I can't think of anything better than goosberries. I harvested mine a couple of weeks ago and got 4 gallons of berries from three bushes.
My bush cherries do very well with not much additional water, but they get way way bigger than 4 feet and are similar to pie cherries.
I also grow an annual huckleberry Solanum melanocerasum that is great for pies, cobblers ect. For some reason, the variety I have is much better than those commercially available - got it from someone who got it from Russia. Mine are edible raw, while the commercial variety needs a lot of lemon juice to make it palatable. They are easy to grow from seed and self seed easily. They seem to be somewhat drought tolerant.

Thanks - I will stick with gooseberries and perhaps asparagus, then! And maybe try jostaberries (currant x gooseberry hybrid). There really isn't anything easier to grow.

I planted a Northstar Cherry in the spot where the apricot sucker bushes were, and might plant a second. The apricot suckers never flowered or made fruit, so that was an easy decision.

And, to make you feel like the Enabling Queen, I ordered miniature daylilies on Monday. I have always liked the looks of the Siloam's, and found Homestead Farms had two collections of them for a reasonable price. The order arrived today in very good shape, so now there are loads of new DLs to plant in the garden. :-) They will be so much fun next year when they start blooming.

Siloam Apple Blossom
Siloam Baby Talk
Siloam Button Box
Siloam Child's Play
Siloam Joan Senior
Siloam Trinket
Siloam Double Classic
Siloam Fairy Tale
Siloam June Bug
Siloam Little Girl
Siloam Sugar Time
Siloam Toddler

... and I bought a non-mini collection:

Atlanta Rufflette
Aztec Furnace
Designer Gold
Heritage China
In Your Dreams
Indigo Dawn
Janice Brown
Sinbad Sailor (Bonus Plant)
South Seas
Strawberry Candy

Yahoo for next season!

Cheers,
Michelle

I thought I had alot of Siloams, but you've got mostly different ones than me. Siloam Double Classic is one of the most vigorous:

Janice Brown is not much bigger than a Siloam.

Ok, speak more of the goose berry. I have heard this as well around here, that they are the best, but nobody has any left.

Cheryl, That daylily is a beauty. I don't know if you are still collecting, if you are we could trade some next season. Most of these were big enough to split, there were ~4 fans per variety, and I split them in two. I also forgot to mention that I ordered from Iris4U. Thanks for mentioning them. The local grower had a late freeze nip most of their stock, and their sale was very limited. Then I ordered iris from Tx earlier this year, but they refunded my check after their farm flooded! I was glad to find a Colorado vendor who could actually get me some iris!

David, I will take pictures of the gooseberry bushes tomorrow. They are the easiest, most healthy shrubs you can imagine. Have you seen gooseberries? Pixwells are little round green globes, delicious to eat right off the shrub. And they bear fruit early, they don't mind a late frost. I will probably order some as bareroots for Spring from Stark Bros. There's a link with a little bit of info below.

Cheers,
Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Small Fruits

Your gooseberries are green? Mine are purplish red when ripe and quite sweet to eat right off the bush. I have no idea what variety mine are - I got them at a garage sale for .25 a piece about 23 years ago.

They're very very easy to propagate by layering. Put a rock on a branch to hold it to the ground and you soon have another gooseberry plant.

Full sun? How much water, I could put them on very dry or very moist or anywhere in between. I assume raccoons and birds enjoy them as well?

I have tried raspberries, not very successful. I have been trying to grow blue berries for the past 7 years, originally by excavating the soil between a side walk and the north side of the house and refilling it with peat, and then for the last two years in containers full of rich, acidic soil. Total 7 yr harvest: a little over a pint. I am berry challenged.

Mine are planted in the front lawn, and get the same water as the lawn, which is just enough to keep it alive. So, average garden watering seems about right for plump berries.

Racoons have never bothered them - they just go for my grapes. Birds eat them, but not nearly as bad as they do my cherries because the gooseberries don't show up as nearly as well.

Mine are planted in full sun in average Colorado soil without admendments. I haven't experimented to see if they do better in better soil. BTW, they do have thorns.

Thanks, cnetter, I will try some next spring.

Speaking of thorns & berries, I have a hedge of buffalo berry, which has these tiny orange berries all hidden in branches with thorns like a Russian Olive, that make the best jelly I've ever tasted. It takes about an hour to pick a quart. I have a bumper crop this year, and I think I'll just cut the laden branches off with loppers, freeze them, and knock the berries off when they're frozen. Its a plan, anyway.

David, I can try layering some extra Pixwells for you for next Spring if you want to start off with smaller plants. I am going to try layering some for myself, too. :-) I didn't know buffalo berries were edible! Unfortunately, the only one of those that I grow is a male plant - so no berries.

Cheers,
Michelle

I got mine through the Soil Conservancy. They do pretty well in drainage areas, in fact, too well, and would take over the place if I let them. The jelly is wonderful, kind of a citrus, lemony berry taste. I'd love some goose berries, if they take.