South Florida's rainy season has officially begun.
Although it is too hot and humid for some things to grow now, a wide variety of delicious edible plants flourish in our summer weather. Now is the optimal time to plant fruit trees, in addition to a wide variety of heat tolerant annuals and perennials. When many edible plants of varying shapes and sizes are grown together, many call it a "food forest". If you haven't already, now is an excellent time to plant one of these.
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Avocado, key lime, papaya, dragonfruit, sweet potato, Jamaican dandelion, Ethiopian kale, sunn hemp & more
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"Food Forests" are food-producing systems that mimic the look and function of nature. In many ways, they look like natural forests, with trees, vines, shrubs and ground covers occupying almost all available growing space. Like in natural forests, you find both annuals and perennials. However, foods forests are different than other forests in that their main role is to produce food.
In food forests, the majority of all the plants planted are edible or directly useful in some way to us. One can find a wide array of fruits, nuts, leafy greens, herbs, and root vegetables, all with the potential to feed. Other plants also planted in food forests may not be edible to us, but are beneficial to promoting wildlife (including pollinators and pest eaters), or are primarily planted to improve the soil (like nitrogen fixers and dynamic accumulators).
This can be a very efficient way to produce a lot of food in an ecologically sensitive manner. Also, since food forests are composed of mostly perennials, they are relatively low-maintenance once established. The main work required is harvesting.
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Food forest with banana, papaya, mulberry, yuca, and sunn hemp along with beds for annuals and herbs. Also there is guava, carambola, dragonfruit, fig, lemon and sugar apple but there aren't too visible in this pic.
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Small food forest with bananas, guava, chaya, sweet potato, ginger, cranberry hibiscus, calalu, Cuban oregano, sunn hemp,
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A food forest doesn't need to be very large, though it can be. Food forests can just be a small part of a yard. Let us know if you would like help starting one. Designs are often custom, but we also have some existing packages to choose from, as seen below.
Mini Food Forest - $250
2 papaya, 1 banana, 1 cranberry hibiscus, 1 katuk, 1 sweet potato, 1 comfrey, pigeon pea, sunn hemp, buckwheat. Planting includes 1/2 yard of compost, 1/2 yard of mulch, and organic fertilizer.
Small Food Forest - $500
2 medium-growing fruit trees, 2 papaya, 1 banana, 1 ginger, 2 cranberry hibiscus, 1 katuk, 2 sweet potatoes, 2 comfrey, pigeon pea, sunn hemp, buckwheat, and 15 other veggies/herbs. Planting includes 1 yard of compost, 1 yard of mulch, and organic fertilizer
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Medium Food Forest - $1000
2 large-growing fruit trees, 4 medium-growing fruit trees, 3 papaya, 2 banana, 1 passionfruit or dragonfruit, 2 ginger, 4 cranberry hibiscus, 2 katuk, 4 sweet potatoes, 4 comfrey, 1 Mexican sunflower, pigeon pea, sunn hemp, buckwheat, and 30 other veggies/herbs. Planting includes 2 yards of compost, 2 yards of mulch, and organic fertilizer.
Large Food Forest - $2000
5 large-growing fruit trees, 10 medium-growing fruit trees, 6 papaya, 4 banana, 1 passionfruit, 1 dragon fruit, 4 ginger, 8 cranberry hibiscus, 4 katuk, 8 sweet potato, 6 comfrey, 2 Mexican sunflower, 1 moringa, pigeon pea, sunn hemp, buckwheat, and 60 other veggies/herbs. Planting includes 4 yards of compost, 4 yards of mulch, and organic fertilizer.
Some of the fruit trees that are currently available include:
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Very small "guerilla" food forest with basket vine, katuk, galanga, papaya, along with a variety of annuals and herbs
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In addition to now being the best time for planting a food forest, it is also the time to start planning for the fall. If you are going to be wanting any new raised beds for the upcoming cool season, it is a good idea to have them in ahead of time. In the wait before the fall planting of cool weather crops one has the option of planting a cover crop to improve the fertility of the soil (like sunn hemp or buckwheat), or to plant heat tolerant vegetables and herbs. Heat tolerant vegetables and herbs we are currently planting are:
Herbs:
Veggies:
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3'x10' reclaimed greenheart garden package
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Of course, we are continuing to build our garden beds out of one-of-a-kind reclaimed wood known as greenheart. This wood is more attractive, and last much longer than pine or cedar. The wood, being salvaged as the pilings that held up expired docks is a sustainable building material that doesn't contribute to deforestation.  | | 1ft x 2ft Mini Garden with rosemary, pepper, okinawa spinach, basil, and oregano. |
For people that want to have a garden but do not have the space for a larger one, we recommend Mini Gardens. These are ideal for people with balconies or renters. It is amazing how much can grow in such a small space. Our Mini Gardens start at 1ft x 2ft for $100. In a Mini Garden it is easy to grow a nice variety of herbs, salad greens, maybe even a pepper plant! Anyway, we hope that you enjoy your summer and get to taste some of the abundant harvests that our unique location and climate offers.
If we can help in anyway with a consultation, answering questions or with providing materials, please let us know. Also, more information can be found on our website www.ready-to-grow.com. For all you Facebook users out there, we invite you to "like" our Facebook page here. For all of you on Pinterest, feel free to follow us here.
Have a great beginning to summer!
Dylan Terry
Ready-to-Grow Gardens
786-436-7703
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