forest gardens & site assessment

Monday, March 28, 2011
SL270, Day 7
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There is a lot to know about Horticulture, way more to be known in a two week course. I am honored to be in the process of beginning to learn. I wish I could know everything all at once. It feels like I am floating into a sea of precious and special knowledge. What a treat this is!

The Sky above 2nd St. Cafe, Fairfield, IA, March 2011

To begin class today, Jeff gave us examples of what he would put in his Forest Garden, for his area, the Pacific Northwest. I am from the west, I am from California, and every time Jeff talks about the West, I forget that I am not there anymore, that I am way deep in the middle of the country now... I think he showed us the list of fruits to give us an idea of how to begin compiling a list of what we would like to do for our final group project. I'm not sure what nut trees could work for us in our area--but Jeff said something about Black Walnut working being good in climates where it gets cold. It sounds like perhaps the Italian stone pine for pine nuts might be a little too labor intensive for yield.

Some garlic I grew, Davis, CA, 2006

Okay, this is when it gets even more interesting. Two berries--the Goumi berry and Sea Buckthorn berry are both nitrogen-fixers. They would be good for a lower tier of a forest garden. I'm not sure about wolfberry, Lignonberry or elderberry for us, it is sounding a little complicated. When plants are dynamic accumulators, it means that their deep roots can go very low into the ground and bring nutrients back up to the top of the soil. These dynamic accumulators are: yarrow, vetch, watercress, comfrey, garlic (doesn't garlic grow once and then need to get harvested? so this might be a little more labor intensive), lemon balm (which I would really like in my plans), sunflower and strawberries. Strawberry plants I think would also have to be replaced after about 3 years. Other nitrogen fixing plants are: chamomile, chives, comfrey, collards (more harvesting) and ground nuts, such as peanuts. Mulch plants create its own mulch, and these are artichokes and comfrey. So overall, it seems like comfrey is a very good plant to have around--though I believe Jeff said it is very vigorous.

A forest garden is a design of planting that intentionally emulates a forest. This is picking plants that support each other to create a system that is eventually self-sustaining. A plant guild is a selection of plants put together to benefit each other. An orchard guild has fruit tree as a central element, grass suppressing bulbs, insectary and bird-attracting plants, small fruits, nutrient accumulators, mulch plants, soil fumagants, pest repellants and nitrogen fixers.

The following is an ordering of plants for a "Perennial Edible Suntrap:" 1. Canopy, 2. Low tree 3. Shrub layer (Currants or berries), 4. Herbaceous (comfrey, beets, herbs) 5. Rhizosphere (root veggies) 6. Soil surface (ground cover, strawberries. 

In some commercial growing situations, we are beginning to see Agroforestry, which is how, for example, when we see "shade-grown" coffee, this is coffee grown in an Agroforestry environment where the coffee lived in the understory of a Permaculture designed growing system. Up until today, I knew that "shade-grown" coffee was supposed to be more desirable, and this is because when you buy shade-grown coffee, you are supporting a system of growing coffee is that is more sustainable for the environment. Agroforestry is a system that leaves ecosystems intact, creates better air, and less soil erosion.

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The assignment for our final group project is to re-design the landscape surrounding the current SL building, with fruits and nuts and whatever other edibles we would like to include. Though our plans are just ideas, bluesky, and to demonstrate to Jeff that we can incorporate class materials into this design, it is possible that the SL Department will chose to implement some of our ideas if they like them.

Our blank slate, the SL Building, from Google Outer Space

To begin preparing for our group assignment, as a class we went outside and did a full 360 degree assessment of the area surround the SL Building. We were all together but semi- divided into our groups. There was a lot to take in. We all took our own notes. I drew sketch after sketch on page after page to try to represent what already existed in the landscape. There are a lot of trees already. Do we want to keep the trees or cut down trees? I didn't have many ideas, I just wanted to take in what I was seeing. After I got home, I printed out a blown up image of the SL building from Google  Satellite, and I started making a list of the kind of fruits I would like to put in the landscape.