Hello, I'm involved in a new project in north Vietnam. I'm part of a group which has bought around 2 hectares of land to start a lay Buddhist community. A very important aim is to try and regenerate our natural environment.
Most of the land is steep hillsides which were planted with fast-growing commercial timber two years ago. The trees are closely spaced. There is little undergrowth and the soil is loose, especially on the steeper slopes. We would like to plant mixed species under the timber until it is ready to cut in 5 years' time. Our aims are: to increase biodiversity and beauty; to stabilise the soil; and to produce medicinal herbs for processing and sale.
Can anyone give us some advice about what species to use? The climate is 4-season wet tropical, with winter frost in some years.
We have a lot of other projects we need help with, but this is one of the bigger and more urgent ones.
