What do you plant in the understory of your food forest?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by insipidtoast, Feb 27, 2011.

  1. insipidtoast

    insipidtoast Junior Member

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    I live in Santa Barbara, CA. Virtually frost-free Meditteranean climate on the coast.

    I'm trying to determine what plants I should grow for a food forest understory. So far I predict the following to succeed with no supplemental irrigation:

    -Ugni molinae
    -Ugni candollei
    -Pouteria lucuma
    -Butia odorata (formerly Butia capitata)
    -Native gooseberries

    I'm also considering some edible succulents (australian natives). Would succulents do ok in the shade?
     
  2. permup

    permup Junior Member

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    Hi Insipid

    I am afraid I do not recognise the names of the list you've given except the gooseberries. I'm not up on scientific names. The gooseberry might go ok. I learned that coffee, sweet potato and carrot all do well in an understory, and I agree with the exception of the carrots. What is the common name of the other things you've mentioned?

    I would be surprised if succulents did well in shade. What edible Australian native succulents are you referring to?

    Paula.
     
  3. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Pigface is the only edible succulent that I can think of.
    I gather you need something with low water requirements? What about clover for N fixing, Strawberries for food, and yarrow for attracting predatory insects. That's at the ground cover level. Don't forget to think about "herb" / "shrub" level plants and vines as well.
    Gaia's garden by Toby Hemingway has a really good run down on plant options for temperate continental America.
     
  4. insipidtoast

    insipidtoast Junior Member

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    Hi,

    I urge people to USE scientific names. Common names change all the time depending on the region and people. Furthermore, some plants do not have common names, or have common names that will be as familiar to some people as their latin names.

    I can't account for the first two, but the others carry, among other common names, Jelly Bean Palm and Lucuma

    Australian succulents: Calandrinia balonensis, Tetragonia tetragonoides Taken from here: https://australiansucculents.com/edible-succulents
    African succulent: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum

    I'm mainly interested in arid climates and meditteranean climates, but also would like to hear what you have growing in your climate.
     
  5. Burra Maluca

    Burra Maluca Junior Member

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    I'm in a Mediterranean climate but with fairly heavy frosts, very wet winters, and with thin, poor soils, which restricts us a bit as things have to be heat, frost, drought, and water-logging resistant. We're still in the experimental stage but some things that do well are...

    grape hyacinth
    lavender
    rosemary
    strawberry tree
    lupin
    rock rose (the low, creeping variety, not the big white flowered one which takes over everywhere)

    We've also been experimenting with gooseberries, redcurrants and blueberries, but we don't seem to have enough shade yet and they can't take the heat in the summers. Maybe in a few more years when the trees are bigger and the soil in better condition.
     
  6. Yukkuri_Kame

    Yukkuri_Kame Junior Member

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    Aloe Vera thrives in the understory of my sub-tropical florida containerized food forest... during the winter they get very little direct sun, as our building, plus trees though summer it gets pretty much intense sun.

    Purslane is one of the most nutritious succulents (omega3's!) and a tenacious weed, though I'm not sure how much sun it needs.

    Both of these will survive in colder climates than yours with considerably less sunlight.
     
  7. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I didn't think of tetragonia (Warrigul greens) as a succulent. I think it needs a bit of water though. At least it seems to at my place.
     
  8. insipidtoast

    insipidtoast Junior Member

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    Oh yeah, I forgot about Aloe vera. I've got that in my understory right now. It really does better in the shade than in the sun.

    Portulaca oleracea: Despite the fact that I shun annuals, for some reason this plant is on my list along with Claytonia perfoliata.


    Regarding the Tetragonia tetragonoides, I haven't researched it closely yet. However, we could probably apply the general rule for plants that need "a little bit of water": Put a light canopy over them and the need for extra water diminishes.[FONT=&quot]
    [/FONT]

    I think we should make an extra thread just for edible succulents. The topic is fascinating. Succulents are wily little plants tempting the pallet with their luscious looks. I'm glad there are some that are edible because to me they all just look so damn succulent!
     
  9. insipidtoast

    insipidtoast Junior Member

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    Burra Maluca, I'd recommend planting, for a quick overstory, Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana. This tree doesn't get enough credit for the quality flour that can be produced from its seedpods. Consider planting, as a long term overstory, Pinus pinea. Spain, your neighbor to the east, is the world's leading producer of pine nuts from this species, which are arguably the best-tasting of all pine nuts.

    Prosopis sp. will really get you moving quickly towards soil conditioning though, and will also provide an overstory to protect more tender plants during your hot summers.
     
  10. insipidtoast

    insipidtoast Junior Member

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    eco4560, I s'pose Fragaria chiloensis would also be an ok understory groundcover. Would it fruit in the shade though?
     
  11. Burra Maluca

    Burra Maluca Junior Member

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    Thanks for that Inipidtoast. I'll try again with the Prosopis - I imported seeds a couple of years ago but had no luck with them. We had a Pinus pinea, too. It survived for four years and we thought it was safe but last year was exceptionally hot and dry and it died on us at the end of last summer. I'm not sure it will reach 'overstory' height in my lifetime though - it didn't seem to be a particularly fast grower. They are widely grown in Portugal, so we'll be planting more.

    I'm also experimenting with a couple of the acacias. There's one type that grows wild everywhere here, but I can't get the seed to germinate and I've had zero success transplanting the runners. We found a different sort growing wild in the forest which had seedlings growing all around it which might be transplantable - it's high on my 'to do' list to go and raid them :)

    Carob should be good - we planted three young trees last year and two have survived. And I'm trying for the third time with tagasaste. I have four seedlings that survived the winter but still aren't really big enough to plant out. Almonds and apricots are my favourite though - just plant them and water them a bit over the summer and they seem to survive anything that gets thrown at them. Plums, quince, pears and peaches do well too, but they need a bit more nursing than the almonds and apricots.

    One day I'm going to get enough shade and enough depth of soil to have a mushroom patch, but it might take some time...
     
  12. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I don't honestly know - I've never propagated it. It grows wild on the dunes by the beaches locally, but generally in full sun there.
     

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