Hello all,
I've been reading about Kostas' marvelous reforestation efforts with almond and other seeds, and those of other contributors as well. I am very much inspired to do the same. We've just moved to Southern Valencia, Spain to a hamlet about 500 m above sea level. Rainfall is about 500 mm per year, falling mainly between October-December. The climate is classified as Csa.
There are mature Aleppo pines, 20 neglected olive trees, 1 fruiting cherry, 1 bay, 2 arbutuses, and 1 loquat planted within dry stonewall terraces in just under 4000 sq m. The soil is a thin layer of sticky red clay, with many outcroppings of limestone. Most of the plot is bare now, except for blooming wild chicory and wild carrot. I would like to have more understorey planting to cover bare areas during the summer. In early spring when we moved in, the ground was covered with grasses and wildflowers, most of which have all dried up. The surrounding endemic vegetation includes holm oak (Quercus ilex), Pistachia lentiscus, carob, rosemary, thyme, cistus, sedum, and diverse Euphorbia spp.
For the first year I am just observing the plot to see what comes up naturally and how it does without any artificial watering. I am hoping to plant mainly edible trees and shrubs. Your experiments with no-care seed planting got me thinking I might try almonds, figs, and carobs; the latter two I have seen growing by the roadsides, possibly self-sown or distributed by birds.
As nitrogen-fixers and windbreaks as well, I've been thinking of using Eleagnus species, in particular E. angustifolia (aka Russian olive) which has been successfully used in reforestation around the Aral Sea, and sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides). Both Eleagnus angustifolia and sea buckthorn have edible berries, for humans and wildlife alike. As ground cover/N-fixer, I also had in mind using peanuts. Has anyone had experience with these?
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences and wishing you the best with your reforestation trials!
Jay
