Almost daily, I get panicky questions from people starting their food forest from scratch and having a blank slate.
It’s the analysis paralysis from the information overload that makes people do nothing instead of taking this simple but essential step in the food forest’s establishment.
If you do this step, and do it correctly, your plants will thrive. But, if you don’t do it or do it poorly, there is a good chance that you’ll have to helplessly watch your plants struggle, and possibly somewhere down the line, you’ll be replanting your trees, shrubs, and other perennials.
So, to answer the question on everybody’s mind about what you should do if you’re starting from scratch — the answer is simple, improve the soil.
Make sure to do this before you do anything else because this is your golden opportunity to remedy the soil’s structure, texture, and organic matter content and get the head start that will pay you dividends down the line.
I call this step – soil conditioning.
So after the initial disturbance, either by earthworks or by cultivating it by hand, machine, or livestock, when the soil is exposed and with no competing vegetation, you can do some soil wizardry. And let me assure you anybody can be a wizard when they know what to do and have the recipes to do it.
There are many ways to improve the soil, but here I’ll focus on a simple protocol you could do right away if you want to prepare the soil for the trees and other perennials you wish to plant… So let’s talk about cover cropping!
The Food Forest Establishment Cover Cropping Protocol
Cover cropping is a site-preparation technique for weed management and soil improvement through building organic matter. Usually, you let cover crops grow for a set time and then till them in as green manure or mow or roll over to create a mulch layer.
You can use them as a permanent or transitional ground cover and let them do their magic as they live and grow.
Here are three simple steps to use if you want to apply this cover crop magic on your property today:
Step 1. Disturb the soil initially
Ok, so here’s the deal. You can’t sow the seeds of cover crops into an existing vegetation layer. Theoretically, you could, but if you have aggressive grass species, give your cover crops a head-start, and they will grow instead of the weeds!
You can either till the ground, remove the sod by hand, machine, or use livestock. It all depends on the resources available. I’ve done it by hand many times, and it’s good exercise to keep yourself fit!
If you find tilling the ground morally unacceptable, use the sheet mulching technique and prepare the soil for sowing cover crops that way. As a sheet layer, you can use cardboard, newspaper, flax, or hemp matting.
You’ll have to keep it there for a while if you want a clean start or, to speed things up, add compost on top of the cardboard, and you’ll have your clean start that way as you can sow seeds immediately into the newly created top layer.
Step 2. Sow your cover crops
Now, there are many recipes for cover crops you could use, but, as per my research (see Mycorrhizal Planet book from the late Micheal Phillips), the mix of perennial rye, red clover, and tillage radish works well. Here’s why…
Perennial rye serves as biomass and a nurse crop sheltering smaller clover seedlings. You chop and drop it as it grows, providing you with surface organic matter.
Tillage radish drills deep to take its share of the space between clover plants. As it grows and decomposes, it increases the soil’s organic matter content. You can be sure that bacteria and other microorganisms readily welcome this food.
Red clover fixes nitrogen, forms a symbiotic relationship with bacteria, and has a strong affinity for mycorrhizal fungi… that’s what’s essential for your woody plants!
So, grab your seeds, mix them in a bucket, add some sand to the mix to distribute them more efficiently, and spread them across the exposed soil surface.
Be careful to do it equally and that you do it densely. Don’t try to save money on your cover crops. The idea is to have a thick mat so the weeds can’t gain a foothold!
Step 3. Cover your seeds with a thin layer of straw mulch
I heard this tip from Geoff Lawton, and it makes intuitive sense. You’ll want to protect your seeds from the elements and birds, who would love a free meal.
Don’t put too much down at once, though. Just spread thinly, as seeds will need some light to germinate. Now all you can do is pray for some rain, or you’ll need to water the whole area yourself.
Ideally, I would recommend watering beforehand, so the soil is moist or doing the soil disturbance step after a rain event.
But, predictable rain events in spring, when I recommend you do this soil improvement exercise, are not a given anymore, so think about how to provide water for germinating seeds if necessary.
Ok, so after your cover crops have been growing for a while, your soil will turn into black, loamy, earthy-smelling, living goodness your plants will love.
In the image below, you can see my soil after one year of cover cropping.
The straw is wholly gone and decomposed. The cover crops have been growing and doing their magic for a growing season. And now it’s time to plant some trees into this goodness…
All right, so that’s a simple protocol you could do to improve your soil and increase your chances of success. It’s not that hard to execute, and the results might surprise you.
Of course, you could do other super-important things to improve the soil, such as adding compost, fertilizers, different soil amendments, spraying with compost tea, etc.
But, more on that some other time. Until then…
Talk soon,
-William
