This is my second video from your channel. I subscribed after watching the first one. I am so impressed with what you are doing, and more impressed with how you are doing it (water free, money free, etc). That is how I am doing my food forest in Tucson, AZ. I am turning my rented place (61 ft. by 120 ft. in city lot) into an urban food forest. It is flat, and basically compacted clay. Monsoon rains would make it into a muddy lake until all the water that did not run off into the street evaporated. I am sure that not one microbe a foot down got any water! Ever! Well, I began by covering the ground with yard waste from my wife's yardwork business. Since, I have had a couple of chip drops from local tree services. They would rather dump them here for free than pay to take them to a dump. I also have dug 5 swales all over the front and back yards to catch the rain water. Now, because of the swales and the mulch covering, not one drop of water runs off, and almost none of it evaporates. I had to dig a number of holes before I did all this, and it was so hard it took an hour to dig a very small hole (maybe a foot deep, and a foot diameter). Now, in the same area, I can push the mulch aside, and dig a hole with my bare hands! And, I have worms!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment William! I am so grateful for what you have shared here. It’s such a beautiful, moving story. I can relate so much to the way you talk about the compacted clay and the water sheeting off.. it was so frustrating here to be flooded with the water running straight off our property onto the road and then be faced with baking heat and rock hard clay cracking in the sun.. what you have achieved is absolutely remarkable and a testament to what’s possible. If you have any links to your project I’d love to see it! Thank you again for your inspiring story. Wishing you continued success with your project, Alex 🌱💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen When we first moved into this place, we would have fires in the back yard. Depression had me consuming a lot of alcohol, and my yard was the highly used party yard. The soil (no, the dirt) became so compacted that even the weeds would not grow! LOL The front yard was never used, so weeds grew a lot. Especially the "pokey" desert kinds. Yuck! And the ants took over! We steered clear of the front yard. We called the back yard Lake Stanley (William Stanley) when it rained. What a mess. We have some videos posted from a while back, but I'll have to get more made because it looks so different now. My wife took the videos, and posted them. I'll find the links and post them in a comment. I started on July 11, 2021 by planting some green onions from the store out back, and a Romaine Lettuce from the store. The next day, I tossed kitchen scraps on the ground and said, "Voila, a compost pile!" I had to get started somewhere. Then, all I had to do was improve! Well, it has been a great two years growing in the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, AZ. We have frosts periodically in the winter, and beastly heat in the summer, like you describe happens where you are. I am focused on the trees, to get my live shade cloth. And am planting all sorts of things. I'll have to do a walk through video tour before winter comes; while it still looks lush.
Just love this. You are a natural story teller and I am looking forward too seeing your walk through video very much! Love how you started you compost pile and improved from there 😂 For me, gardening has been an absolute game changer for my state of mind. If I’m not feeling good for some reason, I just go get my hands in the dirt and it’s like an instant cure. Amazing stuff. And yes, in these harsh conditions I find shade is your best friend. Acacias and pigeon pea were my saviours! Looking forward to the updates!
@@dreamsofgreen In business, there is what is called the 80/20 rule. Make sure eighty percent gets done with twenty percent of the effort. In gardening, shade (mulch) is the eighty percent. I explain it to people by having them stand in the sun with me. Then, I get into the shade, and say, "See? Isn't that so much better?" Then I tell them that the microbes think the same thing! Just give them shade and they will work for you. Thus, I have billions of little workers on my farm. Also, mulch activated the 24/7/365 automatic drip irrigation system God built into the earth. Water table water evaporates and moves upward. It condenses as it rises to the surface. Eventually, that process allows some of it to escape through the surface. But not if there is mulch. That lets it condense, and drip downward. There is a lot of science and math involved (which I find as beautiful as a sunset, but which bores most people, understandably), but it works. I can go out after weeks of heat and there is moisture at the surface. Plus, while the grasses compete with the little trees for sunlight, they actually share the food and water through the mycorrhizal association. That's what makes fungus such a Fun Guy! LOL
This is too funny! I’m a maths tutor and love maths, I’m always going on about the 80/20 rule to make life easier and my thinking is that nature doesn’t have irrigation so I have to learn to mimic the patterns of nature and plant appropriately 😂
My heart goes out to you, I planted 17,000 trees in the 1970s in the hinterland behind Port Macquarie, the land had been clear felled dairy farm, the sad thing was urban sprawl crept out and ultimately surrounded the land, the rates went through the roof when Port Macquarie Council took over Hastings Council and the urban feral kids trespassed and wilfully destroyed new plantings. I lost heart and sold to developers. Hope you don’t suffer from urban creep.
Oh wow Anthony, what incredible knowledge and wisdom you must have gained from planting 17,000 trees. Remarkable. Don’t lose heart, it’s pioneers like yourself that inspire me to do what I’m doing and keep going so even though it may feel like it, it wasn’t in vain. I am incredibly grateful and appreciative that you choose to share your story and wisdom here. And through sharing our stories we inspire others. Thank you 🙏 Alex 💚🌿
Thank you so much. Really kind of you. I’ve been filming in the food forest so there will be more videos in the food forest coming soon. Hope you’re growing lots too! Best wishes, Alex 💚🌿
Love the grass contures and tying the tops together for a little cover is great! One thing I have found myself and there is long standing evidence for is just how dense you can plant support species. We have a great natural example of a black wattle and eucalyptus growing amazing together with the less than 10cm apart at the base. The more support, the more shade, nitrogen amd biomass for the system, the happier the high value trees.
Yes!! I agree 100%. In fact I need to do a video on this. When observing our local forests I noticed the same, so thanks for your comment, love it! Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
Avoiding earthworks is a sustainable, frugal, and fast method to push out water harvesting and forest creation. You could add some leaky weir swales, from deadfall wood to add to the water harvesting capabilities. Free material on the ground just needs to be moved and stacked.
Using thick grass rows with alternating mowed down pathways is such a simple idea! Whatever it rains the slope definitely slows down the water by all that thick beautiful mulch you've set down. I would love to see a time lapse or before and after video of your system in action during a storm.
A great inspiring video 😍 I am embarking on creating my own food forrest, however I feel very self-conscious about long grass because of fire & snake hazards. I live in a rural town in south West Australia & the local council rules on grass/fire hazards are strict as... And if there's one thing that grows well on my property, it's grass, lol 😅
That’s wonderful! Thank you! And you don’t have to use the grass, it’s just a resource I had available to me as I didn’t have anything else! You can grow a border of mulberry, Photinia, feijoa which are fantastically tough and fire retardant, grow fast growing shade with acacias/pigeon pea and heavily cover the food forest area with cardboard and a truckload of mulch to smother the grass! All depends on how big of an area you’ve got. It’s all about doing what works for you. I’m lucky to have a cat that follows me around the paddock and warns me about brown snakes (3 so far!) and I’m also slashing the grass at the moment to reduce fire risk. So I hear your concerns. Best wishes for your food forest! Alex 💚🌿
Oh my God you've done it! In my experience as a professional Planter over recent years(including in the lovely Kyogle), an approach like this is what I've been envisioning! I'm so grateful to find someone actually doing it, and in the same town as a friend of mine with a similar vision! I'll be in touch!
Just binge watched all your videos ending on this one, and what a marvellous forest you have created. Congratulations and well done, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and inspiring others 🙏🏽👏🏼👍🏼🌱🐝
Wow Sharon, amazing. Thank you so much. It’s an absolute pleasure. Wishing you so much joy and success with the transformation of your own property. I’m sure it will be magnificent. Alex 🌱💚🌿
Hello you have done a wonderful job, just a tip with your mower being on hill make sure your oil level is right, if a bit low on a slant it might not reach the pick-up. Keep up the good work cheers
Your work is very beautiful! If I may make a criticism: Don't be afraid to plant many more trees and plants next to yours! plants such as elephant grass, tithonia diversifololia, pigeon pea, moringa, are examples of excellent plants for creating a pleasant environment for your fruit trees!
Thank you so much and YES, I definitely want some more support trees in there! These are great suggestions. I’ve collected a heap of pigeon pea and tephrosia seed to sow in the rows to create added mulch and shade. I tried Moringa but I think it rotted in the floods but keen to give it another try! Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
Question for Alex and others regarding water for young trees. I'm in NW USA and we get 3 seasons of rain and 1 season of drought. Everyone here says that young trees need regular summer watering their first year or two to get established. I'm planting in a pasture that looks similar to you landscape. Two hard things for me: breaking ground with hand tools and giving seedlings weekly watering. I've damaged tendons in my fingers from so much carrying of water buckets. I've planted apple, pear, mulberry, plum, and native trees. I've mulched; soil is sandy despite being hard for me to dig (grass roots and rocks). I try to water weekly. Do you all believe that we can skip watering young trees and it will be okay? Other tips? The labor is a lot for me--Alex, amazing work!
Oh my gosh Annika I did the same! When I first started I was carting water, trying to dig in rock hard clay and was forced to rest my hand. What I do now is I only plant when there’s rain. I can plant 5 trees in the time it would take me to dig one hole in the dry, I let nature do the watering for me. If it’s dry like it is now, I use this time in my nursery to propagate and pot up. As you have 3 seasons of wet, can you plant at the beginning of this cycle? Also wet newspaper under the mulch has helped me with a couple of avocados I planted. You could also try lining the hole with newspaper to help retain moisture. Just a thought as I’m not experienced with sandy soil. Fast growing nitrogen-fixing pioneers will also help shade your trees to further reduce evaporation.. and observe your plantings as if they are planted during your wet seasons they may not need this much watering (I stopped listening to all the ‘rules’ and decided to just try things and see what worked as watering thousands of trees for the first 2 years just wasn’t an option for me!) But most important of all: rest and ask for help if you can! My best wishes to you Annika!! 💚💚💚
@@dreamsofgreenthis is such thoughtful and helpful advice, and encouraging, too! Rains are right around the corner--a treat and opportunity after a long summer.
