Lazy Food Forest in Zone 9a

Hello everyone!

My name is Kio and I live in Northeast Florida. I have roughly an acre of property here, that is overrun with weeds and tall grasses and all sorts of trees. Through my permaculture journey I have already identified several edible species, including wild blackberry, prickly pear cactus, dandelion and stinging nettle to name a few.

I'm currently in the design/ideas phase and I have allotted 10,000+ square feet to a large food forest that will encircle most of the house.

Now, I'm a pretty lazy person. I'm working on changing this to a degree but, I feel like it's in my DNA. So within reason, I would like to avoid as much hard work as possible, particularly when it comes to MAINTAINING a food forest. I understand the first few years of establishing a food forest will be lots of hard work and I've come to accept that. So, I'm working on compiling a list of good edible and useful plants for a lazy person to grow with very little work once they're established.

For example, I'd like to avoid most if not all Citrus here in North Florida. I'm not keen on the idea of going out any night there's a hard enough Frost and covering all my trees with sheets or sprinkling them with water. So even though I do love my tangerines and oranges, I'm going to mostly avoid them. Maybe at some point I will incorporate them but for now, no.

Any type of plant will do, herbs, vegetables, gourds, fruit and nut trees, greens, wildflowers, root crops, you get the point. What are you guys' suggestions for easy to grow for lazy people plants that require little to no works once established that can be used to build a food forest?

Perrenial based foods. In my area that would include blackberry, asparagus, wolf berry. Wild existing things i have are mustang grapes, wild blackberry, and argarita berries.

I would take the existing things you mentioned and eat them. If they are not palatable to you, no use keeping them if they are just novelties. I could list more native stuff but im not gonna eat them.

In texas peach is big. The key is planting multiple varieties with different chill requirements. This assures an annual harvest regardless of mild winter or early frost.    I took that stance overall by planting a lot of different types of fruit. Just when i thought i planted the last one, i hear of something new.

wayne fajkus wrote:Perrenial based foods. In my area that would include blackberry, asparagus, wolf berry. Wild existing things i have are mustang grapes, wild blackberry, and argarita berries.

I would take the existing things you mentioned and eat them. If they are not palatable to you, no use keeping them if they are just novelties. I could list more native stuff but im not gonna eat them.

In texas peach is big. The key is planting multiple varieties with different chill requirements. This assures an annual harvest regardless of mild winter or early frost.    I took that stance overall by planting a lot of different types of fruit. Just when i thought i planted the last one, i hear of something new.

I'm definitely going to be heavily focused on perennials. I love Dandelion, Cats ear and Blackberries so I will be keeping those. I have yet to try some of the other edibles like stinging nettle and smilax.

I'm a big fan of peaches so I'm planning for some of those. As well as Apples, Pears, Mulberries, Figs and some other fruit trees that are relatively easy to care for. I'm hoping to grow some Pecan, Walnut, almond
and Pistachio trees as well, although I'm not too sure about how much work each of those will require.

I have pecan and walnut. They seem easy enough, just a long time to get a harvest. I did the same thing with pecans.  Our recommendations are based on east of I35 or west of interstate 35. Im 20 miles from the interstate so i planted from both lists.

One great source i use is Texas a and m university. (Tamu). When i am looking for specific varieties I'll type "pecan tamu" into search to see what is good for my area (or bad). You should search out your local resources.

Most of my recent trees i learned about here. Stuff i've never heard of. Paw paws, persimmons, jujube. The diversity is going to provide harvests outside of the typical times around here with the normal peaches and plums. Persimmons as an example is a fall/winter harvest.

Hi Kio! I'm relatively close and grow persimmons, the big Japanese variety, they do very well. Also have figs, peaches, blueberrys, papayas, bananas, mulberry, pears, kumquats, calamondon, guava (cattley) all do well, the bananas and papayas freeze back but generally come back every summer with a little water once it warms up. I planted apples a couple years ago an haven't kept up with their feeding schedule needed to produce yet. There's more. Blackberry, poke, grape, elderberry an more grows wild close by. My advise is make sure the things you really want to produce gets enough light. Some of this stuff planted 17-18 years ago is getting to much shade now from oaks that have grown into monsters... An not producing anymore. I don't baby much thru winter... an then it's just to get established the first couple years.

Eta, ginger, turmeric do well in the shade, an malabar spinach, yard long beans, Seminole pumpkins, sweet potatoes, I planted once an some come back every year...

Annie Lochte wrote:Hi Kio! I'm relatively close and grow persimmons, the big Japanese variety, they do very well. Also have figs, peaches, blueberrys, papayas, bananas, mulberry, pears, kumquats, calamondon, guava (cattley) all do well, the bananas and papayas freeze back but generally come back every summer with a little water once it warms up. I planted apples a couple years ago an haven't kept up with their feeding schedule needed to produce yet. There's more. Blackberry, poke, grape, elderberry an more grows wild close by. My advise is make sure the things you really want to produce gets enough light. Some of this stuff planted 17-18 years ago is getting to much shade now from oaks that have grown into monsters... An not producing anymore. I don't baby much thru winter... an then it's just to get established the first couple years.

