Hello,
I'm just getting into cultivation and gardening. For the last 5 years, I've been reading and watching TED Talks about permaculture, food forests, aquaponics, and general gardening. I've built 4 55-gallon planters over the last 5 years and plan to build some more for my elderly father. He loves his garden and the garden barrels!
I normally don't post on boards but seems this one will be a board that can help with more than just knowledge. I'm looking to transform the green belt behind my house into a permaculture food forest enthogenic garden of sorts. This green belt is great because it's a city owned water shed for about 5 different subdivision. This means a few things:
- Hardly anyone goes back there (Kids exploring, Teenagers smoking pot and drinking, and Adults that are exercising.)
- It gets watered well when it rains
- It's not my property!
- It's easy to access
- It's not trespassing during "park hours"
- None of the plants I'm going to grow will be noticed as odd. (I don't think cactus will survive the kids and teenagers so I'm skipping them.
- It won't be bulldozed for a very long time. I'll likely be dead before then.
Plants I'd like to grow:
- Desmanthus Leptolobus & Illinoensis (I think this already grows in the greenbelt, I just need to see seeds and flowers to make an ID)
- Mimosa Hostilis (Might not like my zone)
- Banisteria Caapi (Might not like my zone)
- Comfrey (Chop and Drop fertilizer)
- Acacia Acuminata narrow phyllode
- Acacia Simplicifolia (Might not like my zone)
- Borage (Companion Plant, not sure if it will help these plants but I doubt it hurts them. Goes well with peach trees.)
- Syrian Rue
- Many plants that would be found in a food forest
- Other plants that I trade for here
So some of these plants are grown for their roots. I've recently found out about the affect Air Pruning has on root development. The basic idea is that seedlings are put in pots that direct their roots to openings in the 4 inch container they are started in. The roots reach the opening and air, the ends then dry out and cause the last 4 inches of root to start branching out for growth. Once these branches hit the openings and dry out on the ends then the same branching happens again and more roots are grown. This stops circling roots that can choke out a plant and causes the roots to grow in a dense fibrous mat. Once the roots have formed enough to hold onto all of the dirt in the container when the plant is pulled out, it's time upgrade the container to a larger 8inch pot. The same air pruning happens in the larger 8 inch pot and can be placed in the ground then or moved to a larger 12 inch pot to grow more roots!
While I haven't done this yet, I did order some of the rootmaker pots to start. I'm thinking this will greatly increase the roots in the same amount of time that a normal container or ground grow would offer. I'm not sure that the larger root system will make up for the thinner roots and root bark. However, I'm going to try and post an experiment using the Desmanthus Leptolobus.
I'm also interested in air-layering as an effective way to expand the garden. Look it up if you don't know what it is. Since the whole plant is there to help grow the roots, you end up with massive roots in a short time frame. You can even air prune while air-layering! Should be able to just cut off the air-layer and stick it in the ground after 2-3 months of growth.
After my plants start seeding, I will be doing some giveaways and trading. I'm limited to my seed count currently because I had to purchase all of my seeds.
Cheers,
Reosed
Author
Topic: Intro from Central Texas (Read 5422 times)
