I'm over 55 and starting my forest. So, videos like this sure help me because there won't be alot if time to correct my errors. Thank you for taking the time to do this!
I wish I would have seen this 4 years ago. I made most of these mistakes. I planted gojis before I tasted them, turns out they aren't very good. I planted gooseberries, which I like the taste, but get decimated by sawfly every year. Currants are also a victim of sawfly, but they have too many seeds to eat, there are more seeds than pulp.The deer here demolished every tree until I fenced each one. My honeyberries did poorly in full sun, had to move those. I propagated a couple hundred black raspberries, then figured out the ones I propagated were susceptible to orange rust fungus. I lost several apricot because they really don't do well in my climate. Nanking cherries do ok, but drop leaves when it's dry, they bloom too early, and the birds eat what does get to fruit. Squirrels steal my peaches. Blueberries are gone if I don't net them, same for strawberries and cherries. Pawpaws are supposed to be deer resistant, but they sure do like mine. I planted things I would need to interact with far away from the house when they could have been closer. The zones in permaculture design are WAY more important than I thought. The sad thing is, I researched what I thought was enough to have everything figured out, and it took a couple of years before I realized I would never have it 100% figured out. Permaculture is about reacting as much as acting. Nature is always evolving, and so must we. Now I focus on what's done well in my location, what I want to eat the most, how easy it is to maintain, and how well it will fit in the future.
Goji berries do have a flavor most north americans find not to their taste buds. They are more of a medicine berry not really a desert berry. I have a few plants, one I bought and 3 grown from seeds off the original. They are amazingly easy to grow from seed. I like to nibble a few as I pass by the plant. I certainly wouldn't pick a quart to make a desert trifle with.
Add a few sorbus aucuparia (Rowan Berry) and some other bird attracting trees, bushes and flowers, and you will never have problems with birds eating your grapes and blueberries again.
we're always adding to gardens and orchards especially if we made mistakes. The most awesome part of these amazing videos is the "why" portion. We all should never stop asking questions like a 5 year old. If we find we dont ask alot of questions we aren't living, we are thinking or getting smarter and we'll never be able to do anything without someone telling us exactly what to do. Well, if you know anything about humanity you know then that human beings dont like being told what to do or having to count on someone else. Thus its a huge, HUGE mistake and waste of your precious few seconds and minutes of life we get not to ask question until we understand the logic and it doesnt matter how long or how many questions we come up with to ask as that leads to all "good" knowledge and even how to stay away from "bad" or lying knowledge. He's so right on a level of understanding exactly as you said "Precious as Pure Gold". Its cool to know you found someone who cares about people, the right decisions for where we live and how we live and this amazing world. His wonderful logic is rarely even found in people. As he said If we dont think he's crazy then we're crazy...yep...its like describing parenting...One just cant ever fully explain the precious gifts we get and learn about that by parenting alone is gifted to us who try to be good parents. Same for being a good mom/dad of plants/animals/insects...As we experience all these things we peer into micro and macrocosms of priceless experience, knowledge, and hopefully much valued gained wisdom that crosses all boundaries. Anyway, blessings in life and most certainly the time spent in Nature.
You probably dont care at all but does anybody know a trick to get back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb forgot the account password. I would love any tips you can give me
Pay attention newbies - this is solid information! Hope you don't mind if I add a couple of things. 1) Regularly devote time to build good relationships with other farmers in your area. You never know when you're going to need an extra hand, borrow a piece of equipment or need supplies for an emergency. 2) Allocate a % of your resources for building infrastructure and work on that regularly. Especially for soil input, water and equipment. Understand the % is going to be high for the first few years. Probably higher than you imagine. 3) What you don't know can be extremely costly in both time and money. So get yourself a good education with a focus on soil science. I find the best source of information is papers published by university extension agriculture departments. Don't be put off if the science is over your head. Keep at it and little by little the pieces will begin falling in place.
It's better to have planted and made some mistakes than to wait until you have the 'perfect' plan to plant, which probably won't work out exactly as you plan anyway! I've been planning my forest garden for years but only started planting it last year and I'm sorry I waited so long.. Thanks for the insight
I recently started growing fruit a couple years ago. They are just now starting to thrive. Absolutely no comparison between store bought and mine. The taste is mind blowing. Can't believe how much better mine taste. My newest addition is the red haven and contender peach. I mean my toes literally curl with every bite 😊
I'm blown away by the value you freely give in your videos. I'm just starting my garden & know nothing. You are incredibly sweet and generous with your wisdom. Thank you ❤️
You are so welcome. You already said thank you. You could always support one of our paid products (film, pruningcourse.com, virtual Tour). As you get older you want to share wisdom you've learned because you know how hard it was to acquire it and would rather save people the trouble you went through. You'll just have to make mistakes in other areas because mistakes are just part of life. School unfortunately trains young people to think of mistakes as bad, you got it wrong... rather than just learn from it and adjust.
I was an Au Pair in the US (I'm german) and they had a farmers market in chicago - my host mom discuvered red currant there, she bought it and had no idea what it is. I explained the berries to her and her kids and they kept buying them almost every week during red currant season
Thank your for sharing this info. I love black currants. We always had dried ones in the house as a staple. Of course my family is from Eastern Europe.
I actually halve spacing but im growing my orchard in a different concept. Mine is more a actual food forest. I want trees to overlap and create canopies. Im not completely worried about high production but I have made some of those mistakes mentioned above like not planting enough of what we eat, planting in small sections first and focusing a lot of my time on too many different species before getting the basics down pat. In the last 6 years I've learnt a lot and changed the way I grow and plant dramatically. Still need more apples though 🤣🤣🤣
Sir i have planted persimmons plant to plant and row to row space is 15 feet. Can i plant the almonds or apples or pears or cherries between the rows of persimmons???
