Plant Palette & Maintenance Schedule for Edible Forest Garden @ Wendell Town Offices Wendell, MA September 2011 prepared by Jonathan Bates of Food Forest Farm & Feeding Landscapes name TREES Asian Pear (with multiple grafts)
latin name
Quantity
Price
function
nursery
Maintenance
notes
Pyrus pyrifolia
1
$29
edible fruits, One Green World water 3x week after planting hardy; fowers in spring; fruits in Fall; multiinsectary, attractive frst year (or 1 inch rain/week) grafted tree is self-pollinating
Juneberry
Amelanchier canadensis
1
$29
Hazelbert
Corylus spp.
3
$8
edible fruits, insectary, attractive fowers edible nuts, wind break, wood products
Ribes rubrum
2
$15
edible fruits, Food Forest Farm nursery propagules
Elaeagnus multifora
1
$15
Prunus maritima
4
$15
edible fruits, prune out old stalks once Food Forest Farm nitrogen fxing established every 3 years edible fruits, spring Food Forest Farm prune to provide air fow and to fowers be able to harvest fruit
Rudbeckia fulgida
13
$10
insectory, beauty, native, bird seed
Turkish Rocket
Bunias orientalis
6
$10
Welsh Onion
Allium fstulosum
12
$10
edible fower collect seed late summer; good cooked perennial vegetable; high in Food Forest Farm shoot, soil nutrient breaking roots will spread plant protein; nutty mustard favor accumulator edible scallions, Food Forest Farm can be divided after year two perennial clumping scallion; use green tops pest confuser or dig for white bulb
Skirret
Sium sisarum
8
$10
Ramps
Allium tricoccum
38
$10
SHRUBS Pink Champagne Current Goumi Beach Plum HERBACEOUS PERENNIAL Black Eyed Susan
Hadley Garden Center St. Lawrence Nurseries
Hadley Garden Center
water 3x week after planting frst year (or 1 inch rain/week)
water 3x week after planting hardy; nuts late Summer; can be coppiced; frst year (or 1 inch rain/week) must compete with squirrels prune out old stalks once established every 3 years
can be divided after year three
edible root, nectary Food Forest Farm can be divided after year two specialist edible leaf and bulb
hardy; early fowers in Spring; fruits in June; self-pollinating
Food Forest Farm harvest in moderation due to slow growth
var. pink champagne is the best eating quality red current pick fruit in June; does have sharp branches pick fruit in September
consider dwarf var. speciosa 'Little Suzy'
replant crown after lifting to collect roots spring ephemeral onion; spreads very slowly; speed up by spreading seed
Purple Dome Aster Russian Comfrey
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
19
$10
insectory fower, beauty
Symphytum ×  uplandicum
1
$10
Matteuccia struthiopteris
10
$10
mulch plant, soil mineral accumulator eat Spring fddle heads
Chrysogonum virginianum
50
$9
Alpine Strawberry
Fragaria vesca
50
$10
Birds Food Trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
Ostrich Fern GROUNDCOVER Green and Gold
Common Blue Violet
Viola sororia
Sheeps Fescue
Festuca ovina
Red Clover
Trifolium pratense
infnite $14.99 per 5 pound bag seed 50 $9
Hadley Garden can be divided after year three this is a dwarf variety of New England aster Center good fodder for chickens and pigs; Food Forest Farm can be divided after year two, cut down leaves twice a year to breaking roots will spread the plant; leaves collect as mulch accumulate Ca and K collect Spring fddle heads will slowly spread by rhizomes Nasami Farm
nectary specialist, Food Forest Farm no maintenance will spread over time; keep area mulched groundcover, with leaves, straw etc until green and gold attractive spreads fruit; clumping Food Forest Farm divide clumps every few years grows well if mulched around with leaves ground cover to keep plants producing fruit
nitrogen fxer, clumping groundcover running ground cover; edible leaves and fowers infnite $79.99 per 25 low mow steppable pound bag grass seed infnite $14.99 per 5 nitrogen fxer, pound bag insectary, seed medicinal fowers, clumping groundcover
outsidepride.com
establish by broadcasting seed; water 3x week until established Food Forest Farm water at establishment; thin and eat if spreading to much
pretty yellow fowers; helps build soil and suppress weeds
outsidepride.com
perennial clumping grass; mow 2 times a year; used in the 3 foot paths and surrounding the deer fence red fowers used in salad; helps build soil; good for covering the ground
establish by broadcasting seed; water 3x week until established establish by broadcasting outsidepride.com seed, or transplant from other gardens; water 3x week until established
will do well in shade; easy to propagate from root division
Town of Wendell Edible Forest Garden Design Suggestions Detailed site preparation Phase 1, year 1: Can be completed in all patches or a single patch. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
