small yard fruits?

I am planning a wildlife garden, and I want some fruiting plants. I would like them to be human edible even if I don't get many fruits before the birds do. I was thinking of honeyberry, akebia, kiwi, sea buckthorn, gooseberry, currant, and paw paw. Does anyone have experience with any of these? How did they do? My city yard is only one third of an acre, so I want smallish plants, not trees. Other suggestions? Thanks!

I think sea buckthorn might be too big for a yard. The plants I saw in Oregon were huuuuge. (But beautiful, and made me want to grow them. You could just prune.)

Kiwis grow really well here. I see them taking over people's walls and patios, although I've never grown them myself- so it seems like they couldn't be too hard to grow. We live in quite different zones, though.

Guess that's not much help. :)

I noticed that a lot of the nurseries are out your way in WA and OR. We always want the things that grow in other zones, don't we? Thanks for the tips.

I have black currant that I could start a plant for you. LMK They are too strong for eating fresh (IMHO) but wonderful made into a sauce/juice on icecream and custard/pudding. I boil and strain them and can the juice - about equal parts juice, water and sugar.

I love the idea of edible landscaping, too! Check out this site for more ideas: http://www.eat-it.com/ I haven't ordered from them yet, as I keep thinking we'll take a drive down that way, but I've had them bookmarked for over a year.

You might also look at lowbush ("wild" type) blueberries. The native plant nursery guy says they do well here (zone 6B) but even better a little further north. I want to try honeyberry & currants & pawpaw in the "fence row" of trees along the back of our yard (and weren't we glad to actually have some larger trees when we moved in!), but not until I've eradicated the poison ivy (which is being very stubborn, and I'm afraid I'm just going to have to spray everything back there and start again with nothing left but the trees). Anyway, I did just plant a trio of cranberry bushes from Stark Bros, and I'll let everyone know this spring how they fared through the winter.

In general, I've had excellent results with Stark Bros (we have a dozen of their "supreme" dwarf fruit trees). I also got nice raspberry canes from Miller Nurseries. friend who is my local gardening guru recommends Stark Bros for trees and Miller for other fruits, so I've just followed that advice.

Do check out some of the dwarf fruit trees, even if your space is limited. Miller has a "CompacStella" cherry at the front of their latest catalog that gets just 6 feet across & 8 feet tall, and I thought I saw a sweet cherry in somebody else's catalog that was also an extra-dwarf (if that's the term). Stark does some interesting grafts with multiple varieties on one tree, too. And you have to take a look at the Columnade apple trees -- I'm trying to convince my DH they'd look really cool marching up the side of the driveway, but he thinks they're just too strange.....

Also, consider Alpine strawberries (another "wild" type plant). You probably won't gather enough of these little berries to make a pie, but the intense flavor is out of this world. I have a patch going in the back yard, and I'm hoping they'll spread just as I've seen "false strawberry" do in this area.

sylvi 74, I did post previously of most of the fruit trees-shrubs that i grow. I have a really thrifty Akebia vine growing around one of my storage buildings. I've never tried to eat the fruit, but the flowers are very pretty and the birds like to nest in the vine. I also have a6 or7 year old Rhamnus frangula tallhedge, buckthorn, not sure that is what you were referring to. It is maybe 10 feet tall, and has several leaders, blooms more or less constantly, small blooms, small black fruits that the birds eat. Also a Cornus mas that is very pretty in spring as it is about the first thing to bloom, the birds eat all those red fruits too.

Another small shrub /tree is a grafted cotoneaster as a standard. I moved it from my other place 10 years ago, and the lable was lost. It is only about 3 feet tall, umbrella shaped and is loaded with bright 1/2" berries each fall. In spring after the berries have frozen the birds eat them. I have a 10 tree Allee make up of crabapple Malus Prairie Fire, which is quite lovely year round, lav. purple flowers in spring, purple leaves year round and red purple fruits that the birds are just now finishing eating. If I can give you any other suggestions just ask. Donna

Thanks guys! I am so excited about this project now!