Observation is definitely #1! This time when I bought my home and land, I made myself not plant anything until I had observed and took reams of notes on the property. I watched where the sun's path went all year, what weeds grew where to tell me about my soils, how the drainage was in different areas, etc. My big learning mistake was growing what I knew how to grow back East! Gardening in the Pacific Northwest is nothing like gardening in Ohio, Illinois or Colorado! Duh! 🙄 I had huge crop let downs then I started talking to my neighbors about what worked for them. An expensive mistake!! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and passion!!
Awesome video! I love the idea of planting what’s already growing well in its own. I did that without knowing I was doing it. I moved into a house with one medium sized tree, learned it was an elderberry, learned how to propagate it, and now I’ve got them all over my little 1/3 acre yard. I love them. They grow super fast, give me privacy where I need it, and once they’re large, don’t need my help anymore. Thanks for the awesome video!!
My son has a business he just got going in east Tennessee called Appalachian Grit. It's a permaculture business. I'm sharing your videos with him now. You are amazing! Love your videos! Thank you sir! ☺️❤️
Use ground cover in the isles, manufacture it from your orchard as you prune it. Chip it and use wet stirred grass clippings, spread it, start in a spot and build it thick so the grass and weeds are dead. Spread out from there. Smother everything that isn't what you want and turn all the "free" space into a large flat composting mulch. Whole thing retains water, keeps the the roots cool in the day, warm in the night and when the bottom starts composting you get fertilised garden. Now, go the extra mile. Go buy edible fungus spores and seed you mulch in the shade of the trees. Seed it good, make your edible fungus the dominant ones in your micro-ecosystem, and get a harvest everytime it rains. Your perrenials will love it if you choose the right fungi to put beside the right plants because the fungi will simbioticise the perrenial by tapping directly into the nucles of their cells with their micilia. They'll farm your perrenial for sugar by giving it nutrients and both organisms do better for it. They'll even medically tree for infections and find them substances to get rid of parasites if it's available from another plant close by. It's wild.
Extremely helpful for the orchard I started yesterday in Nova Scotia. Best advice, not to use Locust as my nitrogen 'fixer'. I was going to leave space for them among the fruit trees and was thinking, they're awfully BIG. So I've ordered my sea berry that only grow 5 to 8 feet tall. A much better idea thank you.
I was surprised that you didn't mention anything about choice of site ..How many times does one hear about sun facing slopes, water harvesting features, gravity water flow, adequate rain fall, distance to markets... My desert block is very flat ( 10 -20 cm fall in 100 m). This means using electricity to pump water from the well to holding tanks and pools and to water. Not very resilient. We have a housing estate near by and often people jump the fence and collect our pecan nuts when they see us leave the block. The heat around the summer solstice is above 39 degrees Celsius and it can be -3 to -10 degrees Celsius during the winter dawns. It's hard to keep life stock alive when the temperatures are extreme. It's also hard to grow greens during the summer. Like all aspects there are always two sides of the same coin... some thing beneficial and some disadvantages...
Funny you should mention black currant. I’ve had one in a 5 gallon pot for years but couldn’t come up with a good spot for it & wasn’t using the berries either. It took 3 years to find someone among my local friends that wanted it. Gave it to her last week.
Great advice Stefan 🙂👍You really convinced me to put some more effort and space out my newly created orchard. I was about to put one more row in between but now I see the point and I will leave it as is . 3 meters between the trees and 5 meters between the rows. I plant sweet cherry on half-dwarfed rootstock.
For fruit trees, grafting is an awesome option if you like multiple varieties of 1 fruit but don't want 1000 trees. I can get 3 apple varieties from 1 tree and I don't need to worry about having buddy trees for cross pollination. Or I can have a plum/ apricot tree. Getting sire branches may be annoying, but if you reach out to the community there are bound to be people willing to let you take cuttings.
A cousin developed a walnut orchard. He choose a 40' spacing; allowing a square planting. The benefit for us, we hayed the floor one direction one year, the other the next. Thus we could maintain the ground, leaving a small space he needed to maintain around each tree.
Black currants - I’ll take whatever you have 😁 Plants , cuttings, fruits. Etc. And I’m not picky- I’ll take the red currants and pink ones as well. And gooseberry ! Love them ! Greetings from northern Illinois ! Great video !
Yes see my video 3 phases of abundance. You are in the accumulation of species and cultivars phase, get as many as you can and test them for your site.
Excellent! Subbed on the basis of this quality. I'd add to "when in doubt, space it out", Don't plant close to houses/buildings. Consider very carefully the placement of shade trees for buildings as well.
THANK YOU! I have a one acre field that I have been observing and am ready to start designing to plant in the spring. This is hugely helpful! I was instinctively going to put in apples because many ppl grow them in my area, but that comment about pears being in more demand and selling for more than twice the amount of apples has got me thinking… And I hadn’t considered grapes, but there are already wild grapes growing like crazy there.
Absolutely wonderful video we started out with 100 different fruit trees and well things happened. Thanks for the video and all the info it helps for our next planting.
As we can only afford a few trees every year and look for the cheapest ones we work with what we have and build slowly. It’s actually coming together quite nicely!!
Thank you so much, we are on our second year of looking for land to build our orchard. Sad we haven’t found anything yet. ☹️ However still learning & practicing on our current one acre.
Nice and informative videos you publish. And I like your 'simple' understandable talk, very appreciated. Thank you very much for sharing your practical experience. Thumbs up!
This is what we need more of. No one explains this. It would have helped So much. I made so many mistakes but didn’t know how to correct them because I didn’t know any better. Thank you!
You can graft pear stock on apples and it will cut your growing time. I met a guy in Yuma AZ who grew grapefruit on orange stock. It set him back a few years but not nearly as much as new trees would.
You touched on what is probably the largest problem of our time >> that we plant infinite amounts of food without even knowing who is going to eat it > we are left with convincing people that they want it
You are on a similar track of mind with me. Grow primarily for my family then just sell or give away excess. I save money on food and turn that into whatever. My only thing I would have liked to change is if i could go back in time. I would have bought and RV vs an apartment.
