FOOD FOREST (Gopher style)

I've been on this site for over 2 years now.Many of you have watched My vid's Gophermans Little Farm, and Gophermans Little Farm 2.0.
My trees are coming along great.
Some are only in their 2nd season and I have planted more this year. I am getting fruit sets on lemons and oranges, Passion Fruit and Fejoa's (Pinapple Guava)
I have been watching food forest video's for a couple years now and have decided to just do it.
Level one is taking shape, That would be the shade tree element, Level 2 is coming along nicely. I have a Fruiting Goji Berry bush, I am taking long branches and cutting them into 3-4 pieces and sticking them 3" into wet potting soil and so far have successfully restarted about 40-50 cuttings. ( Unbelievably easy) , these as well as a few other additions, like more blue berries, and a few dwarf Mulberries I have ordered will make up the second tier, Shade tolerant layer.
My Herb Garden is out of control so I will separate out clump of mint, Oregano, Thyme, and Basil, get them rooted and plant them as a roaming ground cover.
Because my property is so big, I am having a H*** of a time finding wood chips to cover it. I have contacted tree services to no avail, so I am buying a wood chipper and making my own.
I'm going to do it in sections and work my way across the whole front of the property.
Perennial plants will make up the majority of everything planted, with annuals being grown in raised beds until the system takes off enough to use existing tree's for climbing vines.
I am moving my chicken tractor into position today and putting my Turkey and Chicken Hatch in their till they eat it down to nothing, I have found a good source for wood shavings (coarse sawdust) and will use that for ground cover till I buy my wood chipper.
I will post Pic's as soon as the sun comes up and will post Vid's as the project progresses.
The Youtube video's I have seen range from Supper Cool, to Huh, there are many approaches to this, only limited to the imagination of the perpetrator. I have a vivid imagination, should be interesting!

 

This is where I'm going to start today.I have Goji Berries ready for transplant.

This is my 1 year Goji plant, I just cut it into pieces and Whala!! Those cutting are less than a month old.

Last years Passion fruit came back early and has about 30 vines spreading out. The two planters were last years cutting of Purple Possum, they are also doing well.

I have Spearmint taking over half of this box in the back,also Thyme, Oregano,Basil and Lemon Balm, oh yeah Centipede grass!


I started this Hardy Kiwi from seeds 3 years ago, this is what I got.Hopefully there's a male in there somewhere!

These are Meyers Lemons, the first one is loaded with fruit and more flowers, this one got off to a slower start, but I think it's going to catch up.
It's a little out of focus but this is my Fejoa bush, I bought another yesterday and planted it. There are about a hundred fruits set between the 3 adult plants and my original is still flowering.

The Strawberry Guava seeds that Hanzo sent me gave me my little babies, its been a lot of work to get them going but they were root bound when I planted them yesterday. They are cold hardy enough to survive this climate so I look forward to eating Guava's off them next year.
This is my new favorite tomato plant. It produces ton's of tomatoes. We have picked at least 150 off it so far and it grows like it's on steroids. Very fragile so I have to be careful when I pull the suckers off it. I broke it a couple times alread and layed it down and covered it in soil and now all the vines have rooted and are producing flowers.
Starting to plant herbs and Goji today, I'm seeding out sweet potato's for a ground cover and a prolific type of cucumber for cover crops to see how that works.
Gotta start somewhere.


I just planted these about 2 months ago and their producing fruit alread.


Stevia is supposed to be very easy to propagate by cuttings as well so I started 30 cuttings this morning to see. This plant is amazing the leaves are like eating candy.

 

For wood chips high in nitrates... see if there is a chicken farm or turkey farm nearby... most are required to have a litter plan (how they plan on getting rid of the chicken litter -sawdust and chicken droppings) many will provide you a tractor trailer full for free or transport costs...

 

Looking GOOD!! I see what looks like deer droppings by the Strawberry Guava, hope they just contribute and don't subtract from your garden, they tend to eat young fruit trees up around here.

