...and there have been at least 3 catastrophic rainfall events this winter, the last just this week with many landslides in the area. Luckily there has been no major damage on our land, which shows we must have been doing something right. Finally spring is showing signs of winning (almond blossoms):
and today we have been busy adding to the food forest. On the soft fruit bed below the pond we planted 2 blackcurrants, 2 redcurrants and a white currant (all called John), 2 raspberries and a pink gooseberry:
The base of the bed is made up of my reverse Hugelkultur method, piling a load of old wood (mostly rotten oear and hazel prunings) on top of which we piled some soil from excavating the pond and some horse manure. In between the fruit bushes I sowed some clover to add nitrogen to the bed, as they are quite nitrogen hungry. The raspberries and the gooseberry are planted along the back of the bed as they prefer shady conditions in our climate.
Above the pond I planted Charity the mahonia "Charity". She is particularly shade tolerant, doesn't mind poor soil conditions and produces edible berries:
Meanwhie down in the food forest we added Sally the service tree (sorbus domestica), which is a tall growing native tree producing small pear shaped fruit, some excellent wood and a strong root system. She'll be the queen of the forest, once she grows up:
We also added two nitrogen-fixing plants: Mimi the mimosa, which attracts early pollinating insects with its profusion of yellow flowers in the spring (which according to some sources are also edible, although I find them bitter):
...and Gina the Tuscan broom, which also produces edible flower buds, has some medicinal properties, is useful for basketry and fixes soil, preventing landslides:
Not pictured is Jenny the self-fertile kiwi. I'm hoping that she will shame Stud the male kiwi into getting the female hayward kiwis to produce!
Finally we added to the tree guilds around Jennifer the Rotello apple tree and Declan the winter pear. Both had an artichoke added to their neighbourhood, which, apart from producing edible flower buds, makes a good ground cover and mulch.
That's it for the moment folks. I'll try not to leave such a large gap before the next post. New ventures beckon for us and I'll keep you posted. :)
