Excellent article. I have recently, in the last year and a half, moved to a rural area, with a big enough yard for several trees and bushes. The soil sux, but that's another story, it can be fixed. I have planted a couple of apple trees, and am raising some mulberry trees from seed. Elderberry is on my list also. I believe in planting functional trees and plants, organisms that will provide me with something I need, like food, in return for my work of amending the soil and planting and caring for it. I like to eat fruits, but can't really afford fresh fruit anymore, on my fixed income. I try to collect seeds everywhere I go, when I see something growing I want. I do better with fruits by planting the complete fruit in the pot, like a whole mulberry will sprout about 20 little trees, then as they grow cull the smaller ones, until they are big enough to put in the ground. With Apple trees, I cheated an bought a couple of trees, because I needed specific varieties top grow in my zone, and for pollinating each other. I do not like to eat vegetables, and I am disabled an unable to really take care of a vegetable garden. I can get on my knees and dig a hole to plant a small tree in with a short army shovel, and can manage to drag bags of soil amendments out to the hole, and plant the tree, but I can't walk well enough to make it between rows of plants without stepping on them. And, best of all, eating something you grew on your property, standing back and looking at the trees as they grow, and knowing that you got nature started by your own work and sweat to make food grow out of the dirt.
I admire your perspective on planting trees and propagating them yourself.
What about buying or having someone build you an elevated raised bed that does not require bending for growing berry bushes, medicinal herbs and some veggies to save money on groceries?
Wishing you all the best on your journey to grow your own elderberries.
Fantastic !! I have been sitting on a pound of dried elderberries for awhile now trying to decide the best way to use them for a healthful concoction.... and yah, maybe my kombucha would love an infusion as well. this is the best article on elderberry I have found to date. You are a great writer, please keep 'em coming... If you are interested, I can swap you some elderberry seeds for recently harvested moringa seeds ... not sure of your zone...
Thank you very much for the kind and thoughtful comment. I would love to do a seed swap :) We are in zone 6 so I would have to grow the Moringa in pots but I do have a large south facing window I could use for over wintering the plant(s) inside so it is worth a try.
With regards to your dried elderberries and saving seed, the seeds may not be viable if they were dried using an artificial heat source (like a dehydrator). Do you happen to know how they were dried? (Dehydrators are the most common mechanism used for drying store bought elderberries)
Even if they were put through a dehydrator machine it is possible the living embryo inside the seed survived, I have never tried germinating seeds from dehydrated elderberries so I am not 100% sure but when I have tried germinating other seeds that went through a dehydrator (like peppers and goji berries) the seeds were not viable.
ahhh.... very interesting... Retailers probably use as high a heat as they can without destroying the product ... so, yah... not reliable for germinating. Now I am wondering if I have dried any of my own seeds in my dehyrdrator, even on low... :) the moringa dried on the tree, in the pod... I waited for them to start falling out on their own...
Excellent article. I have recently, in the last year and a half, moved to a rural area, with a big enough yard for several trees and bushes. The soil sux, but that's another story, it can be fixed. I have planted a couple of apple trees, and am raising some mulberry trees from seed. Elderberry is on my list also. I believe in planting functional trees and plants, organisms that will provide me with something I need, like food, in return for my work of amending the soil and planting and caring for it. I like to eat fruits, but can't really afford fresh fruit anymore, on my fixed income. I try to collect seeds everywhere I go, when I see something growing I want. I do better with fruits by planting the complete fruit in the pot, like a whole mulberry will sprout about 20 little trees, then as they grow cull the smaller ones, until they are big enough to put in the ground. With Apple trees, I cheated an bought a couple of trees, because I needed specific varieties top grow in my zone, and for pollinating each other. I do not like to eat vegetables, and I am disabled an unable to really take care of a vegetable garden. I can get on my knees and dig a hole to plant a small tree in with a short army shovel, and can manage to drag bags of soil amendments out to the hole, and plant the tree, but I can't walk well enough to make it between rows of plants without stepping on them. And, best of all, eating something you grew on your property, standing back and looking at the trees as they grow, and knowing that you got nature started by your own work and sweat to make food grow out of the dirt.
Thanks for reaching and sharing your experiences.
I admire your perspective on planting trees and propagating them yourself.
What about buying or having someone build you an elevated raised bed that does not require bending for growing berry bushes, medicinal herbs and some veggies to save money on groceries?
Wishing you all the best on your journey to grow your own elderberries.
love. it.
Fantastic !! I have been sitting on a pound of dried elderberries for awhile now trying to decide the best way to use them for a healthful concoction.... and yah, maybe my kombucha would love an infusion as well. this is the best article on elderberry I have found to date. You are a great writer, please keep 'em coming... If you are interested, I can swap you some elderberry seeds for recently harvested moringa seeds ... not sure of your zone...
Thank you very much for the kind and thoughtful comment. I would love to do a seed swap :) We are in zone 6 so I would have to grow the Moringa in pots but I do have a large south facing window I could use for over wintering the plant(s) inside so it is worth a try.
I am so glad you found my article to be helpful.
If you email me at recipes4reciprocity@gmail.com we can exchange info for sending seeds :)
.... um.... but I guess that since I have berries, I must already have seeds ! regardless, moringa seeds are yours if you are interested... :)
With regards to your dried elderberries and saving seed, the seeds may not be viable if they were dried using an artificial heat source (like a dehydrator). Do you happen to know how they were dried? (Dehydrators are the most common mechanism used for drying store bought elderberries)
Even if they were put through a dehydrator machine it is possible the living embryo inside the seed survived, I have never tried germinating seeds from dehydrated elderberries so I am not 100% sure but when I have tried germinating other seeds that went through a dehydrator (like peppers and goji berries) the seeds were not viable.
ahhh.... very interesting... Retailers probably use as high a heat as they can without destroying the product ... so, yah... not reliable for germinating. Now I am wondering if I have dried any of my own seeds in my dehyrdrator, even on low... :) the moringa dried on the tree, in the pod... I waited for them to start falling out on their own...