Zoltán Korbel

Eino Kenttä wrote:You can grow one of the hardy species, Actinidia arguta or A. kolomikta. The kolomikta grows and fruits just fine in north-ish Sweden (supposedly USDA zone 5, but with quite long winters). The fruits are way smaller than "ordinary" kiwi, but taste about the same, if not better, and can be eaten whole, skin and all. The skin is not hairy, unlike ordinary kiwi.

I will look up these varieties.
In my mind Kiwi was an exotic, tropical fruit but after reading up on this plant I realized how wrong I was.

Eino Kenttä wrote:As for kiwi casting too deep a shade, I've heard someone say that you can't over-prune a kiwi vine. So maybe you could grow it and continuously prune it to the right density, and use the pruned material as mulch? Chop and drop, more or less?

Good idea. It could work too.

Do you happen to have experience based knowledge of how fast Kiwi grows in a specific zone or climate?

I also need to find out how close I can plant other plants to the trunk of the Kiwi plant. I heard it's not a good companion.

Riona Abhainn wrote:I think kiwi can only grow in zones 8 and higher?

Near where I live I've seen Kiwi grow in partial shade on a fence, in a zoo which is in the mountains in the forest, and it's even colder than where I want to grow it, so it should grow in my garden just fine, which is on a slope (heavy, cold air drains to the bottom of the hill) and receives much more sun light.
I know of professional gardeners who grow and sell Kiwi plants in my country for outdoors planting. They say it's edible too but I don't know which variety it is.

Eino Kenttä wrote:-I don't know about UV protection. The problem is that the only way to use plants to protect against it, is to create shade. Maybe you can see if there's a pattern as to which plants get burnt, and which manage, and then focus on growing the ones that manage?

The leaves at the very top of Black Locust trees got burnt in the lowlands of Hungary even though Black Locust loves the sun and is not very thirsty.
Fruit trees were also burnt similarly and lost their fruit (they got enough water). This is why i'm worreid about the vegatables plants and herbs.

A permaculturalist farmer said that in his orchard in the last 2-3 years, the quince trees mostly lost their fruit except for the one which was accidentally planted next to a native Elm tree and the fruit tree climbed on the Elm like a vine and grew in partial shade.

I've heard astronomers say a couple of years ago that the Sun has been bruning hotter and hotter since the 1980s so it's a trend it seems like affirmed by farmeres' experiences as well recently.

I left potatos in the ground for more than a year and their leaves got yellow in the summer as well, but the one which was under partial shade from a tree looked better.

A shade cloth, mesh could be a temporary solution, but I'd rather provide shade with plants. But I'm not sure how exactly.

I think a tall tree, the foilage of which is closer to the top and is spreads out horizontally would provide dappled shade at noon in the hot summer (when it matters), but in the morning and afternoon the less radiant Sun from a lower angle could shine on the plants growing near the tree.
In the winter when the Sun shines at a lower angle the light can reach the plants under the tall tree (just like the eaves of a traditional peasant's house) which should be decidious so without leaves it allowes even more light to shine at the plants.

I was thinking about growing hardy kiwi on a trellis consisting of posts and horizontal structures/wires/grid on top maybe. Hardy Kiwi doesn't have many good companion plants though and the kiwi may grow too dense of a foilage (not partial/dappled shade).

Hi Everyone!

Is there a book or guide on permaculture garden design (plant placement, distances, geometry, plant species) which contains information on what type of plants can be planted, how close to each other and why?
I want to design a 2D garden plan which works and I want to know the rules of garden design in zone 7a.

1. What are the rules for designing the location of shrubs and trees in a garden in relation to smaller plants?

2. What type of plants can I plant near trees and shrubs and how close can I plant them?

3. I don't want the roots of the plants to compete with each other. Is there a list of plants by root debth?

4. How does solar exposure, slope rate and orientation, prevailing wind direction and USDA zone/climate (I'm in zone 7a) influence shrub and tree placement?

5. What are some productive shrubs, trees or perennial vines for shade application to protect against harmful radiation?
UV B radiation has burnt the top of the foilage of trees and the stem of annuals where I live in USDA zone 7a this year and last year.
I can't plant big overstory trees because of community garden rules.

Thanks for your help in advance!

I was thinking since the garden is on a slope, I should bury a galvanized steel gutter in the ground, parallel to the surface of the ground so that the gutter is situated at an angle to the horizontal, this way, the root can still grow slightly downwards, and more to the side horizontally as well. The lower end of the gutter needs to be covered, and near that on the top as well to form a pocket, so that it catches the root and doesn't let it grow out of the gutter.

However, the method that you posted is better, because the roots get more water, since these corrugated sheets are not closed on the sides like a gutter.

Ezra Beaton wrote:I would think that method will just end up with lots of roots going through the mesh and becoming impossible to get back out.

Would the roots go throuhg fiberglass fabrick as well?
The problem with the fabrick is less water permiability I think.

The garden is on a slope and above the future yam patch there is a small swale on contour into which rainwater is diverted from a ditch. I want to use this passive water source which is why I try to come up with a solution where the Yam is in the ground (+mulch) where it gets the plume of water coming from the swale, but at the smae time I want to somehow stop it from growing it's roots vertically downwards.

I was thinking about a clay container, but if I leave it in the ground frost will damage it over time.
Concrete contains aluminium oxide and aluminium is a toxic heavy metal so I don't want it to leach into the soil near the plants that I'll eat.

Some kind of non plastic, non toxic water permiable, frost resistant layer, fabric or mesh would be best that doesn'tt cost much ideally.

I've seen a Chinese gardener grow it in plastic roof gutters placed on the ground, filled with soil but she had to water it. If it's possible I want to avoid watering.

These days fiberglass meshes are built into the base of the wall of cob houses to prevent mice from digging a hole through the wall. The yam root is said to be delicate, it breaks easily which intuitively tells me that possibly, it's not going to force it's way through the mesh, but I can't know for sure.

They sell a fiberglass fabric (image attached) used with synthetic resin for fiberglass shell construction in boat building for example. I haven't seen it in person, I've only seen pictures of it on a website that sells it. The fabric seems to be much less permiable by water which is a concern.

Hi Everyone!

The problem with growing Chinese yam is that it grows deep roots vertically, and they break easily, so harvesting requires a lot of digging which I want to avoid.
I don't want to grow the roots in raised beds with closed off bottoms because I don't want to water the plants with very hard tap water, so I was thinking about digging a shallow pit and lining it with a fiberglass mesh (plastic is toxic) so that water can seep through, but the roots can't grow deep down into the ground.
I've attached some picture of the fiberglass mesh I plan to use.

What do you think, can the roots penetrate the holes of the fiberglass mesh and is this a good solution to my problem?

I am planning to build a raised bed and I was looking into wood preservation methods like charring and water proofing with oil but Black Locust seams to require less hassle.

I've read that Black locust contains substances that inhibit the growth of other plants. Is this true for dead lumber as well and if so, isn' t it a bad choice for a raised bed application?