-mow area -lay down black plastic for 6 months to 1 year -after weeds have been killed back, dig out any persistent weeds -till and cover crop remaining site, or keep in black plastic -gain access to more effective watering system before planting -use broad fork or deep tillage to loosen soil in areas to be planted -use organic amendments based on soil test -when planting trees follow guidelines for planting from the book “Edible Forest Gardens”, by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier -sheet mulch all trees 4 feet out from trunk -protect base of trees from herbivores with hardware cloth and tree tubes
Phase 2, years 1-3, as herbs and shrubs are installed: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
-install lowest cost deer fencing (whatever works in your area) at perimeter of forest garden -as best that can be done, dig a 6 inch by 6 inch perimeter trench on the outside edge of the deer fence -lay hardware cloth down horizontally in bottom of trench pointing out away from garden and bend at a 90 degree angle up two feet out of trench and above the soil meeting with the deer fence (see cross section drawing, reference also “Perennial Vegetables” page 59, by Eric Toensmeier) -in same trench, in line with vertical portion of hardware cloth, install rhizome barrier up to the soil line -sheet mulch flatter areas and plant shrubs and herbs -build hugelkultur raised beds on slope and plant into these beds (see cross section drawing, reference also “Sepp Holzer's Permaculture, A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening”).
Phase 3, installed at any point during or after site is completely sheet mulched: ! ! ! ! ! ! !
-install ground cover plants into sheet mulch and raised beds -four feet out from fencing, till the ground and broadcast seed of “low mow” sheeps fescue (this outside the fence strip of lawn sheeps fescue replaces high maintenance grasses and weedy meadow plants, which use more fossil fuels and human labor to control) -establish 4 foot garden paths, interior to the fence, seed with sheep fescue -establish smaller garden paths with wood chips.
Guidelines for maintenance -Establishing a good irrigation plan (equivalent to 1 inch of rain per week) reduces the amount of hours and labor that will be required during the first year of establishing the plants. -Installing a fence to keep out deer, voles, ground hogs, rabbits and rhizome rooted plants will significantly reduce maintenance and future losses. -Eradicating the weeds that are already on the site will also be a huge help. Some of the more tenacious weeds on the site include: bindweed, goldenrod, horse nettle, and quackgrass. -When installing the sheet mulch and hugelkultur raised beds, use as much compost, wood material and other organic material as possible. The more nitrogen and carbon brought in to smother the ground and build soil, the lower your maintenance will be and the more soil diversity you will have. -Notice how the design is broken into three patches. Patch plantings can be installed slowly and expanded as needed. -Planting the sheeps fescue is not a necessary part of the design, but I believe it should help compete with weeds, greatly reduce the need to mow, and reduce the need to maintain paths with wood chips that add more labor and material cost to the project. -Non-fescued paths, and beds lacking ground cover plants, need to be maintained by adding non-weedy mulch material. In this case I recommend adding wood chips, saw dust, leaves or oat straw (whatever carbon based material you can get) to pathways every other year after the first year. -Hand weed when necessary. Trees, shrubs and herbs may need to be pruned once a year if they grow over paths, or reach a hight or width that you prefer to maintain them. -All plantings can be used as nursery stock after 3 to 5 years. Perennial herbs and ground covers would be divided then. Shrubs can have cuttings taken. Fruit and nut seeds !can be propagated and shared. -Many of these plants will produce edible parts in year two. Try not to over !harvest in the first three years. Wait until there is abundance. It will come. Forest garden time by year is said to, “Sleep, Creep, Leap, Reapâ€?. -Food Forest Farm has grown all of the plants in the design. The plant hardiness, placement, spacing and maintenance recommendations are based on JonathanĘźs experience over 10 years. It is entirely possible that the Wendell Edible Forest Garden will grow and behave differently then what is represented in this design. The designers have taken this into consideration, we hope you do too. Enjoy the garden!