Eta, ginger, turmeric do well in the shade, an malabar spinach, yard long beans, Seminole pumpkins, sweet potatoes, I planted once an some come back every year...

How coincindental! I just went to the Farmers Market yesterday, bought some persimmons and tried them for the first time. They were delicious! I shared them with some friends and they also thought so! One of them was scared at first because it looked like a tomato and they hate tomatoes, so we had to explain it was a delicious sweet fruit.

Can you share what varieties of Bananas, peaches, and pears you grow? I believe pears and peaches require a minimum number of chill hours so I want to make sure I choose the right varieties. And certain bananas aren't very cold hardy here in North Florida.

I am actually planning on thinning out quite a few trees on my lot. I want to take a hybrid approach to permaculture, and any plant I can't get a use out of and takes up too much space I will remove. I have a few turkey oaks I'm planning on cutting down, not sure if I will propagate them. I am planning on purchasing more loblolly pine saplings and propagating them because the shade they provide is small, and they provide abundant pine needles which are great for mulch!

Hopefully this isn't against the rules but, if you are nearby, would you be willing to sell any cuttings you may have or be willing to propogate? I am searching for people in my area with forest gardens and other permaculture styled gardens to get some tips and tricks from.

I just moved to Summerfield Florida about 6 years ago on 1/2 acre now 1 acre of land.

I suggest the following ->

http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com

David the Good, a good friend of mine has written books about doing permaculture in Florida along the line of survival.

I also am a lazy gardener and I have been in search of plants that take the least amount of energy to give me the most results.

So far the best plants for me are:

Figs,    persimmon,    white yams,   moringa,    cassava,   I have found to grow with little effort.      Now the next thing to do is to take these and feed animals with them or sell them for advantage.

I have been working on propagating foodder tree crops that I can use to either feed livestock or worms.

Cheers.

Mart Hale wrote:I just moved to Summerfield Florida about 6 years ago on 1/2 acre now 1 acre of land.

I suggest the following ->

http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com

David the Good, a good friend of mine has written books about doing permaculture in Florida along the line of survival.

I also am a lazy gardener and I have been in search of plants that take the least amount of energy to give me the most results.

So far the best plants for me are:

Figs,    persimmon,    white yams,   moringa,    cassava,   I have found to grow with little effort.      Now the next thing to do is to take these and feed animals with them or sell them for advantage.

I have been working on propagating foodder tree crops that I can use to either feed livestock or worms.

Cheers.

David is pretty awesome. I have bought most of his books and him and I are currently corresponding through email, he has a lot of great advice.

Kio Starfield wrote:

Annie Lochte wrote:Hi Kio! I'm relatively close and grow persimmons, the big Japanese variety, they do very well. Also have figs, peaches, blueberrys, papayas, bananas, mulberry, pears, kumquats, calamondon, guava (cattley) all do well, the bananas and papayas freeze back but generally come back every summer with a little water once it warms up. I planted apples a couple years ago an haven't kept up with their feeding schedule needed to produce yet. There's more. Blackberry, poke, grape, elderberry an more grows wild close by. My advise is make sure the things you really want to produce gets enough light. Some of this stuff planted 17-18 years ago is getting to much shade now from oaks that have grown into monsters... An not producing anymore. I don't baby much thru winter... an then it's just to get established the first couple years.

Eta, ginger, turmeric do well in the shade, an malabar spinach, yard long beans, Seminole pumpkins, sweet potatoes, I planted once an some come back every year...

How coincindental! I just went to the Farmers Market yesterday, bought some persimmons and tried them for the first time. They were delicious! I shared them with some friends and they also thought so! One of them was scared at first because it looked like a tomato and they hate tomatoes, so we had to explain it was a delicious sweet fruit.

Can you share what varieties of Bananas, peaches, and pears you grow? I believe pears and peaches require a minimum number of chill hours so I want to make sure I choose the right varieties. And certain bananas aren't very cold hardy here in North Florida.

I am actually planning on thinning out quite a few trees on my lot. I want to take a hybrid approach to permaculture, and any plant I can't get a use out of and takes up too much space I will remove. I have a few turkey oaks I'm planning on cutting down, not sure if I will propagate them. I am planning on purchasing more loblolly pine saplings and propagating them because the shade they provide is small, and they provide abundant pine needles which are great for mulch!

Hopefully this isn't against the rules but, if you are nearby, would you be willing to sell any cuttings you may have or be willing to propogate? I am searching for people in my area with forest gardens and other permaculture styled gardens to get some tips and tricks from.

I'm near Moss Bluff/Lynn your welcome to come get cuttings, an I have some seeds to share. I'll PM you my number. I'm not real sure of the names of what I have, I've lived in the area all my life an dug up, took cuttings, etc most of what I have. Couple things got from David the Good when he lived in the area... An bought the persimmon trees from lowes one winter.