Because no one asked for it, here’s a look at my front yard food forest:
NOTE: I made that weird music, then inexplicably put it in in this video.
A few things that need to happen in my food forest:
1. More nitrogen fixers.
2. Lots of soil loosening. I’m thinking broadfork, then scattering seed.
3. More organic matter. Gotta get a tree service to dump tons of mulch.
4. More flowers. Just because I like flowers.
Overall, it’s coming along pretty well. By next year I’ll probably not be able to see the road from my house. A couple of years after that and we’ll be eating so many fruit we’ll need insulin drips.
I can’t tell you how much fun I’m having with my yard. Every day… every week… every month… every year… the system gets better and better. There are more beneficial insects, more flowers, more butterflies, more fruit and more beauty.
It’s a wonderful blessing to take a piece of burnt-out lawn and turn into Eden. You ought to try it.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
10 comments
Great yard and funny!
As long as I'm funny, I think I can get away without cutting the grass. When I become "weird," "eccentric," "bizarre" or "creepy," then I'm gonna be in trouble.
What a cool and inspiring tour! OOh, where did you get the goumi??? I didn't know the coral bean was a nitrogen fixer! LOVE the tortoise,he is so lucky! Leave the magnolia for medicine as well as for the kids. Maybe perennial peanut would go well in the yard as a n-fixer….start a few plugs here and there and watch it make a beautiful lush carpet with it's lovely little yellow flowers. Thanks for the cool view!
I think I got the goumis from Burnt Ridge Nursery.
That tortoise is awesome. He's come up to our door before and scratched at the glass. The kids love him and occasionally give him apple cores and other treats.
Perennial peanut is a great idea.
Interesting tour, thanks.
Everything looks so lush and green.
Those trees across the road and neighbouring were quite large.
I usually associate big trees with deep reasonably good soil.
I hope sun blockage is not a problem from them though.
Not too bad, since they're on the north side. They do host a lot of wildlife, which is a plus. I've tried to buy that empty lot without success. Maybe one day it'll be converted to a food forest!
This is really inspiring me to head out in the garden with a video camera this weekend.
Do it! Send me a link and I'll post it.
I love everything except the ragweed. If you've got any neighbors nearby who are allergic (my kids and I are), they can make them really miserable. I put the ragweed that pops up in my yard in a hot compost bin instead of chopping and dropping- I don't want to risk spreading it. The pollen triggers migraines for me, allergies for the kids, and used to trigger really scary asthma attacks for my grandmother- the kind where you have to decide if it's hospital time.
Other than the ragweed, your yard is what I'm trying to make over in my yard. It's frikken gorgeous.
Heh. Thank you.
Since this video, I've been cutting all the ragweed before it blooms. I'm also an allergy sufferer, though tree pollen is my enemy… I certainly don't want to contribute to anyone's allergic misery.
It does grow fast, which is nice, but none of it has bloomed without me catching it first.
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