@@NewsChannel-y4g Cool :) Perhaps a wooden structure ? Looks like there is lots of timber avail @ ur place. I wish to one day build stuff like that. House, shop, Tiki village, Hangout lounge, all from fallen trees
I wouldn't get to hung up on the N-S or E-W orientation, that mainly applies to mono-cultures with all the plants of the same height. I use the Frankentree grafting approach for testing fruit cultivars, 5, 6, 10 per tree. Nuts are more difficult to graft and can be longer lived so they still get tested as singles. Over the years I've slowly learned to treat certain species as temporary garden items rather being too attached as permanent trees, at some point attempting to keep the old wood manageable is more trouble than replacement. Most fruit trees that are grown for fruit (not as large landscape or specimen trees) should be viewed as transient and replaceable. Not quite like annuals, but they still eventually get over grown or a better cultivar or root stock choice comes along. Just don't be afraid to replace. (On the flip side don't replace so often that you never get a full crop. I know folks that never seem to let trees get more than 5 years old before changing their minds.)
Each year I make a list, of observations: things that do well, and things that do not do well. And I write them down [actually I save them digitally to my cloud notes on my phone] Then when a new year begins, I review what I learned and saw last year, and make adjustments. They are great reminders
With 9 tree holes dug, I was questioning if I should have gone closer together being in desert where its harder to get trees to their listed size. . This video helped me feel good about my spacing and also Stefans videos made me feel good about the direction i chose to use the afternoon shade in tree row during the worst of summer. . Now i just need to find the guide for how to space blueberry/raspberry, etc. In relation to the trees. You have helped me so much. Thank you. I love your tips and your sharing of mistakes vs success. You rock!!!😊❤ Also taking advantage of purslane which is great ground cover ., medicinal and growing lkke a weed. Your videos making me feel more inspired. Now if I could just get the birds to eat from my hands, I'd feel like Im one of the family.😂
Haha keep talking to them calmly and always carry some sunflower seeds with you. Spacing is a bit more art than science that gets better with trial and error.
Thanks for another humble and perceptive video. . with your apple and tart pear abundance... could you team up with someone with a parallel business who makes vinegar or cider? It could perhaps be a way to add value to your crop. Same with the currants... perhaps team up with someone who makes jams.
Great video. Very grounded and sound advices. Not produced for show but to actually teach matters of real importance. You address true cultivation issues instead of talking points that are only flashy and of little use. This is excellent, thank you.
Yep. I would have made some of those mistakes. I haven't started yet but have been learning what I can before I start. I'm hoping to eliminate most of the trial and error before I start so that when I get the right place, I can be self-sufficient within 2 years of not sooner. Fruit trees take longer to produce than vegetables but there will be fruit trees.
Third Summer on our Land. We plant trees so far without perenial between yet. Your #3 mate me urge to plant between trees that are alreaydy there before plant more trees. It make sens. Thanks, love your videos!
Thank you for your insightful observation, experience and honest opinion. I watched your videos repeatedly over and over over the years. Your experience and information are so helpful. Bless you!Keep up the good work! 👍
I grew up in the country in Poland. The thing I miss the most is gooseberries - once in a while I'd find one that was burst in your mouth plump, golden in colour, hot from being in the sun and just the sweetest most wonderful thing in the world. Not much of that around me now in Ontario. I think it's about time to change that.
I did some reading and it turns out gooseberries (and currants, especially black currants) can carry white pine blister rust that does major damage to white pines. In some states of the North East US they're banned due to their possible impact on forestry and lumber industries that rely heavily on white pine.
Well I have grown many types of tomato and once I got past the novelty aspect I find red tomatoes generally taste better, same with watermelon. Maybe I just like the taste of lycopene. (BTW lycopene must be cooked for any significant health benefits/absorption.)
In Nevada, the most lush forests are on the north faces of the mountains, I will mimic this by planting heat tolerant evergreen species south of my fruit trees and gardens. Evergreens will mimic the mountains and provide shade year round allowing snow north of them stick around longer in the winter.
Hi Stéphane, about #9 and the big trees, yes you have some maintenance time but their roots are big so they carry up nutriments and water that fruit trees can benefit. Also it gives some shade that pear and apple trees like, and with global warming it can be a good thing I think ;)
21:50 " when in doubt space them out " that applies to cordon trees . Recommended levels between cordon is like 18 inches or (24.5 mm × 18 = 430 mm) but for pears a meter or more wouldnt hurt once the pears get est. Holy mackerel the vertical offshoots grow like gang busters .
Love blackcurrents!!! That astringent pear would be great for cider! Every year I have 20 peach trees sprout! Ahhhh... that is on less than a .25 acres... Who wants a tree? Lol. Ugh...now my volunteer prized plout sprouts babies everywhere. They stay pretty true to the momma tree too... I always say, if you don't like it...the tree makes great fire wood to use for a bar-b-que. My experience I had a great pecan tree...but it was defective. The branches would form a branch crouch that bleed sap, rotted and the branches would break off. Bad variety. At 6 years old it is now the best firewood I have.
@@StefanSobkowiak thank u for ur reply. I always give them away, pot them, or plant them in my neighbors yard. I have one (daughter of the O'Henry mama) that ripens in September and peels without blanching. So excited for this late variety. I absolutely LOVE peaches.
M Markel I think it’s 6b, but I have a ravine running mostly east and west for north and south facing slopes and AT LEAST nine watercress supporting springs, one a high spring on the south facing slope, so lots of microclimates. Peaches and apricots do grow in the area.
