripen in the fall.
Tour participants will also learn about growing common Ohio small fruits such as strawberries and rhubarb.
If you’ve ever been curious about growing your own fruit in the backyard, plan to attend this Backyard Fruit Growing Workshop and Twilight Tour.
Mike Hogan is Extension Educator, Agriculture & Natural Resources and associate professor with Ohio State University Extension. He can be reached at hogan.1@osu.edu.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Grow your own fruit with tips from a free workshop