Annika, I'm also in NW USA - toward eastern side of Columbia River Gorge to be exact. Typically dry from June-September - this year dry season started in May and lasted through August. I water my 1-2 year old trees - most were planted as bareroot nursery fruit/nut trees, a few were in 1 to 2 gal pots. Watering seems necessary for those trees here given the lack of precipitation and soil that is extremely well drained (volcanic ash based). I've seen drought stress signs in them, and lost a few in spite of the watering. I suspect, but don't have enough data points to prove it, that trees grown from seed in situ, rather than bareroot nursery stock, might be able to get established and get roots deep enough to survive. Of course, trees genetically adapted to long hot dry spells are going to fare much better than things like grafted fruit trees - Acacia being a great example as shown in the video. I'm very interested in experience of others in similar situations.
In the arid zone of MX some people place cactus pads in the hole then some earth and then plant the tree, they say it helps a lot for the trees to stand the drought.
Anita, search for TH-cam’s by Geoff Lawson, he works in Australia and Jordan, his planting in Australia using his “mix” and water retention gel is informative for your situation, he waters in the seedlings at planting and never again
Thanks so much Devin. It’s one of my favourite things to do - sitting in one of the grass rows in the shade, observing the birds and wallabies. Alex 💚🌿
Thanks so much, yes it’s worked a treat! Especially in this recent heat wave we’ve had - lots of burnt leaves on more mature trees, but the small trees in the grass nests have no damage 😊🌿
BTW Alex - Vetiver Hedges are used all over the world in exactly the same way as your grass rows on steep slopes - to protect crops and slow water to conserve moisture from rainfall - though the grass rows are a better option as a base for a tree forest because vetiver would dominate the young trees - but if you subsequently want to build up natural terraces, without earth moving machinery, on some of your other steep slopes VETIVER HEDGES would be the perfect option especially as you can probagate them quickly by simply spliting the roots.
Thanks Alex. This is great information and didn’t think about the vetiver dominating the young trees. It would be cool to experiment as it makes a beautiful essential oil too. 🌾🌾🌾
Thank you so much and I have every confidence you will. Looking forward to following your progress on your channel. Best wishes to you, you’re doing amazing work. Alex 💚🌿
Great plantings, Alex. Hopefully, you'll get to see your forest mature. I never did this, but now's the time to start recording temperatures, as you'll find you'll change (lower) summer temps considerably as the trees mature and probably eliminate frost- (my experience with a maturing food forest from a hot, dry, compacted setaria paddock)
Today was a great example - we got to 40 degrees. Crazy hot, especially for September! We are often a few degrees hotter than in town. You give me so much hope Steph, thank you!!
Sorry love. In a previous video I suggested that you plant edibles like nut trees. Oh how misinformed I was. Brilliant stff. I love what you have done and you are a marvel that others who want to restore our nations soils can learn from. Free and massive input free is always a very strong selling point for anyone who on a budget. I will be eager to see how you progress over the next few years. Cheers
Wow, such a beautiful comment, thank you so much. And on my other slope there’s a few native edibles mixed in too so I’ll go list a few for you! Thanks again, I appreciate your comment very much and look forward to sharing the journey with you. Alex 💚🌿
I live in the Northern Rivers too and I am so glad that I discovered your channel. Each video is like being back at uni/school learning new stuff. Definitely hit up razorback mowers for a sponsorship.
Thanks Mathew! Welcome! Great to know you’re in the northern rivers too and love learning new things. And yes, love the razorback, I should!! Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
What a great idea .we are just starting a food forest using smmall swales .we spent the last few years growing cuttings and seeds in big pots .due to no water over summer we are thinking to wait till end of summer to plant out.
Very inspirational - your videos offer great value in practical knowledge and in garden and farm landscaping economy. LOVE YOUR GRASS BASKETS! Simply superb Alex!
We are surrounded by heavily grazed paddocks which act as firebreaks and have a dam, tanks and fire pump if we need. This is just a temporary solution until the trees are big enough to survive without protection. I’ve just posted an updated video where we’ve removed all of the grass now that the trees are bigger 🌿
Very cool, funny to see you still get frosts up there im in the blue mountains and trying to get a good syntropic system and food forest going i ve found it hard to get trees like mango or jaboticaba through the frosts. Great tips on the grass mangement. would be nice to see a design and tour of your nursery. Trying to see if i should plan one in full sun with shade cloth to get heat or in an already shaded spot with less need for shade cloth?
Thanks for your message and great suggestion for a video! The key I found was fast growing pioneers and then I had to use the grass almost like a blanket with the grass basket over the top. Anything without this grass frost protection I lost. I’m sure though in the blue mountains that your frosts are much more severe than ours up here! If it gets down to -2 it will then get into the low 20s during the day but I’m sure your ground temperatures would be much lower than ours throughout winter which would also be a challenge for your more subtropical plants.. As for your nursery, I’ve found winter sun is the most important. I have a plastic cover for winter and shade cloth for the rest of the year. If you watch one of my propagating videos I’m sitting in the nursery and you can see the plastic cover peeled back behind me. This will hopefully give you an idea of my nursery setup before I make a detailed video! Hope this helps and wishing you all the best with your syntropic system! Alex 🌱💚🪴
Awesome idea for winter sun thankyou for your videos on propagation and growinh from seed its really the only way to level up on a big block. Im also about to start an air pruning bed after watching peoples sucess growing hundreds of trees
Fantastic! Please keep me updated on your progress. And yes I have saved tens of thousands of dollars on trees by propagating my own. It was a must for me with ten acres. But of course it’s an absolute joy growing your own plants too. All the best with your trees! Alex 🌳🌳🌳
Thanks Daniel! I’m a big fan of direct seeding if you can, but in this case I don’t have a tractor to plough up the land to plant seeds, also it’s too steep for a tractor to plough on contour. So in my particular context, hardened seedlings I felt were my best option. Not a lot of seeds can compete with the long grass (eucalyptus and silky oaks pop up by themselves but not much else). This way I minimised my digging output by just planting one seedling every metre and had better success rates. Hope this helps and all the best implementing your syntropic farming course! My best wishes to you, Alex 💚🌿
I hope it goes really well for you! Yes I have had problems with rodents in my nursery in winter, eating my young seedling trees off at the base! Luckily the grass has seemed to protect my young trees from the wallabies. Wishing you all the best with your tree planting! Alex 🌳🌳🌳
Do you have any tips or tricks on how to deer proof? I have wild deer in my area. I’m going to put an electric fence around the perimeter of my first patch, probably 50mx100m in size, and use aluminium foil covered in peanut butter to get the deer interested in licking that wire ⚡️⚡️⚡️ I saw a video on this method on Geoff Lawton’s channel. But wondering if you have any other suggestions?
@@sharonhoffer3599 Have you ever seen "deer fence?" A dog might help. I've never tried electric fence. I haven't done any fencing at all. I live in town. One thing I DO have is motion-detecting lights. It's not like I'm living in the country, but deer do come through my 1 acre.
@@dreamsofgreen It's kind of ideal growing. I'm in "the banana belt" of North-Central Idaho. We're up North, but we're down low, due to a fluke of topography. The "armpit of Idaho." I'm about halfway up the monocline from the river to the prairie, up high. I don't imagine Australia is very comparable for weather and soil.
You are blessed with the climate zone you are in. I am living in Barraba on the western slopes: it goes over 40 °C, down to - 10°C is possible and strong westerlies. I've been trying hard to establish a food forest, even some acacias die ... Any advice please!? what to try and plant? Thanks Sus
Hi Sus, wow, very challenging conditions! My best advice would be collecting local seed that is thriving on neglect. It’s a great time now as the acacias will be coming into seed as well as many others. Have a look too which trees are thriving in neighbouring properties. You may be able to establish a tough native windbreak using bottle brush, acacias (and any other fast growing natives, perhaps check out a local native nursery or landcare for tubestock)) to reduce evaporation from the westerlies and protect your food forest. Time your plantings with the rain to maximise your success rate and when you plant you can use newspaper or cardboard around the base, soak it heavily with water and then mulch over the top thickly. But again I would do this after you’ve had rain when the soil is already wet, so you are keeping the water in, not keeping the water out! Plant things like mulberries to give you leaf mulch and shade and lots of fast growing support trees to shelter your target trees. Tough as nails trees first - then once you have canopy you can plant more species for diversity. I hope this helps, my best wishes for an abundant food forest! Alex 💚🌿
I have a question: I have read that propagating from seed does not always give you another edible fruit tree. Please tell me your thoughts about that. I am planning a small food forest (10 trees) in my yard and I feel grafted trees are sad and somewhat unethical.