He said the spacing!!!!!!!!! I’m planning our orchard two more feet apart between trees and four more feet between rows. I was so happy I wasn’t over crowding completely and on north south access. The amount of understory had me wildly confused
I REALLY truly appreciate your videos... I’m at the beginning & an soaking up all of your knowledge and experience... and wisdom... thank you so much for sharing
I’m going to buy fruit trees tomorrow... I was planning on only 4, but this food crisis looming makes me wonder if I should buy 10-14 and just re-pot them until I can get the into the ground...
Some black varieties do have that bad taste but there are others that don't. I have a black clove current that have lovely big tasty black currants on them. The down side of clove currents is they spread and become somewhat invasive.
I got one plant from a friend who had root suckers around his plant. Then a few weeks later I bought one at a local farmers market. Sorry I don't know of any commercial sources.
@@billastell3753 I thank you for your prompt response. I did find plants listed for sale at Ison's and One Green World after a general internet query. Haven't purchased from either in the past, perhaps I will now!
Sir i have planted persimmons plant to plant and row to row space is 15 feet. Can i plant the almonds or apples or pears or cherries between the rows of persimmons???
I'm in the process of planting my permaculture "forest" here in Kentucky in a gently sloped and rolling field of approx 1.5 acres. Trying to go with a lot of natives: pecans, chestnut (chinkapin & american (yeah I know) ), american persimmon, pawpaw, elderberry, american plum, american hazelnuts, etc, along with apples, pears & peaches. I've been observing the field carefully, and there are alternating wet swales and dry rises, so I have been planting the pecans, persimmons, pawpaws, and elderberries adjacent but not in the wet, and apples and pears on the dry rises. Sound good? Also, is it OK to space the pecans a bit tighter? Will this limit how big they get? (that'd be fine with me)
Have you sent an email to your members with recipes, benefits and uses for those less known berries/ herbs ? You'd probably get a lot of curious members wanting to try them out next harvest season.
Also point out any known products that may contain that kind of fruit. In Denmark it would be something like "make your own Ribena" (a well known black currant cordial brand)
Came to your channel through your interviews with Greg from Maritime Gardening. Love your input on permaculture design and common sense approach to gardening! Following from Sydney, Australia.
I'm over 55 and starting my forest. So, videos like this sure help me because there won't be alot if time to correct my errors. Thank you for taking the time to do this!
I'm older than you so ditto!
How's it going? 45 here, have a few fruit trees but none producing yet.
How it's going? I am 59 and started a year back.
I wish I would have seen this 4 years ago. I made most of these mistakes. I planted gojis before I tasted them, turns out they aren't very good. I planted gooseberries, which I like the taste, but get decimated by sawfly every year. Currants are also a victim of sawfly, but they have too many seeds to eat, there are more seeds than pulp.The deer here demolished every tree until I fenced each one. My honeyberries did poorly in full sun, had to move those. I propagated a couple hundred black raspberries, then figured out the ones I propagated were susceptible to orange rust fungus. I lost several apricot because they really don't do well in my climate. Nanking cherries do ok, but drop leaves when it's dry, they bloom too early, and the birds eat what does get to fruit. Squirrels steal my peaches. Blueberries are gone if I don't net them, same for strawberries and cherries. Pawpaws are supposed to be deer resistant, but they sure do like mine. I planted things I would need to interact with far away from the house when they could have been closer. The zones in permaculture design are WAY more important than I thought. The sad thing is, I researched what I thought was enough to have everything figured out, and it took a couple of years before I realized I would never have it 100% figured out. Permaculture is about reacting as much as acting. Nature is always evolving, and so must we. Now I focus on what's done well in my location, what I want to eat the most, how easy it is to maintain, and how well it will fit in the future.
Welcome to the fruit growing club.
Goji berries do have a flavor most north americans find not to their taste buds. They are more of a medicine berry not really a desert berry. I have a few plants, one I bought and 3 grown from seeds off the original. They are amazingly easy to grow from seed. I like to nibble a few as I pass by the plant. I certainly wouldn't pick a quart to make a desert trifle with.
@@billastell3753 I'm sure I could have added them to something, but they also didn't grow well for me.
Add a few sorbus aucuparia (Rowan Berry) and some other bird attracting trees, bushes and flowers, and you will never have problems with birds eating your grapes and blueberries again.
Hi there I empathize with your struggles, and having read your comment am curious; what did you find to be successful on your property in the process?
Videos like this are PURE GOLD for those of us still in the planning stages. Thank you.
Eraad 1234 working smarter not harder 👍
Our pleasure!
we're always adding to gardens and orchards especially if we made mistakes. The most awesome part of these amazing videos is the "why" portion. We all should never stop asking questions like a 5 year old. If we find we dont ask alot of questions we aren't living, we are thinking or getting smarter and we'll never be able to do anything without someone telling us exactly what to do. Well, if you know anything about humanity you know then that human beings dont like being told what to do or having to count on someone else. Thus its a huge, HUGE mistake and waste of your precious few seconds and minutes of life we get not to ask question until we understand the logic and it doesnt matter how long or how many questions we come up with to ask as that leads to all "good" knowledge and even how to stay away from "bad" or lying knowledge. He's so right on a level of understanding exactly as you said "Precious as Pure Gold". Its cool to know you found someone who cares about people, the right decisions for where we live and how we live and this amazing world. His wonderful logic is rarely even found in people. As he said If we dont think he's crazy then we're crazy...yep...its like describing parenting...One just cant ever fully explain the precious gifts we get and learn about that by parenting alone is gifted to us who try to be good parents. Same for being a good mom/dad of plants/animals/insects...As we experience all these things we peer into micro and macrocosms of priceless experience, knowledge, and hopefully much valued gained wisdom that crosses all boundaries. Anyway, blessings in life and most certainly the time spent in Nature.
You probably dont care at all but does anybody know a trick to get back into an Instagram account??
I was dumb forgot the account password. I would love any tips you can give me
@@boemanuel1273 STOP SCAMMING!
