Bananas and star fruit and figs, oh my! Sacramento backyard an edible paradise

Sac Metro fireman Kyle Hagerty’s East Sacramento home looks unremarkable from the front. Less grandiose than his neighbors in the Fab Forties, his is a quaint bungalow shaded by a canopy of established trees. His backyard, however, is a virtual Garden of Eden.

Read more New Folsom inmate found dead in cell, cellmate detained, prison officials say

Hagerty began building out his garden when he purchased the house in 2019. Seeing its potential was one of the main selling points.

“The yard was almost completely empty, with the exception of a big orange tree and a couple camellia trees, but it was mostly just like a weed-filled lawn. Having a lot of sunlight is one of the most important things when you’re finding a space for a garden, and this was a yard that had plenty of sun and plenty of space. I just knew it would be an excellent spot to start a new garden from scratch,” he said.

He spent the first year just observing, making sketches, feeling it out. Once he knew what he wanted, he broke ground.

“I really wanted a space where I could grow a lot of diverse types of food, but also a space that really balances style and function, where I could entertain people. I wanted a space that was beautiful to work in and was broken up into different sections. I wanted a raised bed area. I wanted a little orchard. I wanted a little lawn for the dog to run around. Over time, I’ve created those, and now I’m at a point where I sort of just maintain it,” Hagerty said.

Today, the yard is full, teeming with edible plants wrapped around a central open area covered in clumping grass that creates a wave-like texture.

The garden isn’t all that he’s cultivated. Hagerty fired up his Instagram account, @urbanfarmstead, back when he was still gardening at his previous home, in 2014. Over the years, with regular updates, sage gardening advice — and the occasional thirst trap — he now has over 300,000 followers.

The garden path

Extending from Hagerty’s back porch is a straight path filled with decomposed granite, which doubles as a walkway and a bocce court. It is flanked on either side with fruit trees — Asian pears, peaches, nectarines, avocados and figs.

It’s this area where he has introduced the greatest diversity. Having recently taken an interest in grafting, Hagerty has cultivated several trees to bear multiple varieties of each fruit. Of his three fig trees alone, he estimates each has around 10 varieties.

Toward the back, Hagerty grows a riot of vegetables. Peppers include fire-red Fresnos and bright yellow Habanadas, which have the fruity flavor of habaneros and none of the sting. Among his abundant tomatoes, this year’s most successful has been the Italian pear tomato, large, pendulous red fruit with a puckered top and wide bottom.

Hagerty is not content to stick with strictly mundane crops, however. On an arched trellis spanning two beds, a tangled vine produces cucamelon, also called Mexican sour gherkins or mouse melons. Resembling tiny watermelons, they have a crisp crunch and a bright, citric flavor.

Adjacent are two thickets of papalo, an herb popular in Mexico but little known elsewhere. It has a fresh, herbaceous flavor not unlike cilantro, but with a sturdier texture.

Read more Driver dies in rear-end collision on Auburn Boulevard in Citrus Heights

“With the heat and everything, it thrives here. It’s surprising that it hasn’t become more popular. The reason I started growing it is because I love cilantro and I love making salsas, but cilantro is not a hot season crop. I would have to irrigate twice a day. I only irrigate this garden once every three days for the vegetable garden. So being able to grow something like papalo that has a similar flavor to cilantro, but clearly thrives in the heat with very minimal water, is exceptional,” Hagerty said.

Beyond the vegetables, things get exotic. Hagerty has leveraged his garden expertise to grow an orchard of tropical fruits, coaxing them to thrive in our Mediterranean climate.

“I stumbled upon a guy named Jeff in Modesto, who was growing avocados. And then on his page on YouTube, The TropicalGardenGuy, he was showing that he had a full tropical garden in his backyard, where he was growing mangoes and guavas and bananas and passion fruit and longan and lychee and all these tropical plants. That really opened my eyes to the idea that I might actually be able to grow some really unique things here in my backyard,” he said.

Weather wasn’t the only challenge growing tropical fruits. The soil also had to be considered.

“Even though I can’t control the climate, obviously one thing I could control was the soil. So I amended the soil so that these tropicals would have really good drainage, and they wouldn’t die of root rot in the winter time. And so far, it’s worked out,” he said.

Three years later, he’s seeing the literal fruits of his labor. There’s the oak leaf papaya, whose tiny, bite-size fruits have a tender texture and mild flavor, until you crunch into the peppery seeds. The babaco papaya’s large, yellow fruit is soft with a tart, citrusy flavor.

He has a stand of bananas, which have produced tremendous hands. Deeper in is his favorite fruit, the white sapote.

“If there was one subtropical that I would recommend to people growing in this region, it would be white sapote. They’re truly adapted to grow really well here in Sacramento. They have a creamy, custardy tropical flavor to them when they’re ripe, and they typically ripen in late summer, early fall,” he said.

Most exciting for him this year is the first appearance of star fruit.

“I was just cleaning up the garden yesterday. I planted a star fruit tree three years ago, and I just realized that it set its first fruit. So star fruit growing here in Sacramento, that’s pretty awesome,” he said.

In all, Hagerty thinks he may have more than 300 varieties of fruits and vegetables in the garden, accounting for grafts.

While his garden isn’t at a scale where he can supply restaurants with any given fruit or vegetable on a regular basis, he has done some pop-up events. He also hosts a plant starts sale in the spring at East Sacramento restaurant Canon.

Read more Timber Fire grows to 3,100 acres in Big Sur, threatening 500 structures, condors