Great question! If you only have space for a few trees and want a harvest quickly, grafted trees are a much better guarantee. However, because I was planting out 2km of tree rows, I was more than happy to plant from seed and know that some seedlings would produce better fruit than others. I also have some grafted trees around the house like avocados, tropical apple, low chill nectarine, pears and citrus. I would go with whatever brings you joy! If your gut tells you not to buy grafted fruit trees then I say go with that instinct. I clearly went against a lot of the written advice and was happy to experiment as it brought me so much joy! Also, if you google Daley’s fruit you will see they sell a mixture of seedling and grafted fruit trees and this will give you an idea of what you can grow from seed in your climate. Wishing you all the best with your food forest! Kindest regards, Alex 💚🌿
Thanks for your video. I was told and read everywhere, that I have to graft fruit- and nut trees (is that the right word?- cut them to grow together) to get a fruit as the one, the seed came from. That the fruits would not be good at all if I just used the seedling and waited many years... but you plantet from the seeds you found... What do you think, how the fruits will be later on? Do you have a secret? Thanks in advance Jeanette
Hi Jeanette! Great question. It depends on the fruit! I have planted lots of fruit trees from seed as I wanted tougher, non-grafted trees as I don’t have irrigation. Also I couldn’t afford to buy this many grafted trees haha! I was curious to see which varieties I came up with as our local nursery sells many fruit trees that are propagated from seed. Bowen mangoes will grow true to type but others will not, but can still produce delicious fruit that is a little different to the parent tree. I have also planted a small home orchard where I purchased some grafted trees that will produce sooner and true to type. So I figure i can always graft onto some of the seedling trees in the future if I want to. Because I have planted so many and it’s not a commercial orchard, I was happy to experiment with seed. So I encourage you to experiment with some seedling trees and grafted trees and see which works for you. You may come up with a new variety! Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen Thank you for the answer. I have a few 1-3 year old trees in pots - grown through seedlings. Planning a forest garden or similar on the ground, I just purchased. Not as much ground as you, though. And I hoped to be able to say: That tree is from XY and that one from Z. So I guess, I will still let some of them grow and see how they do. But I will also have to buy some old varieties to be sure to be able to harvest the first fruits and nuts in a few years time. Old varieties also seem to be a mythos since there always is a mixture of genes - the seedlings, but also grafted trees exchange a part of their genes - nature want´s to be sure not to stand still ;) Eventhough you spoke about the weather conditions at your place, which sound familar to mine, the vegetation here is another one and it´s probably still colder throughout the year. So growth in diversity. Good luck with your plants - it´s really great project!💚
Your food forest is coming along beautifully 😍 so lovely to see. You mentioned you have a custard apple 💕 I wouldn’t have guessed I’d see one there. Do you have multiple custard apple trees growing? Many fruit trees like custard apples are dioecious if planted from seed.
Thanks so much Deborah! Yes I propagated lots of custard apples from seed and have them repeating along the rows. Just testing if they work now or if I need to wait a couple of years when I have better canopy and soil conditions. Time will tell!! They are one of my favourite fruit so I really hope so 😊🌿
Yes, a friend mentioned the amazing work he has been doing so I must check out his videos. Thank you for the reminder, always appreciate these great suggestions! Alex 💚🌿
Hi Alex, longing your channel, I’ve just found it, is there someway I could get in contact with you as I’m in kyogle myself and I’m wanting to start a silvopasture grazing program and I’d really love to come see how you set things up if possible. Keep up the good work, certainly will be following to keep up with how things are progressing
Love this! So great to see an Australian Food Forest 😊 What an amazing job ❤ Questions: pecan tree in with other trees? I was to plant them near other trees. Would love to know what you think.
Thank you so much! Yes I’m wondering about the pecan too so I researched what grew well with them naturally. I’ve put it into a consortium with apple and mulberry and planted them at the same time so the pecan isn’t dominant.. but I’ve also planted a separate pecan orchard as a backup plan if I observe the pecans inhibiting the growth of the surrounding trees. My thought process was similar to the use of eucalyptus in syntropic agroforestry so time will tell! But apparently the best fruit trees said to grow well with pecans are mulberries, grapes, stone fruit and persimmons. All the best! Alex 💚🌿
Just discovered your fantastic channel. Out of curiosity, what type of grass do you use for your swale break and did you need to do anything special to establish it?
Thanks so much for watching! It’s just the existing grass in the paddock, it grows like crazy during the wet season so we just maintain the rows with a ride-on mower. Alex 💚🌿
Some of the trees will need about 10 m in diameter when they are fully grown (Walnut). Are you planning on taking those out in some years or do you just wait and see who will make it?
Hello Alex. I'm finding much inspiration in your videos. I wish you success with them. I was hoping you would say something about what you used for your grass source. Am I to assume that it's the grass that was already present when you started, and you cut the pathways but not the "over-" grown strips? Or did you plant grass(es) by seed? And if so, were they purchased or collected? Sorry if I missed something obvious!
Thanks so much for your lovely comment and for your question! The grass was the existing grass in the paddock. Then I mowed on contour between the tree rows which left the grass around the trees. No sowing needed! Hope this helps and all the best, Alex 💚🌿
I’ve never eaten Sapotees , I have two planted also about 6 Black Sapotees . Has anyone eaten these. I put the black Sapotees In because people said they tasted like Chocolate pudding. I thinking I’m living on that hope.
Me too haha! I planted a black sapote when we first moved here and no fruit yet! The white sapotes are delicious and I’ve found the trees so much hardier. I purchased another, more established black sapote as a trial but it lost all of its leaves over winter and is not happy! Oh well, like you, I live in hope! I hope you get to try the fruit soon! Alex 🌿
Subbed for such an intelligent and beautiful project. Truly working with mother nature at its finest. I appreciate you and everything you're doing out there.
how come I did not think to braid our 2m tall grass the way you do :) ? I am super excited to start doing this. We still have many tiny trees that will benefit during our brutal spring dry heat to be shaded by your braid idea instead of the grass falling on them.
Great question, we are in the humid subtropics so between the tropics and warm temperate climate. We sometimes have light frosts in winter but then during the day it’s usually fairly warm so the plants aren’t staying in freezing temperatures for long. The young trees definitely need protection from frost which is why I use the long grass as shelter. Without any protection the young trees can die in winter. Once the trees get bigger they are able to cope with a light frost. I hope this answers your question 🥭🌿
Yes sometimes our chickens. We have to supervise them though as we have wedge tailed eagles. I’m really excited for once the canopy gets up and they have some protection so they can free range through the food forest. Alex 🌿
i made quite a bit research on frost, dambing the canopy with water or not... result is, you need a clear surface, preferrably wet. because water has a high thermal capacity, wet soil will have higher heat and clear surface is darker so it gets more energy from the light into soi, to be reflected during the nighttimel. if the surface is not clean, that creates a thermal insulation(sounds good right but wait) so at nighttime it prevents heat coming from the soil to the leaves/canopy, and that blockage will increase the chance of frost damage on the leaves/spurs etc. also a backteria on grasses increase the frost temperature(forgot the technical term) that your trees handle, but this is true if it rains or if the canopy is wet. opposite to the old knowledge, artificially moistening(is it a word?) the canopy is harmful because of this bacteria being activated. these are valid for an established orchard/forest i guess. but a newly planted orchard may need your approach due to the fact that heat will run upward very quickly because the plants are very small and a canopy is nonexistant. still you might try a couple of saplings completely cleared around them.
An interesting read, thanks for your comment! I conducted a few trials and from my observations, any frost sensitive saplings such as blue quandong perished without the grass around them as frost protection. Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen I had been building dead hedges on contour wondering if this would work, fairly confident it would. It's taken some time to decay and establish but it's definitely holding the terrain even in torrential rain all the while creating whole contour lines of hugelmounds. Your method is slightly different but I think in the end we will both have tons of organic matter stores on those hills for decades or centuries to come.
That’s awesome! I love this. Thanks so much for sharing. Once I start pruning I’m hoping to do the same as you so great to know you’re having success. If you have any links of your work I’d love to see it. All the best with your project! Alex 🌿
Hey Nick, I’m so sorry, I don’t know! It’s whatever was growing in the paddock, so I just used what I had available. I should probably find out! Cheers, Alex 🌾🌾
@@dreamsofgreen Fair enough it's a tough Id. Here I think I would have trouble with twitch invading the root space. A clumping grass is probably better I guess
Ah yes, a challenge! Have you noticed which young trees cope with it? You could always start there with the tougher species and eventually shade it out and then replace the grass with your chop n drop mulch. Good luck Nick and keep me posted on what you discover! 🌿
Cloning will allow you to rapidly increase plants with desired characteristics or sex, however, I think it important to keep planting seed as well, you never know when a new characteristic will manifest. I often think that even plant breeding for monoculture species could be accelerated by cloning, finding a trait, cloning to multiply, growing in a greenhouse so you can have many generations per year not dependent on season, altering conditions at Will to “weed out” all except those of specific qualities.
Simple, you plant where you live! I could have left this a bare paddock at zero cost, or planted a food forest at zero cost. In a tiny rental I put recycled pots with plants all along the driveway - zero cost. I was paying for somewhere to live anyway so I figured I may as well make it beautiful with plants! There’s also a wonderful comment under this video of someone who has been planting a jackfruit forest on vacant land for 30 years. And others I know have helped plant on a friend or relative’s land.. the possibilities are endless! Wishing you much joy and success with your own garden and I think it’s a great question that has inspired another video..! Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen thanks I have already planted as much as I can where I rent. I dream of moving out of the city and having land to plant. I even have worm bins in the living room.
@@annearsenault7168 Oh my gosh, loved reading your comment Anne, I had the worm farm at the front door and plants everywhere too haha! For what it’s worth, I had this dream of moving to the country for many, many years too. When you have that dream, sometimes life can surprise you! I started volunteering at a local nursery and we started going for day trips to the countryside as I was feeling so claustrophobic living shoulder to shoulder with my neighbours. We met so many interesting people and discovered some beautiful countryside and this kept the inspiration alive that maybe one day… and here we are, a few years later in a tiny town we had never even heard of! My best wishes to you Anne, I’m sure you will be able to live your dream. Alex 💚🌿
What about wild fires? I live in a high fire threat area. Just the normal spring weeds can carry flames across the land. My neighbors would have a fit.
