I'm in the suburbs in southeast Florida - zone 10b. I'm on a 1/3 acre lot. I have converted much of my front and backyard into a (young) food forest. I started by sheet mulching. I did a layer of
cardboard and arborist chips. I would save my food scraps and at the end of the day, I would push a section of mulch over, put down the food scaps, and re-cover with mulch. Much of my property was started around 1.5 years ago. Some more, some less. Some spots I dug out sod and then mulched (especially in the front
yard). Most of the
trees I plan on planting have already been planted. Everything still has mulch on it (I've re-applied a few times). And I have sunshine mimosa (a nitrogen fixer) growing over thin layers of mulch around several of my fruit trees. I have
perennial chop and drop plants planted all around - mexican sunflower, pigeon peas, and
native clumping grasses, principally.
My goal is the continue to increase the organic matter content of my soil and to especially establish fungal dominance. My soil is pretty sandy on the top few inches, but not as bad as other spots in Florida. Under the top few inches of top soil, I have a mix of sand and limestone chunks. The spots where I've been deep mulching for a year and a half or longer are looking good for an inch or so. Due to the limestone, my soil is alkaline. Some plants appear to be struggling and that could be the issue. Though I really want to avoid adding ammendments like sulfur that can upset the type of soil biology I'm trying to foster. My goal is to get the soil into good shape as fast as I can.
I am planning on doing the following. Rake back some of the mulch around the trees where possible (I don't want to rip out much sunshine mimosa) and apply a sprinkling of johnson-su bioreactor
compost. I would apply 1 lb over my sub quarter acre food forest. (Question:
should I work it into the top few inches of soil?
Water it in? Just let it be and re-apply the mulch)? Re-apply the mulch. I plan on keeping my perennial chop and drops in place, but I want to add more annuals. One set for later fall to early spring and another set for late spring to early fall. I like to idea of annuals because the
roots will decompose
underground, adding a lot of organic matter. Plus I don't have to create a disturbance to remove them as my trees grow larger. The above ground growth will be chopped and dropped or added to my compost if I have extra available.
So that's my plan. Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Mike
