Planting food forests while helping Build community

Planting food forests while helping Build community

Did you know that planting fruit, nut, and edible trees in your landscape provides all the spring blooms, color-changing leaves, and wildlife that landscapers and home gardeners are looking to achieve? Yet choosing to use fruit, nut, or edible trees creates a homegrown food forest, providing years of production, and possibly building an “insurance policy” in case of crisis.

 

Beyond traditional tree choices that only provide color, privacy, and wind protection, planting some edible trees into a landscape can provide additional calories in nuts or fruit, it can also help build community. A full-grown apple tree or avocado tree can provide more fruit that a single family can use. This makes it a great way to share and connect with your neighbors.

 

Sharing with neighbors and showing them what you have planted, when, and how to pick the produce can build relationships that strengthen the community. Not only that, but once a neighbor plants and shares the abundance, others may join in. Together this can make communities stronger and more resilient to any breaks in food chains.

 

As your food forest journey begins planting diversity in your landscape might be one of the first goals you look to achieve. Planting a large number of trees across the landscape can help reduce disease and pest issues. Planting trees that provide different features to the landscape is also important, such as growing nitrogen-fixing trees along with your fruit and nut trees.

 

There are a lot of nitrogen-fixing trees available, some natives such as black locust, Kentucky coffee tree, the mesquite tree, and many others. Most species in the Fabaceae family will be nitrogen fixers, yet there are a few, such as the Eastern redbud which does not fix nitrogen into the soil, but still have beautiful spring blossoms that are even edible.

 

Let’s compare apples to avocados to start. Why these two, well they are pretty much unrelated, for the most part, thrive in different zones, both have cultivars that push the limits of the growth range of the original trees, and who doesn’t love a good apple or avocado?

 

Avocados are part of the Lauraceae family and originate in the warm climates of Central America The apple on the other hand is in the Rosaceae family, originating out of the cooler regions of central Asia. Both produce fruit on a semi-regular basis. Apple fruit is considered a pome while the avocado is a drupe or stone fruit, like a peach or mango with a single solid central seed.

 

By comparing these two we learn to plan accordingly within the region we reside in. This means learning your growing zone, also the microclimates in your exact location, the space you have available, and your personal preferences. We can push the limits of many species by using microclimates, such as windbreaks, urban effects, greenhouses, or growing in containers so that our trees can be moved in the cold months. This is very common among patio growers, especially those that tend citrus trees.

 

If you live in the northern united states planting avocado trees as part of your landscape is never going to work out, the tree will not tolerate the colder temperatures. Once it drops down below 32 degrees avocados can suffer or die. There are, however, some cultivars that are being developed to tolerate colder environments. There are even some cultivars that will thrive in containers if moved indoors during the cold times.

 

As for apple trees which are pretty resilient across all growing regions. There are enough cultivars out there to grow and produce across all the zones. But, to be a successful producer apple trees require chill hours, most varieties need about 1000 chill hours. Chill hours are measured by the number of hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Most apples need at least 1000 chill hours to produce properly, but there is a range of tolerance.

 

This is important to consider, while an apple variety may grow in your region, planting that apple tree that needs 1000 chill hours in a location such as Florida that only gets 100 chill hours, may produce little to no apples. There are apples trees cultivars such as the Anna apple that need only 300-400 chill hours and some like the Dorsette golden apple tree, only needing 100 chill hours to produce fruit. Meaning if you live in Florida or down to the Bahamas there is still an apple tree for you.

 

Taking the example of apple trees vs Avocado trees, we know there is a lot of information to learn about the region we are in and the trees that will thrive in our region. Breeding of new cultivars has allowed us to push the boundaries of a tree's original habitat and expand them where they originally do not thrive. Knowing some of the basics to start, such as your zone will help you choose trees that are right for the region.

 

It's also important when starting your food forest to include species that help fix nitrogen into the soil. This not only increases the diversity of the property, but these trees take nitrogen straight from the air and move it into the roots. This is healthy for the landscape to thrive in the long run of their growth.

 

By keeping diversity in your landscape, you can still create windbreaks, beautiful spring blossoms, fall color change, wildlife, and some extra food in nuts, or fruit. The abundance from some of your trees when they are full-grown can often be too much for a single-family, I believe it is important to share the experience with your neighbors.

 

Allowing your neighbors to enjoy the fruits of your labor helps to build stronger communities, that can learn from each other. Your kindness and sharing, explaining what you are planting and why you have chosen those trees can lead to more of your community wanting to plant and be apart of the joys of growing. In the end, this is almost what matters the most, being able to feed your family and help your neighbors, and having a beautiful landscape is such a bonus.