An important strategy for designing a food forest system is to choose plant species and cultivars that extend the harvest season throughout the year.
In the springtime, we can read the blossoms of the landscape to teach us what trees will fruit early and which trees will fruit late in the season. This can be useful when assessing a new site to understand the projected harvest, and to help you plan when gaps in the harvest season may occur.
Check out the video to read the blossoms with me and see what a food forest planned for extended harvest looks like in the springtime.
Announcement: The Advanced Drip Irrigation Workshop, May 26-27, 2018 at the Permaculture Skills Center with Ecological Designer and Author Robert Kourik is open for enrollment. Learn more here:
All the Best, Erik Ohlsen
Nice! Personally I would have laid it out the opposite, so that when it is coldest before winter sets it, the last fruit harvests are right near the house. Easier to gather and bring in for processing and far quicker so there is less time spent in the cold. Of course I live in the north where we have feet of snow every year and I plan for these things to be easier during the winter months. Great video again!!!
good video. Thanks! Also curious about the vegetation below the orchard trees. The grasses and plants are taller than with surrounding area. Does that serve a purpose during this season?
great video, very helpful. I’m in Occidental and have 2 peach trees now, an early elberta (early) and blood (later) and want to plant more peaches and nectarines.
Could you please name the varieties you have shown in the video with their fruiting times?
much appreciated!
Mary