Like all urban backyards, ours is surrounded on all sides by walls and fences. Instead of complaining about the shade, I choose to see this as an opportunity to grow lots of crops vertically. Depending on how warm or shady any given spot is, I choose the fruit to plant there. We have a fig growing against the south-west facing wall of our neighbour’s shed and just opposite our backdoor, against an east-facing fence, we planted four different varieties of raspberries.
We have both summer and fall-fruiting red raspberries, the delicious yellow raspberry ‘Blondie’ and a black raspberry which is a North America native. Because we all pass by the fence several times a day, no berry goes unharvested. I love seeing my kids pop out in the morning to pick berries for their breakfast cereal!
And if I have enough raspberries, I like to make these raspberry rolls.
Do you also grow berries in your garden?