— by Nan Sterman
You might wonder if the drought means the end of home grown fruits. Thankfully, it doesn’t. There are many kinds of fruiting trees, shrubs and even succulents that produce lots of fruits with little, if any, irrigation once the plants are established.
Here are two favorites, one of which may be new to you. In a future blog post, I’ll write about others as well.
‘Nan’s Passion’ is a big, flat bottomed fig that ripens in late August
Fig (Ficus carica)
Figs are some of the most ancient edible plants. Fig fruits have been found at archeological digs that date back 7,000 years. They grew in the hanging gardens of Babylon. The first fig trees in North America were planted by Spanish missionaries at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá, in the heart of today’s San Diego.
Figs are naturally big, deciduous trees with fantastic gnarled branches, white bark, and big, shiny green-lobed leaves (think Adam and Eve). They are also easy to prune to keep small and they fit into most gardens. Unlike ornamental figs, edible fig roots have very low potential to cause damage to buildings, sidewalks, etc.
As is typical with ancient food plants, there are many varieties to choose from, each favored by a different region or climate. ‘Brown Turkey’ and ‘Black Mission’ are the most common, but don’t limit yourself to just those two. I have five kinds of figs growing in my garden and they are all delicious.
Fig fruits ripen in late summer, though some varieties also have a small crop in early summer. The important thing to know is that gophers LOVE fig roots. Protect the roots by planting them in a wire gopher basket like these. One more thing – unlike most other fruits, fig fruits only ripen on the tree. Once you pick them, they stop ripening, so don’t pick them early.
Fresh jujubes have the texture of apples. Dried jujubes have the texture of a dry date. Because of their shape and texture, they are also called Chinese dates.
Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) is another ancient fruit. This one has been in cultivation for more than 4,000 years. Though jujube is from China, it does fine in dry climates and doesn’t need much chill to fruit. Jujube trees are tall (25 feet or taller) and evergreen, with sharp thorns so plant yours well away from traffic and children. Trees flower in spring. Those flowers become date-sized fruits that ripen in late summer or fall. Fresh jujube fruits have the texture of an apple, dried ones are drier, spongier than dates but just as sweet. That’s probably why the common name for these fruits is Chinese dates.
If you plant a ‘Li’ jujube, one of the common varieties, it will fruit just fine. If you plant ‘Lang,’ the other common variety, you’ll need to plant a ‘Li’ to for cross-pollination. If you have room, plant both and double your fruit!
These fruits are very easy to grow. For directions, please check out my blog post, “How to grow drought tolerant plants in California and other low rainfall climates.”
