The start of my food forest

Hey y’all,

I’ve gone plant crazy. I got some extra money from a separate project, and I’ve been using a portion of it to buy plants. So, I spent over $300 on plants and other garden things in the last few days.

I could’ve gotten a higher quntity of plants if I’d gone to a big box store, but I shelled out the cash and got a few really high quality plants. I think it’ll serve me better in the end. I got 4 perennial flowers, 2 blackberry vines, a Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree, a banana plant, some tree stakes, and some flower bed borders. I actually think that’s a pretty nice amount of stuff for just over $300.

I would say that this is the start of my food forrest, but I guess it really began last year, and I just didn’t think about it. As soon as we moved to our house, I planted a couple apple trees, some honeyberry plants, and a grape vine. My loving husband mowed over a couple of the plants, but we still have most of them.

My food forrest currently contains bananas, grapes, honeyberries, yarrow, daylilies, Granny Smith and Gala apples, wild onions, and several different wildflowers. Plus, the blackberry vines and Cherry Blossom are in the mail, and there are plans for asparagus, greens, and a couple redbud trees. So far, we’ve only eaten a couple onions, but I think we’re going to be able to harvest a lot next year. I’m so excited for all the plants to get here. It’s taken 2 full seasons, but I feel like my food forrest is actually taking shape.

I’m also really excited to see what it looks like in a few years. Right now everything is small, and it still looks sparse in photos (it looks more full in person). And I’m curious to see what all else gets planted. My current plan is for the side of the yard by the truck to have several trees and for the other side to have vines and annuals mostly. The Cherry Blossom is going to be behind the banana plant, and those blackberries will be going on either side of the fence behind the apple trees. There’s currently an ornamental grape vine in the middle of that fence, but it’ll be getting a hefty trim when those blackberries come in, and it’ll be taken out completely either this winter or the next.

I’m so happy my husband likes this idea (I don’t think he actually cares if it means I’ll nag him to mow less). When I first heard about food forrests, I just fell in love with the idea. I wanted to begin when my husband and I were living in an apartment, but I knew we weren’t staying forever and didn’t want to have to start over. So I just planted annuals and dreamed. But finally, I’m getting to plant all the plants.

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