Blank slate:
I unexpectedly had this strip of land plowed and harrowed this year, and now I don't know what to do with it.
The original idea was to experiment with some #syntropic #agriculture principles on this patch, but I don't currently have the resources to create a proper placenta.
🌱🌱🌱
I think I’ll try throwing in some pioneering species and see what happens.
What would you do?
#agroforestry
I'd still have a crack at the syntropics. I don't know if it needs to be that complicated.
I would mark out my rows running north/south & figure out my spacing. I like a small mound to mark where my rows are.
I'd focus on planting support species that grow well in that area & that you can easily find propogation material for. Keep the stuff you'll be regularly chopping separate from where you'll put your target species (fruit/nut trees). It reduces time when doing a chop & reduces the risk you'll chop a target species.
Pigeon pea, Mexican sunflower, legumes/cover crops, ice cream beans are the types of things I'd look for.
You just want to get those pioneer plants in & building soil life & mulch. Bare soil where I live doesn't stay bare for long as there are plenty of weed seeds in the soil. Let then grow, cut them & use them to establish things.
You can never have too many plants in when you're starting. You can always thin then later.
Yeah I think I'll do that. For now I'll just establish the lines with grass and some cover crops.. Trees can come later once I get some propagation going or collect seeds from around the area.
I just thought about what I had already growing & tapped into my nearby friends gardens.
It didn't take me long to fill the rows out.
I made mistakes & would do things differently but those lessons I can take with me.
Biggest lesson was keeping a line clear for my target or higher value species. It makes maintaining the row so much easier.
I'm still pretty new to farming, so mistakes are pretty much guaranteed! 😅
Saw that approach of separating mentioned briefly in a video somewhere and it made sense to me. Appreciate you confirming it from actual experience.