You definitely have to look at your own situation and do what’s best your circumstances. We are surrounded by heavily grazed paddocks and have a dam, tanks and fire pump if we need. In your situation I’d be adapting my strategy and planting lots of fast growing fire retardant trees such as mulberry first to create shelter then plant your young trees. This is just a temporary solution until the trees are big enough to survive without protection. I’ve just posted an updated video where we’ve removed all of the grass now that the trees are bigger 🌿
@ thank you for your reply. I have been removing woody brush and laying down a thick layer of wood chips to improve the soil. The chips have many benefits, one being weed suppression. I’ve planted 20 fruit trees and some grapes. Water is now my biggest hurdle. My olives, grapes and pomegranates can take my well water. However Cherries, apricots, figs, apple and jujubes need better water. With only 7 inches of average rain fall it is a challenge. The wood chips help hold water when I get it but they can only do so much during my hot dry season.
@@Skookmanand I’m sorry you comment was missed! Yes you have some really challenging conditions you’re working with but sounds like you’re doing an amazing job. The wood chip is a huge help I’m sure. If there are other fast growing species that pop up naturally in your area that you could use as support trees to create shade, this could be a great help too. I found during our dry spells that evaporation was our biggest problem, and fast growing shade made a huge difference to moderating the extreme temperatures and keeping the water in the soil longer. The acacias I use are apparently fire retardant (acacia fimbriata) and even under a very young tree it was several degrees cooler on a hot day. It’s made a massive difference to our landscape. But still, nothing beats standing under a big mulberry tree on a hot day! I find several layers of newspaper under the wood chip really helps too and keeps the ground much cooler and keeps the moisture in. Cardboard I found would dry out and then when it did rain, it was hydrophobic and the water would sheet off instead of soaking in to my tree. I’m not sure if water tanks are an option to get you through the dry season. We have several 1000L pods collecting the overflow from our house tanks and another few thousand L tank for the garden as well. Wishing you much success (and a little more rain) Alex 💚🌿
Thanks for this! I’ve got a cold frost pocket low down on the property and I think an apple grove would be perfect for that space. Appreciate the inspiration! Alex 🍏🌿
Great question! Yes, in this particular case I was after hardier trees from seed vs grafted trees and willing to experiment to see what new varieties I end up with! I’m happy to thin over time if the fruit is not as good as other trees and then select the best trees for propagation material in the future, knowing these trees are tough and adapted to my soil and climate. Alex 💚🌿
I know! I’m so sorry, I was wearing a mic and everything seemed to be working… however, turns out there was a connection issue and I’m waiting for the spare part to arrive (there were no spare parts in Australia). I decided to publish anyway but hopefully from next week the sound of my videos will be much better. Thanking you for persisting with the video! Kind regards, Alex 🌿
"Free" here = no variable costs, additional expenses for earthworks, saplings. But there's been fixed cost = buying the land, I presume. Wonderful ingenuity creativity positivity!
Thank you so much! So to explain my thinking, free for me means plant where you live so it actually doesn’t cost any extra to what you are already paying to live somewhere. When I was in a tiny rental I had food in recycled pots growing along the driveway at no extra cost, or when I was living on a suburban block friends gave me seed and I planted out the lawn with food. So in this case we chose to live in the countryside as it was far cheaper than the city, and could choose to leave it as a cow paddock or plant a food forest for free. Hope this clarifies my thought process and thanks so much for watching! Kind regards, Alex 💚🌿
Unfortunately you have to call dial before you dig and hire an expert to locate it. Because the expert couldn’t locate the fibre optic cable with his scanner as it wasn’t tagged properly when installed Telstra said it was our responsibility to hire specialist machinery that would have cost as much as the swales anyway to locate it. Insurance companies won’t fully insure excavator operators if they damage the cable either. Oh well, so happy with the result in the end! 😊
To me it sounds like the responsibility of the person/organisation which put it there. One part of me is frrrrustrated reading this. Another is focused on the great outcome that you created. Because I have long grass/weeds, limited time & funds and functional, simple and practical philosophy which needed a wakeup call. Thanks!
@@andrewparry1474 A pleasure Andrew! Yes being passed from one department to another and spending hours.. (no days!) on the phone getting nowhere was beyond frustrating but I had to let it go as we finally had rain and there were trees to be planted! Wishing you much success with your project and yes, try to time your plantings with the rain if you can - so much easier. All the best! Alex 💚🌿
Yes I thought this too and was told what I’m doing is a big no-no! However, as we are in zone 10A and get extreme heat and also frost, the grass was the only resource I had to work with to protect my young trees. I clear a one foot diameter around the tree so I don’t have big clumps choking the trees. I personally observed any newly planted trees not protected by the grass died in a heat wave or with a frost. So this is not necessarily the answer for everyone but just an example of what has worked for me based on the resources and climate conditions I had to work with. I always say try different things and do what works best for you! All the best Denise, Alex 💚🌿
it is amazing but reality is a bit different of that. for example you will have a productive food forest in years ahead. how do you eat tilll there ? fodd forest is not a solution for poor small farmer at all. sorry
I really appreciate you watching and you make a very valid point. I’ve divided the property into different sections. The home paddock has a veggie patch that was producing in its first month. Then you have grafted fruit trees, some producing in their first year. This food forest is a medium term plan that will start producing in 3-5 years. Then there’s the back hill which is long term timber and bush foods, a 10-20 year plan. I highly recommend Jon Jandai Life is Easy, especially this video th-cam.com/video/b2eoQyYoUww/w-d-xo.htmlsi=oknE_jW8TraxfO-V I hope you find some value from this. Warm regards, Alex 💚🌿
This is my second video from your channel. I subscribed after watching the first one. I am so impressed with what you are doing, and more impressed with how you are doing it (water free, money free, etc). That is how I am doing my food forest in Tucson, AZ. I am turning my rented place (61 ft. by 120 ft. in city lot) into an urban food forest. It is flat, and basically compacted clay. Monsoon rains would make it into a muddy lake until all the water that did not run off into the street evaporated. I am sure that not one microbe a foot down got any water! Ever!
Well, I began by covering the ground with yard waste from my wife's yardwork business. Since, I have had a couple of chip drops from local tree services. They would rather dump them here for free than pay to take them to a dump. I also have dug 5 swales all over the front and back yards to catch the rain water. Now, because of the swales and the mulch covering, not one drop of water runs off, and almost none of it evaporates.
I had to dig a number of holes before I did all this, and it was so hard it took an hour to dig a very small hole (maybe a foot deep, and a foot diameter). Now, in the same area, I can push the mulch aside, and dig a hole with my bare hands! And, I have worms!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment William! I am so grateful for what you have shared here. It’s such a beautiful, moving story. I can relate so much to the way you talk about the compacted clay and the water sheeting off.. it was so frustrating here to be flooded with the water running straight off our property onto the road and then be faced with baking heat and rock hard clay cracking in the sun.. what you have achieved is absolutely remarkable and a testament to what’s possible. If you have any links to your project I’d love to see it! Thank you again for your inspiring story. Wishing you continued success with your project, Alex 🌱💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen When we first moved into this place, we would have fires in the back yard. Depression had me consuming a lot of alcohol, and my yard was the highly used party yard. The soil (no, the dirt) became so compacted that even the weeds would not grow! LOL
The front yard was never used, so weeds grew a lot. Especially the "pokey" desert kinds. Yuck! And the ants took over! We steered clear of the front yard.
We called the back yard Lake Stanley (William Stanley) when it rained. What a mess. We have some videos posted from a while back, but I'll have to get more made because it looks so different now. My wife took the videos, and posted them. I'll find the links and post them in a comment.
I started on July 11, 2021 by planting some green onions from the store out back, and a Romaine Lettuce from the store. The next day, I tossed kitchen scraps on the ground and said, "Voila, a compost pile!" I had to get started somewhere. Then, all I had to do was improve!
Well, it has been a great two years growing in the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, AZ. We have frosts periodically in the winter, and beastly heat in the summer, like you describe happens where you are.
I am focused on the trees, to get my live shade cloth. And am planting all sorts of things. I'll have to do a walk through video tour before winter comes; while it still looks lush.
Just love this. You are a natural story teller and I am looking forward too seeing your walk through video very much! Love how you started you compost pile and improved from there 😂 For me, gardening has been an absolute game changer for my state of mind. If I’m not feeling good for some reason, I just go get my hands in the dirt and it’s like an instant cure. Amazing stuff. And yes, in these harsh conditions I find shade is your best friend. Acacias and pigeon pea were my saviours! Looking forward to the updates!
@@dreamsofgreen In business, there is what is called the 80/20 rule. Make sure eighty percent gets done with twenty percent of the effort. In gardening, shade (mulch) is the eighty percent.
I explain it to people by having them stand in the sun with me. Then, I get into the shade, and say, "See? Isn't that so much better?" Then I tell them that the microbes think the same thing! Just give them shade and they will work for you. Thus, I have billions of little workers on my farm.
Also, mulch activated the 24/7/365 automatic drip irrigation system God built into the earth. Water table water evaporates and moves upward. It condenses as it rises to the surface. Eventually, that process allows some of it to escape through the surface.
But not if there is mulch. That lets it condense, and drip downward. There is a lot of science and math involved (which I find as beautiful as a sunset, but which bores most people, understandably), but it works. I can go out after weeks of heat and there is moisture at the surface.
Plus, while the grasses compete with the little trees for sunlight, they actually share the food and water through the mycorrhizal association. That's what makes fungus such a Fun Guy! LOL
This is too funny! I’m a maths tutor and love maths, I’m always going on about the 80/20 rule to make life easier and my thinking is that nature doesn’t have irrigation so I have to learn to mimic the patterns of nature and plant appropriately 😂
My heart goes out to you, I planted 17,000 trees in the 1970s in the hinterland behind Port Macquarie, the land had been clear felled dairy farm, the sad thing was urban sprawl crept out and ultimately surrounded the land, the rates went through the roof when Port Macquarie Council took over Hastings Council and the urban feral kids trespassed and wilfully destroyed new plantings. I lost heart and sold to developers. Hope you don’t suffer from urban creep.
