Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.

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Anyone here growing a fruit forest? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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If so, which fruits and other plants are you growing?

What is currently producing?

How do you manage the size of your trees?

Do you make compost, or do you only use mulch to build soil fertility?

Which climate are you in?

I'm interested to know how popular fruit forests are in this community and how others are doing it.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm just starting and the patch of land is pretty small, but I'm trying to get a mini food forest going in our frontyard in Northern Germany.

There's 4 trees (mirabelle, plum, apricot, pear) to which I finally planted "companions" a few days ago, a small hedge consisting of insect friendly shrubs, some Blueberry plants. Also a Magnolia, Cherry Laurel (leftover from former owners) and another unidentified big shrub. Also some flowers here and there, but most of it is still (former, unmown) lawn which is going to be converted step by step.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes, convert that lawn! Two plants worth considering are Prunus persica 'Kernechter vom Vorgebirge' and Amelanchier × lamarckii. I've heard great things about them, but they were growing in SW Germany, so do your own research first. What do you use for a ground cover? Clover can be a valuable ally in the fight against the grass.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I've heard good things about the Amelanchier × lamarckii too in context of food forests! Space is rare though so I'm not sure yet what else to get. I'm not actively converting the lawn other than not mowing it except for 1-3 times a year, it's more that I started with the trees and am continuously expanding from there, plus some shrubs here and there and the hedge. There's some clover already but actively converting feels like a lot of work which I'm trying to avoid.