Other than veg what else can I grow to eat? And how?

[WilfSell]

I really want a nut tree, like the hazelnuts the posh bloke on telly is picking. In fact I think we have a hazel but suspect it is sterile/ornamental (does that sound right?)

I think people grow olive trees don't they - can you actually get edible olives from them?

what about mushrooms? I have vague hippy memories of people growing them in shit in cupboards...

i have a south facing wall: am thinking of espaliered fruit trees...?

What other interesting food do you grow?

you need two nuts to pollinate - and you may well have a male which won't bear nuts anyway. Hazels take up quite a bit of space too.

South facing wall - great for things like peaches or nectarines - need to protect from winter wet to avoid peach leaf curl.

Espalliers aren't that difficult - once you understand the pruning (once or twice per year) - and you get a lot of fruit.

An alternative - maybe a grape vine ?

throckenholt, thanks: how does one find a hazel's genitalia sex? We do luckily have lots of room and I might be willing to swap one of our horrid rhododendrons for another hazel tree.

Blueberries great, and very expensive to buy the fruit in the shops.

Soft fruit in general actually, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, etc

Apple/pear/plums good.

And the old favourite, rhubarb.

Herbs, obv.

I am scared of fruit. We have 3 (!) apple trees and a crab. All are ancient, overgrown and ropey. I am trying to find an expert to prune them for me.

Perhaps am being a bit ambitious with my south facing wall.

God I love blueberries. Do they like sun etc? Are they easy?

Blueberries very easy. They need to live in a large pot, as they like acid soil (ericaceous compost). You can get loads of different varieties, most need a partner to fert, although some self-fertile. They like full sun.

You can get a huge harvest on a good year. Need to protect the bush from birds.

In my last house i had a grape on my s facing wall. Gave a small crop, but lovely to pick at on the patio.

Have never grown them myself, but have read that kiwis are good for a south facing wall.

hazel

• might help.

As far as pruning - cut back about 1/3 each year - that way you don't stress the tree too much. Cut out all tangled branches or ones that cross - you are trying to make it airy. And leave a bud that faces out on the end so that the branch will grow out rather than in.

olives dont fruit properly in uk i dont think. fig tree? if you have not got much room they are perfect as happiest in a large pot and would love a southfacing wall

Runner beans are dead easy, and will go great guns on a south facing wall. You just bung in the beans and let them grow up canes. We've been eating ours for months now. They really have lasted all Summer long and are soooooo much nicer than Kenyan stringy imports

get chickens!

My neighbour has an olive tree that bears fruit. Also you can get mushroom spores that have been implanted on to logs for growing in your garden but they are quite expensive though (£20 ish per log). Otherwise there are kits at the garden centre mine failed miserably

What about sprouting beans in a jar in the kitchen - great in salads and stirfrys