The Birth Of My Food Forest

Apricot Tree Pic Source: Whole Foods Market

The other day when I was going to town to do some shopping, I saw a couple of guys at a street corner selling plants just outside the village.

Of course I had to stop to check the merchandise. A woman can never have too many plants:-)

Among their stock, they had a couple of fruit trees.: apple, apricot, peach, red grape, white grape, pear and plum trees.

More importantly, their prices were very reasonable. So I placed an order, to be delivered at my house.

The plants arrived today and we planted them out in what has been, until today, a vegetable and herb garden and is now turning into a food forest where I will have a layer of fruit trees, berry bushes, vining vegetables and fruit, leafy vegetables and herbs, ground cover and root vegetables, all of these interspersed with flowers.

Example of Food Forest. Source: Deep Green Permaculture

The trees will serve various purposes in my food forest:
1. Provide fruit
2.  Provide much needed shade in summer and protect my crop from the worst of the heat and the frost in winter
3.  Provide mulch for the beds when the leaves fall off.

I'm so happy my vision of my garden is starting to take shape. I gave the delivery guys a list of the plants I plan to grow this season, but for which I don't have seeds yet. These include potatoes (I'm still planting but i don't have enough seeds, and I want to plant as many as I can), garlic, kale, ginger and as many berry bushes and types as I can get.

The guys promised to bring the plants when they have have them. I think it's great that I now have a potential supplier like that, especially because the guy's prices are very reasonable (for example, each fruit tree cost me R100. I know I would have paid at least three times for a tree at a nursery in town).

P.S. I'll take photos of my fruit trees soon to show you. They're beautiful, I think.