Techniques for designing a holistic orchard
The
second chapter of The
Holistic Orchard was
all about planning an innovative orchard that suits your site. I
wish I'd read this before I drowned some trees in our soggy soil, then
reinvented the wheel to create
raised planting beds
incorporating hugelkultur just like Phillips
suggests. His notes on sun and wind are probably just what some
other beginning orchardist needs as well.
A method Phillips calls
"biological terracing" looks like it would be just right for our steep
and dry powerline cut pasture. Soil is shoveled
downhill to create a terrace with a bowl 
behind it, and the bowl is
filled with wood chips to soak up moisture. I've pondered
terracing our powerline hillside (or at least building small cepas for trees), but have gotten
bogged down in deciding what will hold the steep downhill side of the
terrace from being scratched apart by chickens. Phillips'
suggestion of planting comfrey to hold the slope sounds like it might
withstand moderate abuse. (The two photos I've included are other
ideas for terracing --- click each to see the source.)
Next, Phillips
introduces forest gardening, dynamic
accumulators, and nectary
plants
that attract beneficial insects. I won't write more
about that here since I've posted about each topic in depth in the
past. I was a bit disappointed that the author seemed to be
regurgitating a lot of forest gardening information from the literature
rather than telling us which techniques actually work in his orchard,
but that's my pet peeve about permaculture books in general.
Did any techniques pop out
at you from this week's reading? Or do you have a site-specific
problem Phillips didn't cover that you're wondering how to work around?
We'll read chapter three
for next Wednesday. I know it's a lot of pages, but the first and
last parts cover information you probably already know if you've delved
into orcharding at all, so feel free to skip or skim that and just
focus on the "soil fertility" and "tree doings" sections on pages 59
through 82. I hope you'll keep reading along (and that newcomers
will feel free to join the club! We'll probably focus on this
book all through October and November, so you've got plenty of time to
hunt down a copy.)
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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This blog is getting expensive!
I started by getting one of the Weekend Homesteader ebooks from amazon- a real steal! But that prompted me to get another, and another...I think I have them all now, but I decided the info was so valuable that a hard copy was in order. And then , you are introducing books and ideas that lead to more books.... I've ordered chicken books, permaculture books...I have the Holistic Orchard on my wish list....as well as a scythe, and a better garden cart! I believe I am going to have to add a "walden effect" line item on the budget next year!