Oh wow Anthony, what incredible knowledge and wisdom you must have gained from planting 17,000 trees. Remarkable. Don’t lose heart, it’s pioneers like yourself that inspire me to do what I’m doing and keep going so even though it may feel like it, it wasn’t in vain. I am incredibly grateful and appreciative that you choose to share your story and wisdom here. And through sharing our stories we inspire others. Thank you 🙏
Alex 💚🌿
Thank you for your service to humanity. Please share your knowledge of planting the trees on TH-cam if possible so we can all learn from it
Holy fuck, sorry to hear that.
Flexibility, creativity, intelligence and love. Both the food forest and the videos on the channel are made with talent and passion. Thank you!
Thank you so much. Really kind of you. I’ve been filming in the food forest so there will be more videos in the food forest coming soon. Hope you’re growing lots too! Best wishes, Alex 💚🌿
Congratulations Alex. What an achievement! I loved the grass baskets you created to protect the young trees. Great practical knowledge, thank you.
Thank you very much Wendy. Amazing how many little seedlings made it through the frosts and scorching heat with those little baskets! 💚🌾
Love the grass contures and tying the tops together for a little cover is great! One thing I have found myself and there is long standing evidence for is just how dense you can plant support species. We have a great natural example of a black wattle and eucalyptus growing amazing together with the less than 10cm apart at the base. The more support, the more shade, nitrogen amd biomass for the system, the happier the high value trees.
Yes!! I agree 100%. In fact I need to do a video on this. When observing our local forests I noticed the same, so thanks for your comment, love it! Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
Acacia are amazing, beautiful foliage, flowers and bean pods!
Avoiding earthworks is a sustainable, frugal, and fast method to push out water harvesting and forest creation. You could add some leaky weir swales, from deadfall wood to add to the water harvesting capabilities. Free material on the ground just needs to be moved and stacked.
Love this! Thanks so much. What a way to compliment this system! Kindest regards, Alex 💚🌿
Using thick grass rows with alternating mowed down pathways is such a simple idea! Whatever it rains the slope definitely slows down the water by all that thick beautiful mulch you've set down. I would love to see a time lapse or before and after video of your system in action during a storm.
Great idea Marco! Love this. Thanks, Alex 💚🌿
Genius. I love your grass cages of protection. Very clever. 🙏🇦🇺
Thank you so much. Alex 💚🌿
A great inspiring video 😍
I am embarking on creating my own food forrest, however I feel very self-conscious about long grass because of fire & snake hazards. I live in a rural town in south West Australia & the local council rules on grass/fire hazards are strict as... And if there's one thing that grows well on my property, it's grass, lol 😅
That’s wonderful! Thank you! And you don’t have to use the grass, it’s just a resource I had available to me as I didn’t have anything else! You can grow a border of mulberry, Photinia, feijoa which are fantastically tough and fire retardant, grow fast growing shade with acacias/pigeon pea and heavily cover the food forest area with cardboard and a truckload of mulch to smother the grass! All depends on how big of an area you’ve got. It’s all about doing what works for you. I’m lucky to have a cat that follows me around the paddock and warns me about brown snakes (3 so far!) and I’m also slashing the grass at the moment to reduce fire risk. So I hear your concerns. Best wishes for your food forest! Alex 💚🌿
Really looking forward to updates on your system! Well done and thanks for sharing
Thanks so much! Alex 🌿
Youre use of grass is genius. I havent seen anything like it before.
Wow thanks so much James. Really appreciate your comment! Alex 💚🌿
Oh my God you've done it!
In my experience as a professional Planter over recent years(including in the lovely Kyogle), an approach like this is what I've been envisioning!
I'm so grateful to find someone actually doing it, and in the same town as a friend of mine with a similar vision!
I'll be in touch!
Wow! This is amazing!! Thanks so much and look forward to speaking soon. Alex 💚🌿
Brilliant solution, here in Oregon, we get the same weather. I will do this from now on!
Wonderful. Thank you so much and I wish you all the best with your project in Oregon! Happy planting, Alex 🌿
Beautiful lady and food forest. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your lovely comment! Alex 💚🌿
Just binge watched all your videos ending on this one, and what a marvellous forest you have created. Congratulations and well done, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and inspiring others 🙏🏽👏🏼👍🏼🌱🐝
Wow Sharon, amazing. Thank you so much. It’s an absolute pleasure. Wishing you so much joy and success with the transformation of your own property. I’m sure it will be magnificent. Alex 🌱💚🌿
Hello you have done a wonderful job, just a tip with your mower being on hill make sure your oil level is right, if a bit low on a slant it might not reach the pick-up. Keep up the good work cheers
Thanks so much Tony and really appreciate the tip! Kindest regards, Alex 💚🌿
Your work is very beautiful! If I may make a criticism: Don't be afraid to plant many more trees and plants next to yours! plants such as elephant grass, tithonia diversifololia, pigeon pea, moringa, are examples of excellent plants for creating a pleasant environment for your fruit trees!
Thank you so much and YES, I definitely want some more support trees in there! These are great suggestions. I’ve collected a heap of pigeon pea and tephrosia seed to sow in the rows to create added mulch and shade. I tried Moringa but I think it rotted in the floods but keen to give it another try! Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
Alex, you and your videos are amazing! Thanks for it. Best wishes from Russia
Thanks so much and glad you like them! Alex 💚🌿
Excellent. Time and ingenuity. Very inspiring. Thanks so much.
Thanks so much and you’re welcome! Alex 💚🌿
Great work! I'm sending this to a family member working on a similarly sloped site. Thanks for sharing your design.
Thanks so much for watching and sharing. I’ve just posted a property update and have been filming in the food forest so more to come! 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen You're welcome!! Looking forward to seeing the update.
You’re an inspiration! Glad I found your channel!
Wow, thanks so much and welcome! Warm regards, Alex 💚🌿
Question for Alex and others regarding water for young trees. I'm in NW USA and we get 3 seasons of rain and 1 season of drought. Everyone here says that young trees need regular summer watering their first year or two to get established. I'm planting in a pasture that looks similar to you landscape. Two hard things for me: breaking ground with hand tools and giving seedlings weekly watering. I've damaged tendons in my fingers from so much carrying of water buckets. I've planted apple, pear, mulberry, plum, and native trees. I've mulched; soil is sandy despite being hard for me to dig (grass roots and rocks). I try to water weekly. Do you all believe that we can skip watering young trees and it will be okay? Other tips? The labor is a lot for me--Alex, amazing work!
Oh my gosh Annika I did the same! When I first started I was carting water, trying to dig in rock hard clay and was forced to rest my hand. What I do now is I only plant when there’s rain. I can plant 5 trees in the time it would take me to dig one hole in the dry, I let nature do the watering for me. If it’s dry like it is now, I use this time in my nursery to propagate and pot up. As you have 3 seasons of wet, can you plant at the beginning of this cycle? Also wet newspaper under the mulch has helped me with a couple of avocados I planted. You could also try lining the hole with newspaper to help retain moisture. Just a thought as I’m not experienced with sandy soil. Fast growing nitrogen-fixing pioneers will also help shade your trees to further reduce evaporation.. and observe your plantings as if they are planted during your wet seasons they may not need this much watering (I stopped listening to all the ‘rules’ and decided to just try things and see what worked as watering thousands of trees for the first 2 years just wasn’t an option for me!) But most important of all: rest and ask for help if you can! My best wishes to you Annika!! 💚💚💚
@@dreamsofgreenthis is such thoughtful and helpful advice, and encouraging, too! Rains are right around the corner--a treat and opportunity after a long summer.
Annika, I'm also in NW USA - toward eastern side of Columbia River Gorge to be exact. Typically dry from June-September - this year dry season started in May and lasted through August. I water my 1-2 year old trees - most were planted as bareroot nursery fruit/nut trees, a few were in 1 to 2 gal pots. Watering seems necessary for those trees here given the lack of precipitation and soil that is extremely well drained (volcanic ash based). I've seen drought stress signs in them, and lost a few in spite of the watering. I suspect, but don't have enough data points to prove it, that trees grown from seed in situ, rather than bareroot nursery stock, might be able to get established and get roots deep enough to survive. Of course, trees genetically adapted to long hot dry spells are going to fare much better than things like grafted fruit trees - Acacia being a great example as shown in the video. I'm very interested in experience of others in similar situations.
In the arid zone of MX some people place cactus pads in the hole then some earth and then plant the tree, they say it helps a lot for the trees to stand the drought.
Anita, search for TH-cam’s by Geoff Lawson, he works in Australia and Jordan, his planting in Australia using his “mix” and water retention gel is informative for your situation, he waters in the seedlings at planting and never again
Inspiring and beautiful project! Love to hear the wildlife is already utilizing the tall grasses
Thanks so much Devin. It’s one of my favourite things to do - sitting in one of the grass rows in the shade, observing the birds and wallabies. Alex 💚🌿
I loooooove the grass nest idea 💡👌
Thanks so much, yes it’s worked a treat! Especially in this recent heat wave we’ve had - lots of burnt leaves on more mature trees, but the small trees in the grass nests have no damage 😊🌿
So inspirational
Great work Alex
Thanks so much Ben. Can’t wait to watch your place transform. Imagine how it’s going to look this time next year??!! 🌱🌿
Thank you. Northern Arizona, USA
Thanks for watching! Alex 💚🌿
BTW Alex - Vetiver Hedges are used all over the world in exactly the same way as your grass rows on steep slopes - to protect crops and slow water to conserve moisture from rainfall - though the grass rows are a better option as a base for a tree forest because vetiver would dominate the young trees - but if you subsequently want to build up natural terraces, without earth moving machinery, on some of your other steep slopes VETIVER HEDGES would be the perfect option especially as you can probagate them quickly by simply spliting the roots.
