Slow growing trees

I had some friends over yesterday that I knew when I was in Sydney.  They had been looking at my posts on facebook and when they were in Brisbane, wanted to come out and see what I've been up to.  As we walked around the property, we chatted about what I was trying to do and how much our food bill had gone down already.  When we got to the food forest, more for the mulberries than for anything else, my friend said "so you're here for the long haul." She was right.  The food that will be available to us in five years will be very different to what we've got now.  In the short term, its mostly the veggie patch that is feeding us, with a top up from the two citrus trees and the two mango trees that were already here when we arrived two and a half years ago.  Since then, we've put in well over a hundred trees and shrubs, none of which (except the mulberries) have given us anything to eat....yet.  But in five years, things will be completely different. We'll be able to add avocados, pecan nuts, macadamia nuts, peaches, pears, apricots, nectarine, plums, jack fruit, chocolate pudding fruit, jaboticaba, apples, chestnuts, figs and loads more citrus. But you do have to be patient.  I've also been patiently working on layering my food forest with other edible shrubs and ground covers which are faster to yield, as well as herbs and flowering plants to attract the bees.  So here are a few pics to show how things are progressing

The pear tree has sprung back to life now that winter is well and truly over (33 degrees here today by the way).  I've got comfrey, cardamon, fruit salad sage and sweet potato planted nearby and you can see they are starting to take off as well.

The plum tree is going for it, as is the peach slightly out of frame on the right side.  I've surrounded all of these with pidgeon pea, which is a great nitrogen fixer and also has seeds that can be used as lentils or chook feed. The pumpkin has taken off as the ground cover, but you can still see the comfrey, pineapple sage, sweet potato and cardamon if you look hard enough. There is also an edible hibiscus hiding in there too.

Here is the area we cleared a month ago.  I put down wooly pod vetch under the mulch and despite it being a cook climate green cover crop, its up and away.  Not only does it fix nitrogen, but the bees absolutely go nuts for the beautiful purple flowers.  I've also put in sage, mint, pepino, rosemary and some salvias to bush things up a bit.  Slowly, slowly.

I'm delighted that my tangelo is looking healthy again.  It hasn't been up to much since I planted it.  I've given it lots of organic fertiliser love but it seems that heavy mulching has been the trick.  This spring its got its groove on.  There's lots of other things in this area as well, including pepino, comfrey, mint, sweet potato, salvias, nasturtiums, rocket, bok choy, cardamon and pumkpin.  There is also good shelter from a native legume to the left which provides some protection from hot afternoon sun.

My pecan trees are always the last to come back.  Just when you've given them up for dead, out they come and then they are in full leaf in a very short time, as if chastising you for not believing in them.  Surrounding the pecan is lavendar, sweet potato, bok choy, native violet, pinto peanut, tumeric and rasberries.

The first fig I planted is back on and I should get some nice fruit off her this season.  I've just refreshed this bed with some cow manure and fresh mulch and popped in a few marigolds.  The sage and salvias have been in flower over winter and are putting on some new growth since I've given them a haircut.  The cherry is as sturdy as ever and I've got high hopes for lots more fruit this season.

And lastly, I've been doing a bit more on my driveway orchard, which isn't quite as steep as it looks in this photo. There are seven citrus here which I plan to keep small as I've planted them quite close together.  They are my mystery trees as the friend who gave them to me wasn't sure what they were.  But as they've grown, I suspect lime, lemon, mandarin and orange.  I've taken the fruit off as buds to help the trees establish, so its still a mystery at this stage but I'll keep you posted.