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Re: My Bountiful Garden (De)

By: fizzy in ROUND | Recommend this post (0)
Wed, 29 Jun 11 6:23 PM | 116 view(s)
Boardmark this board | De's Test Board 		Msg. 33684 of 45510
(This msg. is a reply to 33680 by Decomposed)
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De,

You can grow a LOT more than you realize. A whole lot more.

First of all, nearly all fruit and nut trees and shrubs -- except the clearly tropicals (and citrus...which I would classify as tropical) -- REQUIRE winter dormancy to produce fruit. I would guess 80% of what I'm growing could be grown on your land.

A large portion of what I'm growing isn't actually suited for this climate but, ideally, requires a Washington/Oregon climate. I got most of my exotics from http://burntridgenursery.com/ -- Oregon based. You can surely find a similar site closer to your area but, if not, burntridgenursery is a good place to start and they have cultivars for most of what they carry which could easily handle, and likely thrive, in NH.

Normally much of what I'm growing wouldn't survive here but I have a microclimate in the back yard due to the steep hillside and it being on the eastern side of the house and, thus, blocked by the body of the house from full afternoon sun. AS YOU BUILD YOUR FOREST YOU BEGIN CREATING A MICROCLIMATE, BY THE WAY, SO WHAT ORIGINALLY CAN'T GROW THERE DUE TO HEAT OR COLD OR LACK OF MOISTURE CAN GROW THERE LATER EASILY ENOUGH. You can also create a "microclimate" with a greenhouse and, if you have the room (you do), I suggest a COMMERCIAL hoophouse type (large enough to store numerous tractors in...not the piddly back yard type). I suggest you visit this page: http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Modular_Greenhouse_Units

The thing is to get started. There is both a time vector for building the ecology and a time frame for learning.

I'd be happy to share with you whatever I know. What I know isn't near enough to satisfy me, of course, but is more than enough to know that you can build an edible forest garden of marvelous diversity.

Get started. Now. That is something I've been advising for some time already. We don't know how many ticks are left in the clock but if you got started now, and approached it as an extension of what you are already working on, you would be well on your way in a year or two. Putting in 50 trees is how I would start. You CAN grow apple trees, cherry, currants, filberts (hazelnuts), chestnuts, gooseberry, aronia, wolfberry, elderberry ... and probably a dozen more of the things I listed. And then there are things you are going to be able to grow easily which are problematical for me (yet to be determined).


I have come to realize that men are not born to be free. Liberty is a need felt by a small class of people whom nature has endowed with nobler minds than the mass of men. -Napoleon


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The above is a reply to the following message:
Re: My Bountiful Garden (picture thanks to Clo's help with "tinypic"!)
By: Decomposed in ROUND
Wed, 29 Jun 11 4:43 PM 		Msg. 33680 of 45510

re: "peaches, pears, apples, cherries, oranges, lemons, mulberry, plums, Russian olives..."

Unbelievable! I am insanely jealous! You *do* know that you wouldn't be able to pull off such awesome variety in most other parts of the country, right?

I'm looking at your crops with an eye to what I can grow on my property and thinking, "nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, yeah maybe, nope, nope..."

*sigh*

I have apple trees and blackberries on my land. I planted cherry trees a couple years ago, but I've only been up there in the off season since, and I can't tell whether they're alive or dead. I suspect the latter, but I'll know for sure when I drive up on July 19th.

I've asked about nut trees, and everyone I've spoken with says they don't know of any nut trees grown in New Hampshire. I thought chestnuts were endemic to the Northeast but I can't find anyone... even at the local nursery... who can confirm it or tell me who sells them.

Apples, peaches, cherries, nectarines, sugar maples - these are the only food trees that I know for certain to be viable in my area. And as clo said, most of the other garden plants, except for blackberries and raspberries, have to be planted every year. That's a LOT of work.

I think cattails grow, but I have no pond or bog. (Neighbors down the road do. Normally, I wouldn't envy them. It just breeds mosquitos and frogs and doesn't even have fish since it dries up each year.) My little steam flows swiftly and is beautiful, but cattails won't grow on its banks unless I alter it - which is illegal, though that won't necessarily stop me since I think I could possibly make some changes that won't hurt anyone.

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