Thanks Alex. This is great information and didn’t think about the vetiver dominating the young trees. It would be cool to experiment as it makes a beautiful essential oil too. 🌾🌾🌾
You are a real inspiration! I hope to have a cool Forrest and channel like yours one day.
Thank you so much and I have every confidence you will. Looking forward to following your progress on your channel. Best wishes to you, you’re doing amazing work. Alex 💚🌿
Amazing videos! Looking forward to more of them 😀
Thanks so much Thomas! Best regards, Alex 🌿
Great plantings, Alex. Hopefully, you'll get to see your forest mature. I never did this, but now's the time to start recording temperatures, as you'll find you'll change (lower) summer temps considerably as the trees mature and probably eliminate frost- (my experience with a maturing food forest from a hot, dry, compacted setaria paddock)
Thank you so much Steph. This is really great advice and so inspiring too. This was a big goal of mine - to moderate the extreme temperatures. Alex 💚🌿
Today was a great example - we got to 40 degrees. Crazy hot, especially for September! We are often a few degrees hotter than in town. You give me so much hope Steph, thank you!!
Sorry love. In a previous video I suggested that you plant edibles like nut trees. Oh how misinformed I was. Brilliant stff. I love what you have done and you are a marvel that others who want to restore our nations soils can learn from. Free and massive input free is always a very strong selling point for anyone who on a budget. I will be eager to see how you progress over the next few years. Cheers
Wow, such a beautiful comment, thank you so much. And on my other slope there’s a few native edibles mixed in too so I’ll go list a few for you! Thanks again, I appreciate your comment very much and look forward to sharing the journey with you. Alex 💚🌿
❤@@dreamsofgreen
Quite an accomplishment, just using what is at hand I'll be interested to see your progress. Good luck!
Thank you so much! Alex 🌿
I live in the Northern Rivers too and I am so glad that I discovered your channel. Each video is like being back at uni/school learning new stuff. Definitely hit up razorback mowers for a sponsorship.
Thanks Mathew! Welcome! Great to know you’re in the northern rivers too and love learning new things. And yes, love the razorback, I should!! Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
What a great idea .we are just starting a food forest using smmall swales .we spent the last few years growing cuttings and seeds in big pots .due to no water over summer we are thinking to wait till end of summer to plant out.
So wonderful to hear Richard! Yes, I can definitely recommend waiting for rain to plant. Wishing you much success with your plantings! Alex 💚🌿
We are inspired Alex
Thanks so much Martin! 🌿🦋
I love trees! I always said, if your going to grow trees make them edible or usable in someway!
Yes! Absolutely! 💚🌿
This is so cool
What you’re doing is amazing
❤
Thanks so much Trevor! Alex 💚🌿
amazing system! I love the thought behind this
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Alex 💚🌿
Those Acacias are killing it.
Yes they’re amazing. Those are thanks to Geoff Lawton. He gave me heaps of seed and said try these!
wow. great low cost innovations! some ideas I can use in north Canterbury nz
That’s fantastic Jon! Best wishes for your own project. Let me know how it goes! Alex 💚🌿
Well done. Thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks very much and thanks for watching. Alex 🌿
beAuTiFuL i like it ( FRom Pakistan )
Thank you! Alex 💚
Very inspirational - your videos offer great value in practical knowledge and in garden and farm landscaping economy.
LOVE YOUR GRASS BASKETS!
Simply superb Alex!
Thanks so much Alex!! Much appreciated 💚🌿
Keep on growing, great work 😁
Thank you so much, I will! Still lots to plant yet 😄
I see the tall grasses there and worry about the wildfire. How do you prevent that happen?
We are surrounded by heavily grazed paddocks which act as firebreaks and have a dam, tanks and fire pump if we need. This is just a temporary solution until the trees are big enough to survive without protection. I’ve just posted an updated video where we’ve removed all of the grass now that the trees are bigger 🌿
Totally cool and inspiring
Thank you so much! Alex 💚🌿
Amazing, well done!
Thank you! 🌿
Thanks,
Very cool, funny to see you still get frosts up there im in the blue mountains and trying to get a good syntropic system and food forest going i ve found it hard to get trees like mango or jaboticaba through the frosts. Great tips on the grass mangement. would be nice to see a design and tour of your nursery. Trying to see if i should plan one in full sun with shade cloth to get heat or in an already shaded spot with less need for shade cloth?
Thanks for your message and great suggestion for a video! The key I found was fast growing pioneers and then I had to use the grass almost like a blanket with the grass basket over the top. Anything without this grass frost protection I lost. I’m sure though in the blue mountains that your frosts are much more severe than ours up here! If it gets down to -2 it will then get into the low 20s during the day but I’m sure your ground temperatures would be much lower than ours throughout winter which would also be a challenge for your more subtropical plants.. As for your nursery, I’ve found winter sun is the most important. I have a plastic cover for winter and shade cloth for the rest of the year. If you watch one of my propagating videos I’m sitting in the nursery and you can see the plastic cover peeled back behind me. This will hopefully give you an idea of my nursery setup before I make a detailed video! Hope this helps and wishing you all the best with your syntropic system! Alex 🌱💚🪴
Awesome idea for winter sun thankyou for your videos on propagation and growinh from seed its really the only way to level up on a big block.
Im also about to start an air pruning bed after watching peoples sucess growing hundreds of trees
Fantastic! Please keep me updated on your progress. And yes I have saved tens of thousands of dollars on trees by propagating my own. It was a must for me with ten acres. But of course it’s an absolute joy growing your own plants too. All the best with your trees! Alex 🌳🌳🌳
I have done a syntropic farming course...And I love the simplicity of your strategy!
As a newbie, I'm interested to know why don't you direct seed?
Thanks Daniel! I’m a big fan of direct seeding if you can, but in this case I don’t have a tractor to plough up the land to plant seeds, also it’s too steep for a tractor to plough on contour. So in my particular context, hardened seedlings I felt were my best option. Not a lot of seeds can compete with the long grass (eucalyptus and silky oaks pop up by themselves but not much else). This way I minimised my digging output by just planting one seedling every metre and had better success rates. Hope this helps and all the best implementing your syntropic farming course! My best wishes to you, Alex 💚🌿
🙏🍇🍄🤙😜 much respect to you for what you are creating.
Thank you! Much appreciated, Alex 💚🌿
Ever thought about cloning, it’s easy if you can locate parent material
Yes I have purchased different grafted species that I’ve placed in a home orchard closer to the house, so I’m curious to experiment! 🌿
I need to plant a lot of trees next year. I like keeping it protected at first with wild growth. I would probably deer- and rodent-proof the babies.
I hope it goes really well for you! Yes I have had problems with rodents in my nursery in winter, eating my young seedling trees off at the base! Luckily the grass has seemed to protect my young trees from the wallabies. Wishing you all the best with your tree planting! Alex 🌳🌳🌳
Do you have any tips or tricks on how to deer proof? I have wild deer in my area. I’m going to put an electric fence around the perimeter of my first patch, probably 50mx100m in size, and use aluminium foil covered in peanut butter to get the deer interested in licking that wire ⚡️⚡️⚡️ I saw a video on this method on Geoff Lawton’s channel. But wondering if you have any other suggestions?
@@sharonhoffer3599 Have you ever seen "deer fence?" A dog might help. I've never tried electric fence. I haven't done any fencing at all. I live in town. One thing I DO have is motion-detecting lights.
It's not like I'm living in the country, but deer do come through my 1 acre.
@@dreamsofgreen It's kind of ideal growing. I'm in "the banana belt" of North-Central Idaho. We're up North, but we're down low, due to a fluke of topography. The "armpit of Idaho." I'm about halfway up the monocline from the river to the prairie, up high.
I don't imagine Australia is very comparable for weather and soil.
You are blessed with the climate zone you are in.
I am living in Barraba on the western slopes: it goes over 40 °C, down to
- 10°C is possible and strong westerlies. I've been trying hard to establish a food forest, even some acacias die ... Any advice please!? what to try and plant? Thanks Sus
Hi Sus, wow, very challenging conditions! My best advice would be collecting local seed that is thriving on neglect. It’s a great time now as the acacias will be coming into seed as well as many others. Have a look too which trees are thriving in neighbouring properties. You may be able to establish a tough native windbreak using bottle brush, acacias (and any other fast growing natives, perhaps check out a local native nursery or landcare for tubestock)) to reduce evaporation from the westerlies and protect your food forest. Time your plantings with the rain to maximise your success rate and when you plant you can use newspaper or cardboard around the base, soak it heavily with water and then mulch over the top thickly. But again I would do this after you’ve had rain when the soil is already wet, so you are keeping the water in, not keeping the water out! Plant things like mulberries to give you leaf mulch and shade and lots of fast growing support trees to shelter your target trees. Tough as nails trees first - then once you have canopy you can plant more species for diversity. I hope this helps, my best wishes for an abundant food forest! Alex 💚🌿
I have a question: I have read that propagating from seed does not always give you another edible fruit tree. Please tell me your thoughts about that. I am planning a small food forest (10 trees) in my yard and I feel grafted trees are sad and somewhat unethical.
