Why Plant a Food Forest, or What's With All the Woodchips?
I am a baby permaculturist, not even living on the land we are going to cultivate yet. But I have been learning so much from WhatsHisName (I can't find that he has one) on the Canadian Permaculture Legacy channel at YouTube. (I'll keep looking.) And from other resources, which I'll name as I share what I learn from them.
Growing food in old, dead city-dirt is a great deal of work. Many of you do well at it, but you could enjoy the fruits of your labor with less of it. Left alone, this kind of soil will grow weeds, but that is nature doing its job. The weeds provide carbon to the soil through the process of photosynthesis, which carbon travels down into the roots and is available in fallen soft green leaves, feeding bacteria and developing a bacteria-dominated soil. (Good compost is needed for growing leafy vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes, which require bacterial soil.) Over time, in nature, the soil will improve and the area will slowly transition from grassland to prairie to scrubland to bushland to small virgin forest to wild forest to old growth forest. During that change, the soil will transition from bacterially dominated to fungal. The fungus has been fed on wood that has fallen from the trees. The richest fungal soil is found where a whole tree has fallen and slowly decomposed over time.
You need fungal soil to successfully grow plants with woody stems, such as berry bushes and fruit trees. Pruned off twigs and stems, dropped to the ground, in turn feed the fungus. This is also one of the reasons for putting woodchips on the ground. In just a year, a thick (6 to 10 inch) layer of wood chips will have begun to feed the soil, sustain moisture, and develop a fungal network. But be patient; each year it will improve.
You will need woodchips of different sized pieces, never sawdust, to keep it from compressing, matting and becoming like concrete in the rain. Include some twigs and sticks, which are higher in nitrogen. Some think woodchips tie up nitrogen, but that is only a problem about 1mm thick on the surface of the wood. Therefore, as in nature, do not dig woodchips into the soil. That would mean each piece of wood would have the nitrogen tied up in that amount.
The woodchips also help to prevent UV radiation of the ground. Never leave the soil uncovered. Plant some clover and strawberries among the chips, for the soil benefits of photosynthesis, and some slightly taller plants to shade the ground.
Though you need some green plant kitchen scrap compost for your leafy veggies, which can be mixed with a little molasses to help feed helpful bacteria, you should also mulch over it with chips to keep the soil moist.
Some of the lumber related industries have more wood chips than they can deal with and would gladly drop off a load when they are in your area. Call and check it out!
What can you add to this topic?
Growing food in old, dead city-dirt is a great deal of work. Many of you do well at it, but you could enjoy the fruits of your labor with less of it. Left alone, this kind of soil will grow weeds, but that is nature doing its job. The weeds provide carbon to the soil through the process of photosynthesis, which carbon travels down into the roots and is available in fallen soft green leaves, feeding bacteria and developing a bacteria-dominated soil. (Good compost is needed for growing leafy vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes, which require bacterial soil.) Over time, in nature, the soil will improve and the area will slowly transition from grassland to prairie to scrubland to bushland to small virgin forest to wild forest to old growth forest. During that change, the soil will transition from bacterially dominated to fungal. The fungus has been fed on wood that has fallen from the trees. The richest fungal soil is found where a whole tree has fallen and slowly decomposed over time.
You need fungal soil to successfully grow plants with woody stems, such as berry bushes and fruit trees. Pruned off twigs and stems, dropped to the ground, in turn feed the fungus. This is also one of the reasons for putting woodchips on the ground. In just a year, a thick (6 to 10 inch) layer of wood chips will have begun to feed the soil, sustain moisture, and develop a fungal network. But be patient; each year it will improve.
You will need woodchips of different sized pieces, never sawdust, to keep it from compressing, matting and becoming like concrete in the rain. Include some twigs and sticks, which are higher in nitrogen. Some think woodchips tie up nitrogen, but that is only a problem about 1mm thick on the surface of the wood. Therefore, as in nature, do not dig woodchips into the soil. That would mean each piece of wood would have the nitrogen tied up in that amount.
The woodchips also help to prevent UV radiation of the ground. Never leave the soil uncovered. Plant some clover and strawberries among the chips, for the soil benefits of photosynthesis, and some slightly taller plants to shade the ground.
Though you need some green plant kitchen scrap compost for your leafy veggies, which can be mixed with a little molasses to help feed helpful bacteria, you should also mulch over it with chips to keep the soil moist.
Some of the lumber related industries have more wood chips than they can deal with and would gladly drop off a load when they are in your area. Call and check it out!
What can you add to this topic?
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