Pay attention newbies - this is solid information! Hope you don't mind if I add a couple of things. 1) Regularly devote time to build good relationships with other farmers in your area. You never know when you're going to need an extra hand, borrow a piece of equipment or need supplies for an emergency. 2) Allocate a % of your resources for building infrastructure and work on that regularly. Especially for soil input, water and equipment. Understand the % is going to be high for the first few years. Probably higher than you imagine. 3) What you don't know can be extremely costly in both time and money. So get yourself a good education with a focus on soil science. I find the best source of information is papers published by university extension agriculture departments. Don't be put off if the science is over your head. Keep at it and little by little the pieces will begin falling in place.
I'm 30, just starting my permaculture journey. Thank you for teaching me these things.
I’m 31 and just starting...
33 here! Lol
@@alphamom8218 Same. :) (I think!)
I'll be 30 in 2 months from now, my name is also Ryan and I have just started my journey as well!
Seems everyone is starting around 30 😂🥳🙌🏾 how fun.
It's better to have planted and made some mistakes than to wait until you have the 'perfect' plan to plant, which probably won't work out exactly as you plan anyway! I've been planning my forest garden for years but only started planting it last year and I'm sorry I waited so long.. Thanks for the insight
So true. Good you started.
I recently started growing fruit a couple years ago. They are just now starting to thrive. Absolutely no comparison between store bought and mine. The taste is mind blowing. Can't believe how much better mine taste. My newest addition is the red haven and contender peach. I mean my toes literally curl with every bite 😊
Sweet Ripeness doesn't come on store shelves, only sunshine and the tree can perfect it.
I'm blown away by the value you freely give in your videos. I'm just starting my garden & know nothing. You are incredibly sweet and generous with your wisdom. Thank you ❤️
You are so welcome. You already said thank you. You could always support one of our paid products (film, pruningcourse.com, virtual Tour). As you get older you want to share wisdom you've learned because you know how hard it was to acquire it and would rather save people the trouble you went through. You'll just have to make mistakes in other areas because mistakes are just part of life. School unfortunately trains young people to think of mistakes as bad, you got it wrong... rather than just learn from it and adjust.
@@StefanSobkowiak Actually, I AM hoping to take your pruning course before next fall--if all goes to plan. 👍
In Dori Sanders’ Country Cooking, a cookbook of the recipes her mother and grandma used, they made beer from honey locust pods.
I was an Au Pair in the US (I'm german) and they had a farmers market in chicago - my host mom discuvered red currant there, she bought it and had no idea what it is. I explained the berries to her and her kids and they kept buying them almost every week during red currant season
Thank your for sharing this info. I love black currants. We always had dried ones in the house as a staple. Of course my family is from Eastern Europe.
The pear you hate and spit out is a perry pear. You have gold there and don't know it. Make perry!
Not a native speaker here... is it a "quince"? Then turn it into jelly, jam or a liquor, it's incredible!
I actually halve spacing but im growing my orchard in a different concept. Mine is more a actual food forest. I want trees to overlap and create canopies. Im not completely worried about high production but I have made some of those mistakes mentioned above like not planting enough of what we eat, planting in small sections first and focusing a lot of my time on too many different species before getting the basics down pat. In the last 6 years I've learnt a lot and changed the way I grow and plant dramatically. Still need more apples though 🤣🤣🤣
there is never enough apples
Sir i have planted persimmons plant to plant and row to row space is 15 feet. Can i plant the almonds or apples or pears or cherries between the rows of persimmons???
@@wiezyczkowata clearly you havent been to germany
Black currant jam- uhm! Maybe semi-dried for muffins or make (superfruit) juice. We eat them a lot in Denmark ;)
I'm polish and growing my own black currant and gooseberries.
Great video - like always.
Thank you for empowering us with your experiences! Definitely a contribution for my visions for the future! Blessings and Love from Jamaica!
You are so welcome. JAMAICAN Permaculture Orchard, Sounds like Paradise. Will have to visit one winter.
I'm coming on that trip 😊
Observation is definitely #1! This time when I bought my home and land, I made myself not plant anything until I had observed and took reams of notes on the property. I watched where the sun's path went all year, what weeds grew where to tell me about my soils, how the drainage was in different areas, etc. My big learning mistake was growing what I knew how to grow back East! Gardening in the Pacific Northwest is nothing like gardening in Ohio, Illinois or Colorado! Duh! 🙄 I had huge crop let downs then I started talking to my neighbors about what worked for them. An expensive mistake!! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and passion!!
Awesome video! I love the idea of planting what’s already growing well in its own. I did that without knowing I was doing it. I moved into a house with one medium sized tree, learned it was an elderberry, learned how to propagate it, and now I’ve got them all over my little 1/3 acre yard. I love them. They grow super fast, give me privacy where I need it, and once they’re large, don’t need my help anymore. Thanks for the awesome video!!
So true!
My son has a business he just got going in east Tennessee called Appalachian Grit. It's a permaculture business. I'm sharing your videos with him now. You are amazing! Love your videos! Thank you sir! ☺️❤️
I had a stroke so no gardening:-( It is getting better and I miss your information.
Hope you get well soon 🌻
This applies to flowers too...and other plants/shrubs too even ornamentals! So need this!
Use ground cover in the isles, manufacture it from your orchard as you prune it. Chip it and use wet stirred grass clippings, spread it, start in a spot and build it thick so the grass and weeds are dead. Spread out from there. Smother everything that isn't what you want and turn all the "free" space into a large flat composting mulch.
Whole thing retains water, keeps the the roots cool in the day, warm in the night and when the bottom starts composting you get fertilised garden. Now, go the extra mile. Go buy edible fungus spores and seed you mulch in the shade of the trees. Seed it good, make your edible fungus the dominant ones in your micro-ecosystem, and get a harvest everytime it rains. Your perrenials will love it if you choose the right fungi to put beside the right plants because the fungi will simbioticise the perrenial by tapping directly into the nucles of their cells with their micilia. They'll farm your perrenial for sugar by giving it nutrients and both organisms do better for it. They'll even medically tree for infections and find them substances to get rid of parasites if it's available from another plant close by. It's wild.