Great question! If you only have space for a few trees and want a harvest quickly, grafted trees are a much better guarantee. However, because I was planting out 2km of tree rows, I was more than happy to plant from seed and know that some seedlings would produce better fruit than others. I also have some grafted trees around the house like avocados, tropical apple, low chill nectarine, pears and citrus. I would go with whatever brings you joy! If your gut tells you not to buy grafted fruit trees then I say go with that instinct. I clearly went against a lot of the written advice and was happy to experiment as it brought me so much joy! Also, if you google Daley’s fruit you will see they sell a mixture of seedling and grafted fruit trees and this will give you an idea of what you can grow from seed in your climate. Wishing you all the best with your food forest! Kindest regards, Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen Thank you so much for your answer🙏🏼!I love what you are doing, observing nature and working with it! 🐝🦋🌻✨
I have a general planting question when planting these trees … are they not going to be a problem being too close together once they get larger ?
Great question Andrew and I will do a video on this as many people have asked, so stay tuned..Alex 🌿
Thanks for your video. I was told and read everywhere, that I have to graft fruit- and nut trees (is that the right word?- cut them to grow together) to get a fruit as the one, the seed came from. That the fruits would not be good at all if I just used the seedling and waited many years... but you plantet from the seeds you found... What do you think, how the fruits will be later on? Do you have a secret?
Thanks in advance
Jeanette
Hi Jeanette! Great question. It depends on the fruit! I have planted lots of fruit trees from seed as I wanted tougher, non-grafted trees as I don’t have irrigation. Also I couldn’t afford to buy this many grafted trees haha! I was curious to see which varieties I came up with as our local nursery sells many fruit trees that are propagated from seed. Bowen mangoes will grow true to type but others will not, but can still produce delicious fruit that is a little different to the parent tree. I have also planted a small home orchard where I purchased some grafted trees that will produce sooner and true to type. So I figure i can always graft onto some of the seedling trees in the future if I want to. Because I have planted so many and it’s not a commercial orchard, I was happy to experiment with seed. So I encourage you to experiment with some seedling trees and grafted trees and see which works for you. You may come up with a new variety! Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen Thank you for the answer. I have a few 1-3 year old trees in pots - grown through seedlings. Planning a forest garden or similar on the ground, I just purchased. Not as much ground as you, though. And I hoped to be able to say: That tree is from XY and that one from Z. So I guess, I will still let some of them grow and see how they do. But I will also have to buy some old varieties to be sure to be able to harvest the first fruits and nuts in a few years time. Old varieties also seem to be a mythos since there always is a mixture of genes - the seedlings, but also grafted trees exchange a part of their genes - nature want´s to be sure not to stand still ;) Eventhough you spoke about the weather conditions at your place, which sound familar to mine, the vegetation here is another one and it´s probably still colder throughout the year. So growth in diversity. Good luck with your plants - it´s really great project!💚
Your food forest is coming along beautifully 😍 so lovely to see. You mentioned you have a custard apple 💕 I wouldn’t have guessed I’d see one there. Do you have multiple custard apple trees growing? Many fruit trees like custard apples are dioecious if planted from seed.
Thanks so much Deborah! Yes I propagated lots of custard apples from seed and have them repeating along the rows. Just testing if they work now or if I need to wait a couple of years when I have better canopy and soil conditions. Time will tell!! They are one of my favourite fruit so I really hope so 😊🌿
Your approach reminded me of another NE Australian on TH-cam who uses similar approaches. Are you familiar with Scott Hall, the syntropic farming guy?
Yes, a friend mentioned the amazing work he has been doing so I must check out his videos. Thank you for the reminder, always appreciate these great suggestions! Alex 💚🌿
Hi Alex, longing your channel, I’ve just found it, is there someway I could get in contact with you as I’m in kyogle myself and I’m wanting to start a silvopasture grazing program and I’d really love to come see how you set things up if possible. Keep up the good work, certainly will be following to keep up with how things are progressing
Amazing Nathan! Thanks for you encouragement, much appreciated. You can send me an email: alex@dreamsofgreen.com.au
Zero budget means zero land: end of story. But otherwise you got a great setup. Reminds me of Stefan Sobkowiak's Permaculture Orchard over in Canada.
Thank you so much, I’ve just checked out Stefan Sobkowiak’s work. Can’t wait to discover more! Alex 🌿
I have been planting on vacant land for 30 years. Planted a jackfruit forest in south Florida from seeds on vacant land.
So inspiring Bryce! If you have any links of what you have done over the years please do share! Keep up the amazing work. Alex 🌿
Love this! So great to see an Australian Food Forest 😊 What an amazing job ❤
Questions: pecan tree in with other trees? I was to plant them near other trees. Would love to know what you think.
Thank you so much! Yes I’m wondering about the pecan too so I researched what grew well with them naturally. I’ve put it into a consortium with apple and mulberry and planted them at the same time so the pecan isn’t dominant.. but I’ve also planted a separate pecan orchard as a backup plan if I observe the pecans inhibiting the growth of the surrounding trees. My thought process was similar to the use of eucalyptus in syntropic agroforestry so time will tell! But apparently the best fruit trees said to grow well with pecans are mulberries, grapes, stone fruit and persimmons. All the best! Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen thanks for the reply!! ❤️😁🌱
Just discovered your fantastic channel.
Out of curiosity, what type of grass do you use for your swale break and did you need to do anything special to establish it?
Thanks so much for watching! It’s just the existing grass in the paddock, it grows like crazy during the wet season so we just maintain the rows with a ride-on mower. Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen Too easy :-)
What grass have you used? Asking from rural midwest, Western Australia.❤ Love what you've done.
Thanks so much Andrea! And I’m sorry I have no idea, I didn’t plant it, it was the existing grass in the paddock. Alex 💚
@@dreamsofgreen you could ask a farmer or agromist what sort of grass you have
Some of the trees will need about 10 m in diameter when they are fully grown (Walnut).
Are you planning on taking those out in some years or do you just wait and see who will make it?
Thank you Anke. Great question. I will do a video on tree spacing and why everything is planted so closely! Alex 💚🌿
Plant some Illawarra Flame on the verge of your road, as a marker and for the pure beauty when they grow and flower.
Yes we are blessed the previous owners planted them along our driveway! Such a beautiful tree! Alex 💚🌿
Hello Alex. I'm finding much inspiration in your videos. I wish you success with them.
I was hoping you would say something about what you used for your grass source. Am I to assume that it's the grass that was already present when you started, and you cut the pathways but not the "over-" grown strips? Or did you plant grass(es) by seed? And if so, were they purchased or collected?
Sorry if I missed something obvious!
Thanks so much for your lovely comment and for your question! The grass was the existing grass in the paddock. Then I mowed on contour between the tree rows which left the grass around the trees. No sowing needed! Hope this helps and all the best, Alex 💚🌿
Seems inspired by subtropic agriculture
I’ve never eaten Sapotees , I have two planted also about 6 Black Sapotees . Has anyone eaten these. I put the black Sapotees In because people said they tasted like Chocolate pudding. I thinking I’m living on that hope.
Me too haha! I planted a black sapote when we first moved here and no fruit yet! The white sapotes are delicious and I’ve found the trees so much hardier. I purchased another, more established black sapote as a trial but it lost all of its leaves over winter and is not happy! Oh well, like you, I live in hope! I hope you get to try the fruit soon! Alex 🌿
Subbed for such an intelligent and beautiful project. Truly working with mother nature at its finest. I appreciate you and everything you're doing out there.
Wow. Such a beautiful comment. Thank you so much. My best wishes to you, Alex 🌿
how come I did not think to braid our 2m tall grass the way you do :) ? I am super excited to start doing this. We still have many tiny trees that will benefit during our brutal spring dry heat to be shaded by your braid idea instead of the grass falling on them.
Oh wonderful! It was 40 degrees Celsius here yesterday and we’re only in September! These little shelters helped so much. 🌾🌾
Can mango, avocado produce fruit there ????? I thought they were tropical trees! 😊 can they survive temperature at frosting degrees??
Great question, we are in the humid subtropics so between the tropics and warm temperate climate. We sometimes have light frosts in winter but then during the day it’s usually fairly warm so the plants aren’t staying in freezing temperatures for long. The young trees definitely need protection from frost which is why I use the long grass as shelter. Without any protection the young trees can die in winter. Once the trees get bigger they are able to cope with a light frost. I hope this answers your question 🥭🌿
Do you let animals graze in between the rows?
Yes sometimes our chickens. We have to supervise them though as we have wedge tailed eagles. I’m really excited for once the canopy gets up and they have some protection so they can free range through the food forest. Alex 🌿
i made quite a bit research on frost, dambing the canopy with water or not... result is, you need a clear surface, preferrably wet. because water has a high thermal capacity, wet soil will have higher heat and clear surface is darker so it gets more energy from the light into soi, to be reflected during the nighttimel. if the surface is not clean, that creates a thermal insulation(sounds good right but wait) so at nighttime it prevents heat coming from the soil to the leaves/canopy, and that blockage will increase the chance of frost damage on the leaves/spurs etc. also a backteria on grasses increase the frost temperature(forgot the technical term) that your trees handle, but this is true if it rains or if the canopy is wet. opposite to the old knowledge, artificially moistening(is it a word?) the canopy is harmful because of this bacteria being activated. these are valid for an established orchard/forest i guess. but a newly planted orchard may need your approach due to the fact that heat will run upward very quickly because the plants are very small and a canopy is nonexistant. still you might try a couple of saplings completely cleared around them.
An interesting read, thanks for your comment! I conducted a few trials and from my observations, any frost sensitive saplings such as blue quandong perished without the grass around them as frost protection. Best regards, Alex 💚🌿
Swales would bring up production and water infiltration the grass is a good thing ✌️
8:18 custard apple: do you know if it's a Pink's Mammoth?
I’m so sorry I have no idea! I just buy fruit at different markets, try to find local produce and if it tastes good I plant the seed! 🪴
Hi, can you upload your video saying you’re mowing please?😊🎉
Growing swales instead of digging them..... the silt washing down will make swales. Genius.
