Reminder: I may be an above average prepper, but I am barely a dimly lit bulb when it comes to gardening. In gardening, I truly need someone to lead me, guide me and walk beside me, and almost literally, help me find the way. Having said that....
I think this a great book to add to your arsenal. My gardening results improved significantly when I incorporated the BacktoEden wood chip methodology. So I have hope that Secret Garden of Survival will yield similar results.
Rick Austin's theory is to create agricultural, mutually symbiotic "circles" called "guilds" to create 4-5 layers of food or medicinal plants in the same space (more or less) that you would grow a single tree.
His layers are the tree, then some type of vining plant (think grapes) growing up the tree, then some type of shrub (i.e., berry bushes) at the edge of the perimeter of the tree branches (think just at or outside where the leaves would drop, if you ran a curtain down from the branches), and herbs or ground cover just outside the shrub layer. One would also plant onions or something similar at the base of the tree to keep mice etc from eating the bark of a tree.
On his website, Rick has the following graphic:
The whole point of this system according to Mr. Austin, is to plant perennial food plants, basically a plant it once, then leave it alone process. Hey, you know that's my kind of gardening.
I have an orange tree I could possibly try with this system, if I wasn't renting. In theory, I would dig up a bunch of circular space under the tree, replacing the grass with wood chips (I am sold on the Back to Eden wood chip benefits.)
I would then plant some type of vining fruit/nut plant. If I had run across this system sooner, I might have planted my grape vines under here--they're not doing anything for me out in the front yard anyway. I'm not sure from the book if I'm running my vines straight up (low hanging branch in sun on left) or running it up the trunk. This is kind of a bad set up, because in the winter my house casts shade pretty much all day the way you see it right now (which BTW, is 12:30pm when this picture was taken.)
Following this, I would plant shrubs (berry bushes) at the edge of the orange tree; then herb plants beyond that, and ground cover which would run through from the edge of the herb layer inside to the tree.
Rick's system works where he is, because he's living in the country. Most of us don't, so it's a bit harder to see how it would all work "living in the city."
My neighbor has a set up which would be virtually ideal to grow a camouflaged survival garden, so since it's cleaner and easier to visualize it with his, I borrowed it ;)
It's easy to see with George's set up, particularly if that planter was just a foot or so larger, how you could run a vining plant up that tree, plant some berry bushes toward the outer edge, some herbs and/or ground cover on the bottom, (in fact, doesn't it look like herbs/ground cover there at the base?) and just prune the tree so it doesn't get so out of control that it blocks all the sunlight.
So I can see that it would work, even in a city.
Here's what I wish the book would do. In chapter 5, he talks about what kinds of guilds you would need to plant if your "tree" was a walnut tree. He advises, since walnuts trees are toxic to many plants, to companion plant Elderberry, Mulberry, Currants, Tomatoes and Peppers, things which can thrive in a walnut's toxicity.
That's actually the only time he is specific. I am a dimly lit gardening bulb. I need more specifics! Sure, I could buy the book Carrots love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening, but that book (from what I remember) is about row gardening or at best, square foot gardening. This is a completely different way of gardening, so the same principles wouldn't necessarily apply, would they?
He infers that it will, but he is not clear as a bell on that point, at least not as clear as someone like me needs him to be. I concede that I am perhaps over thinking this. The whole point of growing this type of system, is to grow food which looks "wild" and does not scream "garden here, come ransack me." So perhaps it is not so necessary to be as rigid and specific as I am thinking I need (i.e., orange tree, grape vine, blueberry, echinacea, strawberry.) He does get a tiny bit more specific in chapter 10, but not a whole lot.
The other issue I have with this system, has more to do with my life issues. I am incredibly concrete in my thinking. I like things to visually "square up:" for reals, you would not believe my food storage all of which is squared up, labeled, categorized etc. By the middle to end of a normal gardening season when stuff is fully grown, it's all I can do not to give up--the visual "clutter" of going from nice neat rows to a jungle is almost more than I can stand. It's visually overwhelming for me.
So here's this system which is by design, intended to be visually overwhelming, so as to stay "hidden." You immediately see my problem, don't you? Which actually, when you think about it, is a ringing endorsement of his process. Think about it. I could actually be considered his "target audience/market marauder", someone who only recognizes gardens when they are in neat little rows or squares, someone who looks at his system and is visually impacted by "tangled mess", so we just keep going past it. And there's the secret, in a nutshell.
Mr. Austin spends time discussing in depth how to be intentional with your design, how to create water ponds and water flow so that you aren't having to "water" from your house etc. Those chapters were particularly insightful and thought provoking.
The entire book Secret Garden of Survival: How to build a Camouflaged food forest is definitely worth the buy and the read. It's thought provoking, at a minimum it gets you thinking how you can incorporate the elements in your existing garden space, even if you don't have tons of property like he has.
And just in time for this blogpost, Mr. Austin was kind enough to respond to my questions. Here are the questions and his responses:
1. One of my problems in gardening is that I am pretty overwhelmed when the garden is in full production, it's hard for me to access. Although I am enthusiastic about this whole concept I get the feeling that this system could quickly grow "out of hand." (I know that's likely part of the point.) Is there a way to utilize your system but not have it so "overgrown" so that I can maximize harvest and don't get overwhelmed?
Good question Kathryn. The beauty of this concept is that only one thing is ripe at one time. For example, strawberries are the first to ripen in my region, so early in the spring I am picking strawberries...and only those strawberries that are ripe...I simply go through the garden every day for less than an hour and pick the stuff that is ripe...Then raspberries ripen (strawberries are done), so I am picking raspberries...then blackberries come into season- so I am picking blackberries...Since everything does not ripen at the same time, I only have to pick what is ripe and later in the season, the blueberries, peaches, pears, apples, etc...ripen until the figs are about the last thing to ripen at the end of the year.
Therefore, even though I pick a lot of fruit, nuts and berries each season, it is not all ripe at the same time, like would be the case in a traditional vegetable garden or farm.
Thus, we don't have a traditional "fall harvest" like they did in the old days of farming... So I am never "overwhelmed" with picking the harvest.
2. Maybe I haven't read far enough, but I had thought there would be many more examples of "what to plant" together in guilds. Have I just not read far enough? For example, on page 33 you illustrate a Walnut guild, with elderberry, mulberry, currant, tomato and peppers. I guess I was expecting a specific list like that in chapter 5, versus what is outlined in the Fruit Guild: Fruit tree, berry bush, herb, ground cover.
Being a novice gardener, I don't know enough to know if "any" fruit tree will work with "any" berry bush, herb, ground cover, and vining layer?
As I tell people all the time, it would be impossible for me to discuss every berry, fruit tree, nut tree, herb, etc. for every region, every USDA Zone, and every elevation...the concept is the same in every area, but the specific variety of each type of bush or tree is going to be different in each area...If I tried the book would be 800 pages long.
Your best bet is to establish a relationship with a locally owned nursery who propagates locally grow plants that are indigenous to your area... there are apple trees that do well in Texas, and there are apple trees that do well in New Hampshire, but a tree from New Hampshire will grow in Texas, but will never set fruit...that is why you should not buy plants from the big box stores...most are grown and shipped from 1500 miles away and are not able to handle the diseases, rainfall (or lack of it), cold, hot, elevation, etc. that are specific to your area.
No comments:
Post a Comment