I confess : one of the areas I overlooked at the onslaught of my nutrient forest were the nitrogen - pay off accompaniment plants , specially atomic number 7 - restore trees .
I ’ve definitely been pay for it .
The middle of the food forest is pretty lousy grunge , as is the Eastern one-half . I should have planted a ton of support plant before adding my yield trees – or at least at the same time with them – but I did n’t . I got catch up in adding the fun stuff and have been playing catch up ever since .
Over the last duet of years I ’ve been starting N - fixing trees and shrubs from seed and contribute them to the food woodland . I ’ve also buy a few , like theEnterolobiumbelow :
That puppy came from fellow plant geek Oliver Moore . He ’s have some jolly nerveless plant in his ingathering and when he propose to sell me some pottedEnterolobiumsat $ 3 each , how could I pass up picking up a half - dozen ?
Want to see what a big one looks like?Click here . They ’re amazing .
Obviously I ca n’t let them get that big in my solid food forest . They , like the other nitrogen fixer , are mostly chop - and - fall plants that will tally both mulch above the grunge and nitrogen below as I sharply cut them back every class .
Or as they freeze back , as is the caseful with this Royal Poinciana tree :
That is a Jerusalem thorn in full bloom . The pod or seeds are ostensibly eatable but I ’ve never gotten any .
The trouble with using this Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as a nitrogen fixer is its incredible irritant and topnotch - hard Mrs. Henry Wood . Cut these branches and drop them on the ground and you ’re go to injure someone at some pointedness .
It ’s passably , though , and works really well in arid conditions where other nitrogen - fixer may not grow . It ’s also quite attractive .
Another lovely tree diagram is the “ Pride of Barbados ” tree , also known as nanus poinciana :
They die back to the ground almost every year when the frosts hit , then return and grow to a few foot marvelous before coiffe adorable red flowers that await a lot like miniature imperial bird of paradise heyday . alas , the tree is somewhat thorny so it ’s a questionable chopper - n - drop .
Here ’s another thorny one that despite its needlelike report also has multiple benefit to recommend its use :
That ’s a slight contraband locust tree tree . They touch on nitrogen , feed the bees like crazy , plus succumb forest that will last for decades in the footing without waste . It ’s a perfect fence pole tree diagram for the homestead . I only have one at the moment but go for to pop plenty more in the future tense .
Though most nitrogen - fixing trees do n’t yield anything you could feed , they do add a lot of living to the soil and make thing quite a bit easy for your fruit trees . I ’ve get a good inclination of theory in my bookCreate Your Own Florida Food Forest , which , apropos , isnow on cut-rate sale for $ 2.99as part of the Kindle Select program on Amazon .
Do n’t do like I did . Start with the nitrogen - fixers and mulch plants likeTithonia diversifolia , then plant your yield trees .
They ’ll be beaming you did .
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The food forest is starting to click
Good “Chop ‘n’ Drop” Video
Heavy Shade Gardening
Plant ’em all and let God sort ’em…
Florida Garden Consulting: Help My Homestead!
Tropical Gardening in Vero Beach
Why do we keep missing the support species?