Thank you so much. I love how the problem truly did become the solution! 💚🌾
@@dreamsofgreen I had been building dead hedges on contour wondering if this would work, fairly confident it would. It's taken some time to decay and establish but it's definitely holding the terrain even in torrential rain all the while creating whole contour lines of hugelmounds. Your method is slightly different but I think in the end we will both have tons of organic matter stores on those hills for decades or centuries to come.
That’s awesome! I love this. Thanks so much for sharing. Once I start pruning I’m hoping to do the same as you so great to know you’re having success. If you have any links of your work I’d love to see it. All the best with your project! Alex 🌿
Gday Alex, what species of grass are in the rows?
Hey Nick, I’m so sorry, I don’t know! It’s whatever was growing in the paddock, so I just used what I had available. I should probably find out! Cheers, Alex 🌾🌾
@@dreamsofgreen Fair enough it's a tough Id. Here I think I would have trouble with twitch invading the root space. A clumping grass is probably better I guess
Ah yes, a challenge! Have you noticed which young trees cope with it? You could always start there with the tougher species and eventually shade it out and then replace the grass with your chop n drop mulch. Good luck Nick and keep me posted on what you discover! 🌿
Cloning will allow you to rapidly increase plants with desired characteristics or sex, however, I think it important to keep planting seed as well, you never know when a new characteristic will manifest. I often think that even plant breeding for monoculture species could be accelerated by cloning, finding a trait, cloning to multiply, growing in a greenhouse so you can have many generations per year not dependent on season, altering conditions at Will to “weed out” all except those of specific qualities.
Yes exactly, looking forward to experimenting with both and also seeing which different characteristics I get with the seeds!
Keep on top of that Leucaena unless you want a creek full of it.😊
It’s not doing that great in the clay soil anyway, I’m thinking acacias all the way! 🌿
Why frosts, too far inland?
Low lying?
Yes I’d say a bit of both!
How do you get the land with no budget?
Simple, you plant where you live! I could have left this a bare paddock at zero cost, or planted a food forest at zero cost. In a tiny rental I put recycled pots with plants all along the driveway - zero cost. I was paying for somewhere to live anyway so I figured I may as well make it beautiful with plants! There’s also a wonderful comment under this video of someone who has been planting a jackfruit forest on vacant land for 30 years. And others I know have helped plant on a friend or relative’s land.. the possibilities are endless! Wishing you much joy and success with your own garden and I think it’s a great question that has inspired another video..! Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen thanks I have already planted as much as I can where I rent. I dream of moving out of the city and having land to plant. I even have worm bins in the living room.
@@annearsenault7168 Oh my gosh, loved reading your comment Anne, I had the worm farm at the front door and plants everywhere too haha! For what it’s worth, I had this dream of moving to the country for many, many years too. When you have that dream, sometimes life can surprise you! I started volunteering at a local nursery and we started going for day trips to the countryside as I was feeling so claustrophobic living shoulder to shoulder with my neighbours. We met so many interesting people and discovered some beautiful countryside and this kept the inspiration alive that maybe one day… and here we are, a few years later in a tiny town we had never even heard of! My best wishes to you Anne, I’m sure you will be able to live your dream. Alex 💚🌿
What about wild fires? I live in a high fire threat area. Just the normal spring weeds can carry flames across the land. My neighbors would have a fit.
You definitely have to look at your own situation and do what’s best your circumstances. We are surrounded by heavily grazed paddocks and have a dam, tanks and fire pump if we need. In your situation I’d be adapting my strategy and planting lots of fast growing fire retardant trees such as mulberry first to create shelter then plant your young trees. This is just a temporary solution until the trees are big enough to survive without protection. I’ve just posted an updated video where we’ve removed all of the grass now that the trees are bigger 🌿
@ thank you for your reply. I have been removing woody brush and laying down a thick layer of wood chips to improve the soil. The chips have many benefits, one being weed suppression. I’ve planted 20 fruit trees and some grapes. Water is now my biggest hurdle. My olives, grapes and pomegranates can take my well water. However Cherries, apricots, figs, apple and jujubes need better water. With only 7 inches of average rain fall it is a challenge. The wood chips help hold water when I get it but they can only do so much during my hot dry season.
@@Skookmanand I’m sorry you comment was missed! Yes you have some really challenging conditions you’re working with but sounds like you’re doing an amazing job. The wood chip is a huge help I’m sure. If there are other fast growing species that pop up naturally in your area that you could use as support trees to create shade, this could be a great help too. I found during our dry spells that evaporation was our biggest problem, and fast growing shade made a huge difference to moderating the extreme temperatures and keeping the water in the soil longer. The acacias I use are apparently fire retardant (acacia fimbriata) and even under a very young tree it was several degrees cooler on a hot day. It’s made a massive difference to our landscape. But still, nothing beats standing under a big mulberry tree on a hot day! I find several layers of newspaper under the wood chip really helps too and keeps the ground much cooler and keeps the moisture in. Cardboard I found would dry out and then when it did rain, it was hydrophobic and the water would sheet off instead of soaking in to my tree. I’m not sure if water tanks are an option to get you through the dry season. We have several 1000L pods collecting the overflow from our house tanks and another few thousand L tank for the garden as well. Wishing you much success (and a little more rain) Alex 💚🌿
I think some fruit trees do better in a small grove close together. Apple's like that.
Thanks for this! I’ve got a cold frost pocket low down on the property and I think an apple grove would be perfect for that space. Appreciate the inspiration! Alex 🍏🌿
❤Türkiye
Isn’t it a problem that the seeds from fruits might not give you the fruit quality that you expect?
Great question! Yes, in this particular case I was after hardier trees from seed vs grafted trees and willing to experiment to see what new varieties I end up with! I’m happy to thin over time if the fruit is not as good as other trees and then select the best trees for propagation material in the future, knowing these trees are tough and adapted to my soil and climate. Alex 💚🌿
I wish I could hear this video! It does get a little louder.
I know! I’m so sorry, I was wearing a mic and everything seemed to be working… however, turns out there was a connection issue and I’m waiting for the spare part to arrive (there were no spare parts in Australia). I decided to publish anyway but hopefully from next week the sound of my videos will be much better. Thanking you for persisting with the video! Kind regards, Alex 🌿
"Free" here = no variable costs, additional expenses for earthworks, saplings. But there's been fixed cost = buying the land, I presume.
Wonderful ingenuity creativity positivity!
Thank you so much! So to explain my thinking, free for me means plant where you live so it actually doesn’t cost any extra to what you are already paying to live somewhere. When I was in a tiny rental I had food in recycled pots growing along the driveway at no extra cost, or when I was living on a suburban block friends gave me seed and I planted out the lawn with food. So in this case we chose to live in the countryside as it was far cheaper than the city, and could choose to leave it as a cow paddock or plant a food forest for free. Hope this clarifies my thought process and thanks so much for watching! Kind regards, Alex 💚🌿
@@dreamsofgreen Thank you. All the best, Alex!
💯🙌
What does the voles says?
Sorry I’m not sure what you mean by voles? 🌿
@@dreamsofgreen Voles are a type of small rodent, looks like a fat mouse. No idea why the commenter brought it up though!
@@Mynervas thank you! 💚
6:52 maybe just digging a few holes with a spade might find it.
Unfortunately you have to call dial before you dig and hire an expert to locate it. Because the expert couldn’t locate the fibre optic cable with his scanner as it wasn’t tagged properly when installed Telstra said it was our responsibility to hire specialist machinery that would have cost as much as the swales anyway to locate it. Insurance companies won’t fully insure excavator operators if they damage the cable either. Oh well, so happy with the result in the end! 😊
By going with the flow you came up with a fantastic solution 🎉
To me it sounds like the responsibility of the person/organisation which put it there. One part of me is frrrrustrated reading this. Another is focused on the great outcome that you created. Because I have long grass/weeds, limited time & funds and functional, simple and practical philosophy which needed a wakeup call. Thanks!
@@andrewparry1474 A pleasure Andrew! Yes being passed from one department to another and spending hours.. (no days!) on the phone getting nowhere was beyond frustrating but I had to let it go as we finally had rain and there were trees to be planted! Wishing you much success with your project and yes, try to time your plantings with the rain if you can - so much easier. All the best! Alex 💚🌿
2000 trees? at a cost of no budget?1...go on, here I am now ENTERTAIN ME!.....Oh you are so bourgeois.....
I thought grass chokes new trees. I'm in zone 4 a
Yes I thought this too and was told what I’m doing is a big no-no! However, as we are in zone 10A and get extreme heat and also frost, the grass was the only resource I had to work with to protect my young trees. I clear a one foot diameter around the tree so I don’t have big clumps choking the trees. I personally observed any newly planted trees not protected by the grass died in a heat wave or with a frost. So this is not necessarily the answer for everyone but just an example of what has worked for me based on the resources and climate conditions I had to work with. I always say try different things and do what works best for you! All the best Denise, Alex 💚🌿
🌺🙏🌺🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
You will have fruits in 5 years or more !
it is amazing but reality is a bit different of that. for example you will have a productive food forest in years ahead. how do you eat tilll there ?
fodd forest is not a solution for poor small farmer at all. sorry
I really appreciate you watching and you make a very valid point. I’ve divided the property into different sections. The home paddock has a veggie patch that was producing in its first month. Then you have grafted fruit trees, some producing in their first year. This food forest is a medium term plan that will start producing in 3-5 years. Then there’s the back hill which is long term timber and bush foods, a 10-20 year plan.
I highly recommend Jon Jandai Life is Easy, especially this video
th-cam.com/video/b2eoQyYoUww/w-d-xo.htmlsi=oknE_jW8TraxfO-V
I hope you find some value from this. Warm regards, Alex 💚🌿
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