Thank you again for all your good work.
Praying for the storm to weaken and all be safe
Blessings to you
Thank you! You too!
Extremely helpful for the orchard I started yesterday in Nova Scotia. Best advice, not to use Locust as my nitrogen 'fixer'. I was going to leave space for them among the fruit trees and was thinking, they're awfully BIG.
So I've ordered my sea berry that only grow 5 to 8 feet tall. A much better idea thank you.
Thank you Sir! I've learned. I dream of my permaculture garden. I don't loose hope.
I was surprised that you didn't mention anything about choice of site ..How many times does one hear about sun facing slopes, water harvesting features, gravity water flow, adequate rain fall, distance to markets... My desert block is very flat ( 10 -20 cm fall in 100 m). This means using electricity to pump water from the well to holding tanks and pools and to water. Not very resilient. We have a housing estate near by and often people jump the fence and collect our pecan nuts when they see us leave the block. The heat around the summer solstice is above 39 degrees Celsius and it can be -3 to -10 degrees Celsius during the winter dawns. It's hard to keep life stock alive when the temperatures are extreme. It's also hard to grow greens during the summer. Like all aspects there are always two sides of the same coin... some thing beneficial and some disadvantages...
Because he is not teaching you what to do in this video, he is teaching you what NOT to do.
Funny you should mention black currant. I’ve had one in a 5 gallon pot for years but couldn’t come up with a good spot for it & wasn’t using the berries either. It took 3 years to find someone among my local friends that wanted it. Gave it to her last week.
Great advice Stefan 🙂👍You really convinced me to put some more effort and space out my newly created orchard. I was about to put one more row in between but now I see the point and I will leave it as is . 3 meters between the trees and 5 meters between the rows. I plant sweet cherry on half-dwarfed rootstock.
For fruit trees, grafting is an awesome option if you like multiple varieties of 1 fruit but don't want 1000 trees. I can get 3 apple varieties from 1 tree and I don't need to worry about having buddy trees for cross pollination. Or I can have a plum/ apricot tree. Getting sire branches may be annoying, but if you reach out to the community there are bound to be people willing to let you take cuttings.
A cousin developed a walnut orchard. He choose a 40' spacing; allowing a square planting. The benefit for us, we hayed the floor one direction one year, the other the next. Thus we could maintain the ground, leaving a small space he needed to maintain around each tree.
Black currants - I’ll take whatever you have 😁
Plants , cuttings, fruits. Etc.
And I’m not picky- I’ll take the red currants and pink ones as well. And gooseberry ! Love them !
Greetings from northern Illinois !
Great video !
Yes see my video 3 phases of abundance. You are in the accumulation of species and cultivars phase, get as many as you can and test them for your site.
Excellent! Subbed on the basis of this quality. I'd add to "when in doubt, space it out", Don't plant close to houses/buildings. Consider very carefully the placement of shade trees for buildings as well.
Great video very helpful thank you for sharing your knowledge will help many families 👪
THANK YOU! I have a one acre field that I have been observing and am ready to start designing to plant in the spring. This is hugely helpful!
I was instinctively going to put in apples because many ppl grow them in my area, but that comment about pears being in more demand and selling for more than twice the amount of apples has got me thinking…
And I hadn’t considered grapes, but there are already wild grapes growing like crazy there.
Table grapes should grow well then. Why fight the site? Grow what grows like weeds.
Absolutely wonderful video we started out with 100 different fruit trees and well things happened. Thanks for the video and all the info it helps for our next planting.
Congrats on a great start.
As we can only afford a few trees every year and look for the cheapest ones we work with what we have and build slowly. It’s actually coming together quite nicely!!
The pears probably need storage ripening. I have a variety like that as well. They sweeten up while they get softer.
Great lessons. Thank you for sharing. I am planning to start my own permaculture. Once again thank you for sharing.
Great advice on planting in one area using variius layer first then expand from there 17:33
This was really helpful. I'm just at the start of my journey and these cover many of the questions I have.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, we are on our second year of looking for land to build our orchard. Sad we haven’t found anything yet. ☹️ However still learning & practicing on our current one acre.
You can do it! One acre in our orchard is 450 trees. That's a LOT of fruit already.
Nice and informative videos you publish. And I like your 'simple' understandable talk, very appreciated. Thank you very much for sharing your practical experience. Thumbs up!
Stefan, thanks for all these videos. We are starting our permaculture journey and you're insanely helpful!
This is what we need more of. No one explains this. It would have helped So much. I made so many mistakes but didn’t know how to correct them because I didn’t know any better. Thank you!
One of the best videos yet, great info based on trial and error! Thanks
Black Currant - kilos... ... European approach : ))))))
One of the best narrow/non-specific vids, nicely done.
Here is to the 11th mistake... ... : ))))))
You can graft pear stock on apples and it will cut your growing time. I met a guy in Yuma AZ who grew grapefruit on orange stock. It set him back a few years but not nearly as much as new trees would.
13:30 -that pear needs to ripen, fall off (or be picked up) and left to "rot", ferment. Then it's so sweet wasps love it.
Making mistakes but in our dryland context here in South Indian. But learning a lot from my mistakes.
I'm planning too in Karnataka.
You touched on what is probably the largest problem of our time >> that we plant infinite amounts of food without even knowing who is going to eat it > we are left with convincing people that they want it
You are on a similar track of mind with me. Grow primarily for my family then just sell or give away excess. I save money on food and turn that into whatever. My only thing I would have liked to change is if i could go back in time. I would have bought and RV vs an apartment.