 

Wait. Are you going to cover the entire area with woodchips, all that grass?

 

Rabbit Poop. totally killer for my plants. I don't have any that don't like it!

 

YEP!!
Bout an acre and a half.
It'll be mostly trees,shrubs, bushes and crawling plants.
By the time I'm done it will be a Fruit stand with wood chip isles.

 

Food forest.... which videos have you been watching?

 

Well, it will certainly look interesting... Hmmm....if I did the same then I wouldn't have so damn much grass to cut and if I did it now while the wife is gone - well - she isn't here to stop me...not a bad idea...

 

Supposedly Stevia is very easy to root like most herbs, from cuttings.I started 30 cuttings yesterday, we'll see.
I bought these 3 plants at Home Depot, believe it or not, they have had some very interesting plant varieties, including the Hardy Kiwi.
I bought 100 seeds of 3 different varieties of bamboo from China. It's very hard to germinate and grow but I have some success from the 75 seeds of the Black Bamboo, I had 13 sprout roots and have 6 showing color after placing them in soil. That's going to go along my fence line perimeter. Not only is it useful but one heck of a security barrier.
It may take a while to get it going, and a lot of patience, The perimeter is huge.I also ought Purple Bamboo seeds.
My thinking is I might be able to make a few bucks off it as well.

I've watched about 30-40 different video's so far, the LAME ones I just move on, but some of these guys are wired tight. Their choice in plant's are very interesting.
In Zone 8A I have a lot of options but have limitations as well.
I need to get shade established a little quicker than waiting on my fruit trees,Hopefully the bamboo will grow quickly enough to start giving some shade. The sun in the summer down here is Brutal!

 

I just wanted to throw this video in here for you all to watch. It is a medical video that is absolutely incredible!!!
Goji is almost too easy to propagate, and there is no reason that you can not have this miraculous plant growing all over the place.

 

Wow! I never even heard of the stuff! Thanks! ...I wonder how it works on Hangovers?

 

i've been watching that Australian guy for a while, he did some great things in desert environments around the world. good to know I am in good company!, I have not decided to go food forest yet =)

 

Ok back to food forest

What trees are you looking at for the over story?

I have also been looking at perennial greens. so I don't have to replant every year. I will post a list in a bit

 

Jerusalem Artichokes, Tree Collards, Mulberry, Mexican Sunflower, Edible Hibiscus stuff like that. My fruit trees will almost all get to be 20+ feet tall. Most are 5-6' and some of my Pears are reaching 12'
I just spent the last 2 hours weeding and Harvesting my spice box. I ripped up a bunch of runners from the basil, thyme and Lemon Balm and potted them. I also place a couple runners under my Fejoa and Big Orange tree. So far it looks like the Stevia has handled being cut, none of my 30 cuttings have wilted.
I found a place to get Bamboo so I may get a bunch and build trellises and get shade through Passion vines or climbing beans. The good thing is I have till Dec. to get it all going,
I planted a flowering Kumquat this weekend, there is a lady at the Flea market that has a lot of obscure fruit plants. Oh yeah and I planted 2 really small Loquats as well.

 

Loquats yum

here are plants that grow well in 100 degree weather
Malabar spinach What Is Malabar Spinach?
Leaf ginsing (surinam spinach Surinam Spinach )
Pepper, NuMex Suave orange pepper
Jerusalem artichoke aka sunchoke
Red Hibiscus PlantFiles: Tropical Hibiscus
Gynura procombens Gynura - for diabetes, hypertension, high-cholesterol, rheumatism, viral ailments, and other illness.
Tree collard
Armenian cucumber Armenian Cucumber

 

I saw all of these on different videos,The Hibiscus leaves are said to be sweet, and the flowers are great in sweet tea.

 

Do you net your blueberries? My parents have to cover their plants because the birds move in around harvest time.