Feedback and Ideas for my Garden

Here is the lowdown on my garden... I live in the central California foothills at about 2600 Feet in USDA zone 9a, bordering 8b. My Property is on five and a half acres and is mostly sloped, facing west and sometimes south west. When we moved in last July there were only two landscape plants planted on the property, Albizia and a privit.

Here are the natives on my property:
California Buckeye
California Bay Laurel
Manzanita
Live oak
White oak
Elderberry
A few different Ceanothus species
Blue Dicks
Sierra Gooseberry
Miners lettuce
Chickweed
Poison Oak

Since I moved I built a little 20 by 30 foot garden area with three 4 by 8 raised beds on the south side of my house. Two of my raised beds are for annual crops.
In the other raised bed I planted:
Three Artichoke
Three Tree Kale
Chives
Geranium
Ground Plum
Sea Kale

Around the edge of the Garden I've planted:
4 Chilean Guava
1 Red Currant
2 Golden Currants
Many Strawberries
3 Maypop
1 three leaf Akebia
1 five leaf Akebia
2 Serviceberries
2 Aronia
3 Oregon Grape
5 Raspberries
2 Grape
1 Mission Fig
6 Goji (wolf) Berries
Yarrow
Alyssum
2 Day Lillies
3 Society Garlic
3 Asparagus
1 Rhubarb
1 Mexican Tarragon
1 Oregano
1 White Sage
2 Lavender
1 Muscadine Grape
1 Issai hardy Kiwi
1 eastern prince Schisandra vine

On the West Side of the House I Planted:
1 kadota Fig
5 Pineapple Guava
5 Greek Myrtle
1 Kumquat
1 Chaste Tree
6 Lavender
1 Rosemary
2 Coprosma
1 Ice Cream Banana
3 Sourberries (Rhus trilobata)
3 Strawberry Trees (Arbutus unedo)
2 purple sage
2 Black Hawthorn
1 White Mulberry

On the North Side:
2 Sweet Pomegranates
2 Rosemary
4 Black Satin Gooseberries

On the East Side:
3 Goumis
1 Santa Rosa Plum
1 Che Fruit
1 Jujube
1 Persimmon
1 Trifoliate Orange (poncirus)
2 Butterfly Bush
2 Lemon Verbena
4 black satin blackberries

In a shady area south of my home:
4 Pawpaws
4 May apples
4 Partridge Berries

North of my Home going to my well:
2 Japanese Quince
2 Yellowhorn
2 Seaberries

On the side of my Driveway:
3 Redbuds
some various opuntia
3 Cleveland sage
1 Russian Sage

On the west facing slope east of my parking area:
1 Nopale Opuntia
1 Lemon Verbena
1 Beautyberry
1 Jelly Palm
1 Loquat


Now I have an area below my parking area, to the west of it, that I want to clear and put in a food forest garden. The area is probably 50 by 200 Feet. The north end has three massive white oaks. Otherwise there is poison oak and live oaks occupying the area. I am focusing on growing edibles and higher end medicinals. I am up to experimenting and trying new things. I am striving to do everything organic. I am open to any feedback and ideas. I hope that I was detailed enough. Thank you for reading this and replying.

We are in Zone 9A in Florida, and I noticed our two lists have many plants in common. We posted our list on another recent thread, so take a look and see what might interest you. Our list contains some guild plants, such as pigeon pea, lamb's quarters, comfrey, chaya, mustard, horseradish, leek, bee balm and others that are designed as important contributers to the forest ecology. I also inlcude native plants on our list that perform ecological functions. One plant we recently discovered and are crazy about is currant tomato. The little berry sized fruits have more flavor than a full size regular tomato, and the plant self-seeds, so is essentially zero maintenenace once established. They'll pop up all over in the spring.

It looks as though you already have the skeleton of a food forest planted all around your property, and all that's needed are guilds planted around your trees to make it start maintaining itself.

sounds beautiful would love to see photos as they grow

In july im going to take one year photos. I took pictures if the place when we first moved in. I will also be taking pictures as time goes on. Http://mandeplants.blogspot.com is also where i post pics and articlea on my plants.

Thank you for the plant suggestions, nick. Im going to do some research on the plants you mentioned. Its so exciting to finally be able to garden. Ive been wanting to do this for ten years and circumstances are finally letting me.

You're welcome Steve. Yes, you have got the bug. Glad for you. In case you hadn't already heard of it, Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway is a great intro to permaculture and it covers the basics of building guilds. There's a chapter about the garden "popping" when all the ecological effects reach a critical mass, if you will. I'm looking forward to when my garden pops, but I don't expect that to happen for another 2 or 3 years. Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke gets much deeper into permaculture and forest ecology specifically, and it has a very extensive plant data base. I have narrowed the plant list down a lot for zone 9A, which I attached in case you didn't find it on the other thread. Thanks, by the way, for posting your plant list. I will be looking into some of the plants that I do not yet have.

Thank you.

i am finishing up buying a house on similar property. I think we are in zone 8b and it is about the same size. more coastal and with some bishop pines. I am curious how you are dealing with the poison oak? also i am eager to watch this thread and see what you do in the future.

Olivia Helmer wrote:i am finishing up buying a house on similar property. I think we are in zone 8b and it is about the same size. more coastal and with some bishop pines. I am curious how you are dealing with the poison oak? also i am eager to watch this thread and see what you do in the future.

Congrats!

Well, poison oak is a huge problem here. I have some ideas i'll try that don't involve spraying. If they work I will post my results. There is so much to learn...

I've read that strong vinegar or pure undiluted urine are both effective herbicides if sprayed on growing plants (won't kill dormant plants).

Interesting.