Hello all, I’m new to the forum and to permaculture techniques in general, just hoping for some basic advice and opinion. Last January my partner and I obtained 2.5 acres in what could be best described as a damp and low area. Not a swamp completely but compacted clay/ silty, root and rock laden soil. We have a tall maple over-story, I believe to be sugar maple, in western NY, zone 5b. We have brought in 14 chickens, and have started to using them in a relatively small compost operation. I have built a a make shift high tunnel and have been integrating spent grain and food scraps donated from a local brewery with leaves stuffed in paper bags that I collected from the side of the road post foliage season here in western NY. The chickens scratch at the mix and feast at their leisure. My goal through the winter in to try and build up enough viable soil that I can build up mounded beds in grassy areas on the property and around the boarders of the wooded areas. eventually I hope to plant a food forest into the less dense wooded area after clearing out brush, mostly honeysuckle, while trying my best to respect ecosystems that are already effectively in place. Our property boarders protected wetlands.
As this is the first property I have owned I have never reached past just planting a large annual garden. I was able to pick up a bunch of small Bare root perennials from a local nursery and I am a bit stumped on what to do with them as of now. I don’t have viable space ready for their permanent home.
My thoughts are
A: pot them up and place them close in a indoor grow tent that we use for growing fresh greens over the winter . and once established place them I. The garage and allow a period of dormancy before spring
B do what I suggested above but don’t allow dormancy,
Or C cram them all (probably 20 trees) in a small garden bed out doors and dig them up in spring.
Or d, pot them all and stick them in the garage right now
In addition I have a lot of elder and current cuttings, good idea to root now or wait until spring?
Also any other resources, books, you tube channels. Educational resources that you recommend for understanding permaculture techniques, from propagation to landscape formation. I’m interested in it all. I’m sure experimentation is key here.
