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Urban food forrest

 
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How much space does one need to allocate for a food Forrest. We are purchasing a home in urban area with a small lot of about 6700 sq ft.  I’m not going to have much space. Can I still have a food Forrest. And garden?
 
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I have a 1600 sf urban space behind my one story shop/house. Third growing season on what was a parking lot for 60 yrs and a RR bed prior.  Figs, blueberries, strawberries, beans, peppers, leek and more all produced well this year. Problem is the ‘forest’ is bordered on SW and NE by two story buildings, and it gets really hot. My thermometer maxes out at 120*.  Question, should I allow fruit trees (Semi-dwarf apples and cherries) to get big from temp control, or keep em picking size for an old lady (me).
 
pollinator
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Location: Meppel (Drenthe, the Netherlands)
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Hi. My front yard 'miniature food forest' is about 8x8 meters (a meter is about the same as a yard, which is 3 feet, so 8 meter is 24 feet. 24x24= 576 square feet ... did I do that right?).
It depends on what your goal is. If you want to have all your year supply of fruits and nuts (for a family), then of course you need more than this. And if you want to sell fruits, nuts and veggies, you need much more.
For me it is: to have a beautiful, natural looking garden, which attracts native insects and other small wildlife and from which I can have some healthy fruits to eat fresh and preserve in home-made jam.
 
pollinator
Posts: 64
Location: Topeka, KS, Zone 6a
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We're looking for "attractive" edible plants that we can 'hide in plain sight' in our front yard. So far we have planted five Paw Paw trees and are looking for edible berry shrubs and such. Any suggestions for zone 6a?
 
pollinator
Posts: 3827
Location: Massachusetts, Zone:6/7 AHS:4 GDD:3000 Rainfall:48in even Soil:SandyLoam pH6 Flat
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It depends on how many plants you would like to have. I live inside Boston, MA city limit, and I have a fruit/nut tree every 10ft. So in a 100ft line, I have 10 or 11 plants. I have two rows of this so I have about 22 fruit/nut trees. I like to stagger the plants so I have a 4ft gooseberry plant next to a 12ft peach tree. But mostly I try to plant dwarf or super-dwarf fruit trees vs 40ft tall apple trees. And then  along the chainlink fence I have quite a few vines (grapes, kiwi, akebia, maypop, etc).  

But to answer your question directly I have about over 2dozen different species of fruit/nut trees in a 20ft by 100ft (2,000sqft) area. And in right infront of that is the "lawn" area. I also have some vegetable garden growing on the side of the property line and on the other side, there is some more fruit trees and flowers.

I recommend that every 10ft along the property line you plant a different species of tree, you can plant two plants in one hole or you can graft two cultivars on one rootstock (if the plant isn't self-fertile)

For zone6a, here are a few plants that you can have:
Elderberry, Jujube, PawPaw, Shipova Pear, Aronia, Seaberry, Chicargo Hardy Fig (zone pushing), Goumi, Quince (Asian & European), Pear (Asian & EU), Dwarf/Weeping Mulberry, Asian/Hybrid Persimmon, Dwarf/Native Hazelnut (esp contoured red ones), Medlar, Gooseberry, Currants, Jostaberry, thornless blackberry and raspberry, blueberry, beach plum, sand cherry, and other dwarfing native stone fruit. I dont really recommend European/regular apples and stone fruits, they are not pest resistance.

When it comes to "flowers/herbs/etc"
We have the mint/thyme family that looks very pretty and smell very nice.
There is also the onion/garlic family, followed by the lovage/carrot family.
There are a lot of edible mushrooms that will grow in the woodchip/straw/mulch that you have underneath the fruit trees.
There are some very colorful cabbage too, plus garden violet.
 
steward
Posts: 16058
Location: USDA Zone 8a
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There are a lot of plants that make a very pretty yard garden.

see these threads for how pretty these can be: Cabbage, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, and garlic chives

https://permies.com/t/143914/Edible-Yard-Visited

https://permies.com/t/162909/Edible-ornamental-plants
 
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