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.

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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.