The Summer Food Forest Workshop was again sensational with Aarron and Dan. We revisited the site, plantings and the design standing up brilliantly. The cassava, ginger, bananas, sugar cane and banner grass were all bursting out of the ground and the fruit trees also powering. The workshop focused on succession and maintenance of the forest over time and throughout the seasons. We made compost tea, fertilised the forest, planted summer veggies like melons, tomatoes, pumpkin and sunflowers (all no-dig garden beds on contour) and we built up the understory with ground covers of sweet potato, herbs and flowers. We concentrated on building healthy living nutritious soils and planted a warm season green manure crop.
Loads of pioneer species like acacias also went in to support the fruit trees and the system with nutrients and help enrich the soil by providing chop and drop mulch and cover. Another aim was to increase biodiversity so we planted lots of native shrubs to provided habitat for all the small wrens and birds at Bandusia. Those attending learned a lot by seeing and doing rather than just talking and gained a lot from Aaron and Dan’s wealth of expertise of the design and creation of forests of food. We plan to run future seasonal equinox and solstice food forest workshops in 2013. Make sure you are signed up to our newsletter for updates!
