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Re: Edible street trees--carob and almonds

   Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 19:32:49 +0100
   From: Marina & Anthony Green <green@pangeanet.it>

   How about a carob tree (Carrubus sp.)? They have quite tasty
   chocolate-flavoured
   fruits, and horses go mad over them. And so do I!
   They seem around the right height, and they survive without watering
   very well. They can be clipped into any shape you want, too

Thanks for the suggestion.  I forgot to say I considered a carob but
decided against it.

When I lived in San Diego, there were 2 carob trees (planted by the city)
in my sidewalk strip and 2 next door.  I don't know why carobs are
considered street trees though...they are beautiful and need no additional
water but they push up the sidewalks.  I've read that that is a problem
with them and I have first hand experience.  The sidewalks are still
passable on foot but I wouldn't want anything to comprimize wheelchair
accessability (i.e., my own mobility).

Carobs also drop a lot of litter.  The pods go everywhere (which would be
okay if I was harvesting them).  I think there was also year-round litter
that was small and sticky that dropped on to cars, but I might be
remembering wrong.  And if you don't prune regularly, the branches fall.
My roommate's car got considerable damage that way (the city paid).

Carobs come in male and female trees (equally beautiful but equally large)
and you must have one of each if you want pods.

Another reason I decided a carob wasn't the right tree for me is that I
simply don't use the pods.  I love carob and looked into making it myself
when I lived with the trees.  It's a lot of work.  You have to roast and
grind the pods and then you just have powder.  It takes even more to get to
the carob chip type of food product.  I bought some carob powder once and
never used it.  I used chips and bought plenty of packaged desserts and
snacks with carob, but never used the powder.  Maybe that would be
different now that I have an SO who is a great baker, but I still can't see
using any more than a tiny percentage of the crop.  It's one of those
plants that I don't want to have but wish my neighbor did.

Carobs are gorgous, medit climate, landscape trees.  They would be perfect
as street trees in a rural area with no sidewalks where parking under the
trees was not necessary.  Or as garden trees if you had room for at least
2 of them.  Then the pods are a bonus.

Cyndi

_______________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, California            Zone 9 USDA; Zone 16 Sunset Western Garden Guide
Disabled, chemically sensitive, wheelchair user          Organic Gardening only
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                     Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)                   cnorman@best.com
__________________________________________________ http://www.best.com/~cnorman
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