Hi Johannes
I may have been listening to too many John Kempf (Advancing Eco Agriculture) podcasts on regenerative agriculture, but is it possible that the native grass with its deep rooting system and the shallow rooted apple tree are actually sharing nutrients? (This may by now only be hypothetical for you. I only just came across your post. Hope you will post about any results.)
I live in a sub-alpine environment in New Zealand, though nowhere as extreme as yours, so always interested in posts about growing under challenging conditions. What I have found over the years is that almost all the inputs I need are already present in my environment. My driveway passes through a stretch of non-deciduous native "beech" forest and leaf litter tends to accumulate, breaking down very quickly as it is accumulating at a steady rate, making the driveway somewhat hazardous in very wet weather. In winter this year I dumped barrow loads of this leaf litter under two self-seeded young fruit trees growing in a guild with (self-seeded) gooseberries on what is essentially glacial moraine with almost no topsoil. (The trees only grew there because I had previously experimented with keyhole gardening at this site and there must have been plum and peach stones in the compost "keyhole." The gooseberry seed was generously donated by a wild bird who admired my efforts.) I also ferment weeds in an old plastic dust bin, primarily nettle which I am a great fan of, along with chopped up banana and avocado skins, and once or twice a season I have been applying this with a watering can after sifting out any remaining debris. The effects have been electric for plum and gooseberry. Both are heavily fruiting at present. (The young peach is reserving its options. Maybe next year.) Plums and peaches do not typically do well in this environment. Apple trees are a bit more resilient.
I noted your comments about wood chippers. I have a very light electric one which will only process very thin apple prunings and such but comes into its own with wild blackberry vines which I have a profusion of. (Nature always provides.) A mix of dead and green vines make great "ramial wood chip" mulch. Strawberries and other small plants love it.
cathie
