New here

Still trying to find my way around the site. 37F, mother, creator, professional. There is so much good information. I'm building a food forest in Michigan, lots of perennial vegetables, fruits and tons and tons of native flowers and trees. I'm also becoming a local advocate for removing invasive species and planting native in home landscapes. My area is overrun with Brandford Pear, fragmities, purple loostrife, buckthorn, bull thistle...and no one seems to really care. I do.

I am most exited about my haskaps. They really struggled at the end of last year but made a most remarkable recovery. Three set a good amount of fruit that is still ripening but all 8 bushes (beauty, beast, indigo gem, indigo treat) have leafed out beautifully and I've gotten a few props started.

My greenhouse is full of native starters, some I stratified outdoors, some in the refrigerator. Got a couple choke cherries to germinate as well as a whole flat of black raspberries.

Fruit-wise here is what I'm growing:

Honeycrisp and crab apple
Raspberries, red and black
Blueberries
Figs (Violette de Bordeaux)
Black and red currants
Jostaberry
Gooseberry
Stella, naking and Montmorency cherry
Contender peaches
Hardy pomegranate
Blackberries
Strawberries
Three varieties of grapes
Hardy kiwi
I know I'm forgetting some but you get the point.

I lost a few fruit trees over the winter and I'm looking to air layer other varieties instead of starting over with bare roots.  Who I lost:

Golden Delicious Apple
Black tartan cherry
All of my dwarf mulberry bush starts
Most of my buttonbush seedlings

I love propating, seed stratification. Organized chaos full of bountiful surprises, rare native flowers and Im on a mission to repopulate the earth with oak trees.

So happy to have found this community!

Welcome to Permies!

welcome! with all the bradford pear around, i’m surprised you’re not growing any pears for yourself…they make a pretty solid rootstock for all kinds of edible varieties if you get into grafting.

J. Garske wrote:I love propating, seed stratification. Organized chaos full of bountiful surprises, rare native flowers and Im on a mission to repopulate the earth with oak trees.

My kind of gardener! If you've got any tips on starting perennials and trees I'm keen to learn more. I typically find that they don't germinate the first year, so I leave the pot a bit longer and often something pops up when I have given up. Getting the plant to a stage where it will survive by itself is another matter. I think that seed snails might be the way to go for precious seeds that need stratfification though - take up less room in the 'fridge and easier to check than plastic bags.

Have a look in the tinkering forum for tips on navigation of permies. Unfortunately it is still much easier on a PC than a mobile device, but please shout out if you need help.

It sounds like your food forest is going well, even with some atrition.  How much space do you have?  I think you'll enjoy it here on permies.