• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Grow food from virgin oak forest on n facing 1:6 slope

 
Posts: 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Property description:  Rise 1 foot run 6.  It is steep.  The oak leaves form a mat that is difficult for plants to get through.  Elevation about 2000'.  5' of orange grayish soil before bedrock.  Little sunlight gets through.  Some of the slope is 1:3.  What is the best idea for cheaply growing high callorie food on this, my small lot.  I can cut down the trees for more light and install terraces to prevent erosion.  Plant apple and pear trees and edible bamboo.  Candy roaster squash might be a lifesaver.  .  who has 2 years to wait for Apple trees to produce?  Beans maybe?  Cabbage?  I can rip some lines two inch deep to get to the orange clay soil and insert baby food plants and see how they do but has anyone tried this before?  Will the squash or beans climb up the oaks like trellisses?  Will trellisses Eli.inate the disadvantage of the North facing slope?  Won't the soil be too acidic? Is compost , manure... Required?  The soil is so cold with clay...  Perhaps a long shallow ditch for fish is better, but the soil isn't that impermiable and the floor has almost no plants to attract insects to the fish.  Natively there are many big black ants, mosquitos from the creek, stinkbugs, and loads of snails.  A few squirrels.  Plenty of earthworms.  So far I got acorn squash, watermellon, tiny potatoes, daikon, onions, garlic to grow but only a few daikon thrived.  That  was without any ammendments but old leaves mixed with red clay and some dark soil from tree stump roots.  I put all the leaves in a pile like Redhawk said and now I'm experimrenting with not disturbing the soil but I still have to slice through that thick Mat of roots and old leaves.
Recently I put down 20# of lime and 3# of ca nitrate on some of the cleared land.  It seems to have reduced the earthworm population there allot.  I hope it wI'll be worth it cause nothing seems to have grown well yet.  Out of 200? Daikon seeds maybe 6 grew big and 95 percent did t do anything but perhaps this time it will be better.  I need a good way to get water from the creek up 35 feet or more.  Maybe a hand pump rated for 10m. 32' approx. Is a good choice.  Saw one cheap.
 
steward
Posts: 16099
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4280
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
May I ask what part of the world are you in?

Knowing your region or planting zone might help people make recommendations.

All those leaves to me sound like underneath you will find very good leaf mold.

I am sorry the daikon radishes did not do well.  Did they get enough water or sunlight?

This:

I need a good way to get water from the creek up 35 feet or more.  Maybe a hand pump rated for 10m. 32' approx. Is a good choice.  Saw one cheap.



Do you live where you can water the veggies when they need it?
 
gardener
Posts: 1675
Location: the mountains of western nc
505
forest garden trees foraging chicken food preservation wood heat
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
what species of oak? acorn have good food value with a bit of processing - might as well make use of the food that’s growing without any inputs!
 
Skip Smith
Posts: 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Red oak, white oak, and some black oak trees.  I could rip up some of the old leaf mat and use that as leaf mold, then dig a trench to collect erosion from the exposed dirt under the mat.  Good idea.  The sqquirrls eat most of the acorns but I could try to stop that.  I will look into how much a tree produces.  Good idea.  Maybe some crops can grow under full shade.  White oak acorns are ideal.
 
Skip Smith
Posts: 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Maybe the squirrels will be repelled by an owl or a rodent high pitch sound emitter or a predictor call mimicked.  
 
The truth is rarely pure and never simple - Oscar Wilde
turnkey permaculture paradise for zero monies
https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic