I love the principles of permaculture. The interconnectedness of human, plant and animal life in a permaculture food forest is absolutely amazing. Here’s an example of how it must have all come together in the original Garden of Eden:
We have a walnut tree at the back of our little half acre homestead (yum!). We also have several butternut trees on the neighbor’s property line that drop nuts on our land (double yum!!). Those trees partially shade the very back portion of our property but that doesn’t mean we are willing to give up all that valuable growing space. So that’s the first problem to overcome. The second problem? Not only will we have to deal with a partially shady area, we will also have to deal with the juglone produced by these nut trees. What’s that, you ask?
Basically, juglone is an allelopathic compound which, more commonly, means it’s a substance that one plant produces to stunt or kill the growth of another. The walnut and butternut trees will kill most other trees, flowers, fruits and vegetables. But. There are also a number of trees, flowers, fruits and vegetables that are not harmed by juglone. Great! Now, all we have to do is determine what those are. Once we find out what will survive near the walnut and butternut trees, we then do a little more research to find out which of those same plants will also survive in partial shade. We also want those same plants and trees to provide food for us, food and habitat for wildlife, windbreaks against cold north winds and natural deer fencing. We’d also like to have as much of the plant life as possible be perennial so we don’t have to constantly replant. So what does all that mean? It means there’s a permaculture food forest in the making!
If you are dealing with juglone producing nut trees on your property, I found this website to be extremely helpful:
As it happens, several of the trees and plants that I wanted to incorporate into our little half acre’s landscape will work in the area of the walnut and butternut trees.
We’ll be planting Paw paw trees, elderberries, hazelnut bushes, a dwarf peach tree, black rasberry bushes, Maximilian sunflowers, Jerusalem Artichokes, and a variety of my favorite flowers. Here’s how it all comes together in a permaculture food forest:
Since the Paw paw tree is native to this area (and we want to support native vegetation where possible), we will plant two of those between the walnut tree and butternut trees to the west (the diagram shows the Paw paw and elderberries in the opposite spots – oops). Paw paw trees are juglone tolerant and also grow well in partial shade. Since the walnut and butternut trees both have open canopies, the Paw paws should get more than enough sun.
Elderberries also tolerate juglone but they need more sun. They’ll be on the very back of the property line toward the east so they’ll get plenty of sun. They will still be within 20 feet of the walnut tree so, thankfully, they are juglone tolerant. When mature, they will also help block the deer that love to feed in the neighbor’s open grassy area just behind our property line. Other benefits from elderberries include making elderberry wine (one of our daughters gifted the Hubby with a wine making kit at Christmas), and we can also can up some yummy elderberry jam. So, we’re feeding the wildlife from the backside of the elderberries since deer and birds love them, we’re feeding ourselves (wine and elderberry jam), we’re creating a bit of a windbreak because the back of the property faces the northwest and we’re planting something that tolerates juglone. That’s called stacking functions.
The hazelnut bushes, peach tree (another oops! left that off the diagram) and black rasberries tolerate juglone and are perennial sources of food. Those will be located toward the front of this food forest so they receive enough sun.
Also along the back property line, we will plant Maximilian sunflowers and Jerusalem Artichokes. Since one of the purposes of a permaculture food forest is to provide as much perennial food as possible, these two plants are great choices. The sunflowers have edible shoots and the artichokes have edible tubers (you should leave some of the tubers to provide new growth). An added bonus is that deer don’t like the sticky stalks of the sunflowers (according to my handy-dandy permaculture book Gaia’s Garden) so they will also help create a dense “deer fence.”
There are a number of flowers that tolerate juglone and those will attract beneficial pollinators to our permaculture homestead. Interspersed among the larger plantings will be certain types of hosta and daylilly (more edible perennials that tolerate both juglone and shade) along with some flowers that I just love to look at! Eventually, several vegetables will move from the fenced garden area into this general landscape. That may include corn, beans, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, squashes and melons, carrots and parsnips. When all of that happens, this area of our little half acre will be a true permaculture food forest. Instead of neat rows of veggies or long lines of fruit trees just begging to be invaded by predatory insects and/or wildlife, the landscape on the back section of our homestead will have an interconnected, natural appearance that will support beneficials, feed birds and other wildlife, feed ourselves and provide protection and camouflage for the more tender edibles.
Now for all you old permaculture pros out there, I know I haven’t mentioned Guilds yet or said anything about adding nitrogen-fixers. I think that’s a post for another time. But for all the ‘newbies’ like me, I hope this gets you to thinking about how to “foodscape” to create a more permanent, beneficial, healthy landscape.
Permaculture is a grand, natural design. I often think it must be how the Garden of Eden looked. I can’t wait to walk through this peaceful, productive landscape, and I can’t wait to share it with you!
