Garden plans for this spring - could use some guidance

Hi everyone,

I made an attempt at starting a small food forest last year.  My wife and I were brand new to permaculture but put in 2 ~15 ft hugelkultures and 1 terrace.  We had limited success, which I now realize was due to poor soil quality, lack of mulching, etc.

This year, I'm planning to address these issues.  I'm bringing in a few yards of 50/50 organic compost/loam mix from a nearby farm for the garden.  I have a ton of small branches and cuttings from cleaning up my woodline, so I was also planning to make biochar and introduce that into the soil.  I have a bunch of peat moss on hand so I'm hoping I can mulch with it, but I'm not sure if that's a good move.

Right now we have 3 fruit trees that survived and are now flowering, but practically nothing from last year is still alive.  We'll be planting a large mix of veggies, flowers, berries, etc.  We live in southern Maine, for reference.

I'm hoping someone who knows a lot more than I do can give me thoughts on if this plan sounds good.

Thanks!

One addition - I actually planned to use sphagnum moss, not peat moss.  I didn't even know there was a difference until I looked it up!

Steven, I hope your initial garden efforts went well and that 2022 is shaping up to be even better! I've been embarking on a similar food forest project, and this will be our 5th year. My advice is to keep planting, mulching, learning from your mistakes, and building on your successes.

I'm in southern Maine as well, and have heavy clay soil that lacks fertility. Adding organic matter (compost, sphagnum moss, wood chips) is a great way to feed the soil biology and start building more vibrant soil that is full of life. I've had good luck using chipdrop and getting arborist wood chips delivered whenever they are available, and using these as a deep mulch to create new garden beds. It takes time for them to break down, but they are cheap/free and if you inoculate them with wine cap mushrooms they break down even faster. After a year on the ground they break down a fair bit, and there are more worms etc to be found in the soil underneath them.

Jesse said, " It takes time for them to break down, but they are cheap/free and if you inoculate them with wine cap mushrooms they break down even faster.

This is the best advice I have seen for helping a garden.  Adding woodchips and mushrooms.

Just know that it's normal for new gardens to struggle a bit, and with compost, organic matter, etc. they will improve every year as your soil gets healthy and all those important soil connections get established.   You didn't necessarily do anything "wrong" here!   Every year I add a new bed or two to my gardens, and you can tell just by plant health and productivity which have been set up the longest and which are new.   Enjoy the process and progression!

I have not had success with Chipdrop, but I have had success by calling local arborists.