@@NewsChannel-y4g Cool :)
Perhaps a wooden structure ? Looks like there is lots of timber avail @ ur place. I wish to one day build stuff like that. House, shop, Tiki village, Hangout lounge, all from fallen trees
I wouldn't get to hung up on the N-S or E-W orientation, that mainly applies to mono-cultures with all the plants of the same height.
I use the Frankentree grafting approach for testing fruit cultivars, 5, 6, 10 per tree. Nuts are more difficult to graft and can be longer lived so they still get tested as singles.
Over the years I've slowly learned to treat certain species as temporary garden items rather being too attached as permanent trees, at some point attempting to keep the old wood manageable is more trouble than replacement. Most fruit trees that are grown for fruit (not as large landscape or specimen trees) should be viewed as transient and replaceable.
Not quite like annuals, but they still eventually get over grown or a better cultivar or root stock choice comes along. Just don't be afraid to replace. (On the flip side don't replace so often that you never get a full crop. I know folks that never seem to let trees get more than 5 years old before changing their minds.)
Each year I make a list, of observations: things that do well, and things that do not do well. And I write them down [actually I save them digitally to my cloud notes on my phone]
Then when a new year begins, I review what I learned and saw last year, and make adjustments. They are great reminders
Great strategy. Even more valuable if you look at all the past years every year. I find the lessons from 10 years back are faint memories.
We consider the north south Also when it comes to Bees
So they see the flowers better?
Id love to know why also.
Hey Stefan do u have instruction on training whips. I planted 3 trios this spring and not sure what to do next
Let them grow to head height before training a first round.
thank you ,Your a man that knows how to adapt which in turn then leads towards perfection.
I am 48 and I want to have energy level like you , when I grow your age,starting my permaculture journey soon,love from India
With 9 tree holes dug, I was questioning if I should have gone closer together being in desert where its harder to get trees to their listed size. . This video helped me feel good about my spacing and also Stefans videos made me feel good about the direction i chose to use the afternoon shade in tree row during the worst of summer. . Now i just need to find the guide for how to space blueberry/raspberry, etc. In relation to the trees. You have helped me so much. Thank you. I love your tips and your sharing of mistakes vs success. You rock!!!😊❤ Also taking advantage of purslane which is great ground cover ., medicinal and growing lkke a weed. Your videos making me feel more inspired. Now if I could just get the birds to eat from my hands, I'd feel like Im one of the family.😂
Haha keep talking to them calmly and always carry some sunflower seeds with you. Spacing is a bit more art than science that gets better with trial and error.
grandfather told hot temp area plantations direction most important. He suggested to me, best way East to West direction. They used over 100 yr
Good to know.
Thank you for saving my A*s!!!!
Huge Love! :)
🤜🏻👍🤛🏻♡♡♡
Thanks for another humble and perceptive video. . with your apple and tart pear abundance... could you team up with someone with a parallel business who makes vinegar or cider? It could perhaps be a way to add value to your crop. Same with the currants... perhaps team up with someone who makes jams.
Yes we can. Thanks
Love learning from you! Blessings to you and your family in 2023.
Thank you so much! Blessings right back.
Many blessings in the Light. Keep shining bright!
Great video. Very grounded and sound advices. Not produced for show but to actually teach matters of real importance. You address true cultivation issues instead of talking points that are only flashy and of little use. This is excellent, thank you.
That’s the goal of the videos. Some showmanship used at times but I like to keep things light and fun. We learn best when having fun.
Great advice Stefan. Agree 100% with you. Appreciate you sharing this.
Glad it was helpful!
Yep. I would have made some of those mistakes. I haven't started yet but have been learning what I can before I start. I'm hoping to eliminate most of the trial and error before I start so that when I get the right place, I can be self-sufficient within 2 years of not sooner. Fruit trees take longer to produce than vegetables but there will be fruit trees.
Third Summer on our Land. We plant trees so far without perenial between yet. Your #3 mate me urge to plant between trees that are alreaydy there before plant more trees. It make sens. Thanks, love your videos!
Go for it!
Thank you for your insightful observation, experience and honest opinion. I watched your videos repeatedly over and over over the years. Your experience and information are so helpful. Bless you!Keep up the good work! 👍
I appreciate that!
Observe, observe, and observe some more. Great 'not-to-do' list.
I grew up in the country in Poland. The thing I miss the most is gooseberries - once in a while I'd find one that was burst in your mouth plump, golden in colour, hot from being in the sun and just the sweetest most wonderful thing in the world. Not much of that around me now in Ontario. I think it's about time to change that.
Yes gooseberries deserve to be a star crop here too. I was amazed at the size of gooseberry I saw in Poland.
I did some reading and it turns out gooseberries (and currants, especially black currants) can carry white pine blister rust that does major damage to white pines. In some states of the North East US they're banned due to their possible impact on forestry and lumber industries that rely heavily on white pine.
Really loved hearing you mention Geoff Lawton's Greening the Desert project, I love that one!
Hey stefan what rootstock have you got on your plum trees!!! Great videos . Fan from the uk
Mount- Royal plum on its own roots as well as Canada Plum. No rootstock.
#8 Is my biggest failing for plant starts.... and veg sales (that tomato is not red!)
All I ever want to say to people is "Just try it and you may like it" Its like green eggs and ham.
Well I have grown many types of tomato and once I got past the novelty aspect I find red tomatoes generally taste better, same with watermelon. Maybe I just like the taste of lycopene. (BTW lycopene must be cooked for any significant health benefits/absorption.)
I am looking to buy a couple of acres of land to build a homestead and theese are great to know as to not to repeat them myself. Thanks for the info.
Awesome video. Thanks Stefan. I'm learning so much.
Happy to help!
Thanks for sharing that, Stefan. Extremely helpful for the ones starting on this journey - just like me. All the best from Brazil!
In Nevada, the most lush forests are on the north faces of the mountains, I will mimic this by planting heat tolerant evergreen species south of my fruit trees and gardens. Evergreens will mimic the mountains and provide shade year round allowing snow north of them stick around longer in the winter.
