It ’s clip for another update from The Great South Florida Food Forest Project , which is now enrol its thirteenth year .
This little food forest is in a tiny backyard in Ft . Lauderdale , proving that you really can engraft a food forest even in a modest space on frightful ground .
The South Florida Food Forest
Here ’s the panorama as you enter from the side G .
On the left of the fence s may parent ’ backyard , on the right is the neighbor ’s yard . Years ago , it was filled with tree diagram . Now it ’s a totally bare patch of weeds . On the other hand , my parent ’s cubic yard used to be a bare patch of weedy grass – now it ’s a lush hobo camp .
On the right is a young Jamaican cherry tree tree , with the 5th Street mulberry above it . A banana tree and a grumichama pelt in there , along with wandering Jew , yam plant vines and sweet murphy . To the left field is the lovely starfruit Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
The starfruit is really looking skilful , as we saw earlier this week .
It ’s completely loaded with yield , both ripe and fleeceable .
Here ’s a view a little profoundly into the food forest .
And from another slant , show a 2nd path into the inside :
There you’re able to see moringa , starfruit , banana tree , mango and various self - set landscape plants and fern .
Is n’t that much better than looking at a bandage of grass ? It ’s coolheaded and beautiful , and the intellectual nourishment woods is all you see out of the picture window on the back of Mom ’s home .
And More!
Here you may see the grownup cocoanut ribbon and the avocado I found , both start from germ .
Beneath the coconut palm are Turk ’s cap hibiscus .
There are also katuk in abundance :
The katuk has naturalized and establish itself here and there around the yard . It ’s a decent green and very gentle to grow in a tropical clime . Almost everything grows in South Florida , including orchids – in this case , beneath a mango .
Some are blooming in the juiceless months of wintertime :
And the orchids are n’t all that is blossom . We also have Panthera tigris irises in the yard , plant by my Dad before I was born .
And there are lilies that my Mom dug up from my Grandma Marian ’s pace after she pass .
All this abundance needs some taming , of course . Usually via machete .
Though it really take very little effort to maintain this system . With a little more work , it would be incredibly fertile . The earth covering layer is lack , as are the shrubs , and plenty of veg could be planted in here … yet still , with little care , there is unconstipated food available , from greens to radical …
In the front are a few more trees , including a beautiful clump of banana :
The various banana we imbed in the last two years have really set off to earn their keep .
The tamarind in the front yard is now a gracious spectre tree :
Just for linear perspective , this was that tree when I planted it back in 2015 :
Overall , this food for thought forest has been a wonderful success . It ’s beautiful …
It makes the yard feel more private .
It contains a variety of botanic curiosity , like this cocoa pud yield tree :
And it ’s just plain fun .
Especially compare to a patch of weedy grass .
I will always be thankful to my parents for allow me to use their backyard as an experimental garden . What we ’ve learned has helped me write multiple books , including the greatly lucubrate new variation ofCreate Your Own Florida Food Forest .
Remember , this intact system gets perhaps a mates weekends of work a twelvemonth … if that .
It ’s not a perfect , interconnected jungle of food , but there ’s a lot of nutrient there – and nature has fill in the gaps we escape .
As a proof of conception , it ’s a great winner – and we have the piles of fruit to prove it !
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