Trees are extremely important in sustainable agriculture. They pull nutrients from deep in the ground. As trees drop leaves/are pruned and the material composted and added to the garden it partially compensates for the surface nutrient loss from growing and harvesting annual food crops. Trees and perennials mimic mature the ecosystems of forests with understory plants. Once established a garden designed to mimic nature mostly takes care of itself.
Of course trees take years to mature so planting them soon is a priority. So far we have four, a Hass avocado, a dwarf sweet lime, a dwarf Meyer lemon, and a Goji berry tree. The avocado tree may grow to thirty feet eventually. The lemon and goji will top out at eight to ten and the lime five or six. 
Joining them next year will be Mission figs. We sprouted them from cuttings taken from ancient and hardy tree in Old Town. It is quite possible this tree is a close descendent of the figs planted at the original San Diego Mission. Whether or not this is true one thing is certain, the cuttings are vigorous. We expected only about half of the six cuttings to take but they all took. We only wanted two fig trees. One has found a home with a coworker, but that leaves three that still need adoption. This first group of trees is planted on a slope on the north side of our back yard. To insure good drainage and efficient water use, I dug ditches between the trees so that watering the top most will in turn water the lower trees. I filled the ditches with broken tile saved from the living room. I plan to cover the tile filled drains and the entire area with mulch. Eventually this little grove will be watered by greywater from our laundry.
Trees, bushes, vines and canes are wonderful in the garden and provide wonderful fruits and berries for many years. What we have is quite different due to the cold winters we get in Ottawa (Canada). We have a Saskatoon berry bush, a Mandarin cherry bush, strawberries, blackberries (that we found on the property and brought back to life), a drawf Mackintosh apple tree (short tree, full size apples), a service berry tree, a Rowan tree and two different varies of grape vines. The best part is that once they got established a little organic compost and a bit of pruning each year has kept them healthy and happy.
ReplyDelete…and the beauty is that when you compost what you prune the tree is really fertilizing itself. Toby Hemenway uses the phrase “food forest” to describe what large portions of a permaculture landscape should be like. His book Gaia's Garden is most accessible and practical book on permaculture I’ve come across and should be on the bookshelf of everyone interested in sustainable gardening. That’s why it’s in our Amazon spinner.
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