Sounds great!
Hi Stéphane, about #9 and the big trees, yes you have some maintenance time but their roots are big so they carry up nutriments and water that fruit trees can benefit. Also it gives some shade that pear and apple trees like, and with global warming it can be a good thing I think ;)
21:50 " when in doubt space them out " that applies to cordon trees . Recommended levels between cordon is like 18 inches or (24.5 mm × 18 = 430 mm) but for pears a meter or more wouldnt hurt once the pears get est. Holy mackerel the vertical offshoots grow like gang busters .
Love blackcurrents!!! That astringent pear would be great for cider!
Every year I have 20 peach trees sprout! Ahhhh... that is on less than a .25 acres... Who wants a tree? Lol. Ugh...now my volunteer prized plout sprouts babies everywhere. They stay pretty true to the momma tree too... I always say, if you don't like it...the tree makes great fire wood to use for a bar-b-que.
My experience I had a great pecan tree...but it was defective. The branches would form a branch crouch that bleed sap, rotted and the branches would break off. Bad variety. At 6 years old it is now the best firewood I have.
Offer and give them away. Peach come back close to the parents.
@@StefanSobkowiak thank u for ur reply. I always give them away, pot them, or plant them in my neighbors yard. I have one (daughter of the O'Henry mama) that ripens in September and peels without blanching. So excited for this late variety. I absolutely LOVE peaches.
M Markel could you post how to reach you for seedlings? I will be setting up a permaculture plot in NC Arkansas, and have 100 acres to play with. Thx!
@@vickisavage8929 they do need a fair amount of water. What is ur growing zone?
M Markel I think it’s 6b, but I have a ravine running mostly east and west for north and south facing slopes and AT LEAST nine watercress supporting springs, one a high spring on the south facing slope, so lots of microclimates. Peaches and apricots do grow in the area.
Planting the weed trees is too easy, I need more challenge :).
I really love your advices.
Absolutely amazing 😉,.
I bought an orchard 15 years ago. I can relate 100%!
Full of golden rules and maturely composted wisdoms.
😂
He said the spacing!!!!!!!!! I’m planning our orchard two more feet apart between trees and four more feet between rows. I was so happy I wasn’t over crowding completely and on north south access. The amount of understory had me wildly confused
Depends on the quality of your soil as well. The more fertile, the wider spacing, since the more the trees will grow.
I REALLY truly appreciate your videos... I’m at the beginning & an soaking up all of your knowledge and experience... and wisdom... thank you so much for sharing
I’m going to buy fruit trees tomorrow... I was planning on only 4, but this food crisis looming makes me wonder if I should buy 10-14 and just re-pot them until I can get the into the ground...
I find black currents have a medicine taste
It would be in my opinion a great comparison to elderberries with its health benefits
Some black varieties do have that bad taste but there are others that don't. I have a black clove current that have lovely big tasty black currants on them. The down side of clove currents is they spread and become somewhat invasive.
@@billastell3753 where did you source your plants?
I got one plant from a friend who had root suckers around his plant. Then a few weeks later I bought one at a local farmers market. Sorry I don't know of any commercial sources.
@@billastell3753 I thank you for your prompt response. I did find plants listed for sale at Ison's and One Green World after a general internet query. Haven't purchased from either in the past, perhaps I will now!
Such usefull advises to save hips of efforts and tome. Thanks for being so humble and for sharing your experience.
This is fantastic. Thank you!
GREAT tips. We are creating a small orchard / food forest and this video has helped. 😀
Sir i have planted persimmons plant to plant and row to row space is 15 feet. Can i plant the almonds or apples or pears or cherries between the rows of persimmons???
Thank you so much. I'm new to learning this. Your passion and wealth of knowledge is inspiring
Thanks Stefan.... Great lesson from your experience 👍👍👍. This video is really helpful for one who just start the permaculture orchard.
You’re welcome, that’s the intent for many of these videos.
This was a very thought-provoking video. Thank you very much!
I'm in the process of planting my permaculture "forest" here in Kentucky in a gently sloped and rolling field of approx 1.5 acres. Trying to go with a lot of natives: pecans, chestnut (chinkapin & american (yeah I know) ), american persimmon, pawpaw, elderberry, american plum, american hazelnuts, etc, along with apples, pears & peaches. I've been observing the field carefully, and there are alternating wet swales and dry rises, so I have been planting the pecans, persimmons, pawpaws, and elderberries adjacent but not in the wet, and apples and pears on the dry rises. Sound good? Also, is it OK to space the pecans a bit tighter? Will this limit how big they get? (that'd be fine with me)
Way to go. Spacing is always tricky so I now suggest ´when in doubt space them out ‘.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thanks for the great warnings. I know I won't be able to not over diversify though...
It’s ok there’s just such a desire to see diversity, by abnormal people. it’s normal. Be grateful you’re not in the big herd.
Thanks for sharing
Have you sent an email to your members with recipes, benefits and uses for those less known berries/ herbs ? You'd probably get a lot of curious members wanting to try them out next harvest season.
Also point out any known products that may contain that kind of fruit.
In Denmark it would be something like "make your own Ribena" (a well known black currant cordial brand)
Came to your channel through your interviews with Greg from Maritime Gardening. Love your input on permaculture design and common sense approach to gardening! Following from Sydney, Australia.
Welcome aboard mate.
Thank you so much! Our next place will be in Northern FL, and I am so grateful to have the information you provide!
Once in Florida check out the channel by Pete Kanaris, right in your part of Florida and full of useful info.
@@StefanSobkowiak Thank you! I'll do that now in preparation. I appreciate it!
Oh, I've seen him before! John Kohler has visited his place. 😃🌿
Almost at the point of ordering, so glad you put this video out there! Thank you!!!! ❤️
Glad it helped.