Planting and growing a fruit tree guild (or a food forest) is a great way to maximize your garden space and provide nutrients and health to your fruit trees at the same time. A fruit tree guild can help with disease resistance, attracting pollinators, keeping weeds and grass from encroaching on the tree (stealing precious nitrogen), and providing the right growing environments for multiple crops at once.
Not to mention, it’s pretty awesome to walk out to your fruit trees and harvest some lettuce for dinner at the same time!
Watch my latest project where I’m planting my very first fruit tree guild under my cherry tree and check out the blog post here: https://melissaknorris.com/planting-a-fruit-tree-guild
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Links Mentioned & Related Links:
Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for a Healthier Garden (Podcast episode on food forests): https://melissaknorris.com/podcast/companion-planting-strategies-for-a-healthier-garden/
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Shop this video:
Nursery for plants: https://nativefoodsnursery.com/
New Watering Can: https://www.pjatr.com/t/TUJGRktKSEJGTExNTUdCRktFSUhJ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lehmans.com%2Fproduct%2Fsmall-galvanized-watering-can%2F
Elemental Sulfur: https://amzn.to/2SwSfXe
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Listen in to the top #10 rated Pioneering Today Podcast for Home & Garden for Simple Modern Homesteading Tips https://melissaknorris.com/podcast-2/
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My Books:
The Family Garden Planner: http://melissaknorris.com/planner
The Family Garden Plan: https://melissaknorris.com/family-garden-plan
Hand Made 100+ From Scratch Recipes: https://melissaknorris.com/handmade-book
The Made-from-Scratch Life: https://melissaknorris.com/made-from-scratch-life
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Howdy! I’m so glad you’re here. I’m Melissa from Pioneering Today and a 5th generation homesteader where I’m doing my best to hold onto the old traditions in a modern world and share them with others.
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#fruittreeguild #companionplanting #foodforest
30 Comments
You sure are knowledgeable
I am also starting a food forest. I think most sorrel's do retain their flavor when cooked. It is used often in English and French cooking… here in Georgia we call it lemon grass although it looks more like clover! I have eaten it raw but will try cooking it next time I harvest some. Love your videos. Keep them coming.
Lupin flour is becoming a regular in the keto world
Is this the Mallow i find in my yard? like a weed? Mine have a little "nut" in the mature plants before it blossoms. They are edible I've been told???
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. This is very informative and interesting for me to try on my fruit trees.
Oh so sad to see you pulling up that nice volunteer sheep sorrel. The spade shaped leaf has a sharp tang simulator to wood sorrel and is very good both in guilds and salad.
In the category of flowering perennials that are edible: Try Daylilies for their edible flowers (sweet, crisp, and better than any lettuce, tubers are edible as well, like little fingerling potatoes), and Violets (edible greens and flowers) Canna Lily are terrific too, just past the drip line (Edible flowers and tubers, BIG tubers, tastes like potatoes, with a little dietary fiber, GOOD STUFF) Keep up the good work!
Super awesome video..!! Thanks
Another idea my great grandmother did is plant comfrey circle around fruit trees. Tap root blocks grass out and she would chop and drop the leaves 3x each summer. Comfrey feeds the soil with nitrogen and also brings up minerals to benefit the tree. Been doing it to mine and they flourish. Great channel by the way! Glad I found you.
Always appreciate your no-nonsense approach Melissa! 🙂
If you like eating your plants/flowers, plant some Spilanthes. Some people make a tincture out of it, and the flavor tastes like honey, imo, and it's tingly in your mouth. You might want to plant a lot of it after you investigate that plant.
Are those plants ok to plant with your fruit trees you just planted?
How did your lupine and other plants do over winter? I am building a new small orchard and I am trying to get all the good ideas and research from all the trusted sources I know of. One being you, of course. Anyway, just checking in to see how everything did. I love to see the progress.
I hope you plant some parsley just for the swallowtails! Let’s give back to our other animal friends. They need our help now.
Thank you for sharing your garden and knowledge with us. I’m a YouTube gardener too. It’s my 3rd year as a gardener and I’m still learning as I grow. This year I’m trying to add companion plants to my garden. This is perfect because I have space around my strawberries. This is very helpful and I and so happy I found your channel because it has so much to offer. I hope we can learn more from each other as we grow our gardens and our channels!
What is the name of the third plant?
This is so cool, I would love to try this out. Can you give us an update of how this has turned out a year later?
I've found that daffodils stop voles in their tracks. They abandon the entire area. It's really like a fence because the roots go down and if they scratch or bite them, I assume it must taste awful to them and I know they are poisonous to voles and other mammals and also people. I think onions or chives would do this as well. Like a miniature fence for underground. It might not 100% prevent them. I say it helps, though.
Im wondering if these plants around the tree would be in the way of picking and pruning the trees.
I looked it up Lupine and they are tall too
🤗🤗🍏🍎🍐🍒🍑
I have sorrel and that definitely doesn't resemble it??
Miner's lettuce I would just toss seeds out for, not even bother planting transplants — they are very easy to grow and if you let them go to see you'll get a million more next year. Awesome that you have a local source! Good for you, going for native species!
Where did you get your Henderson's checkermallow? I have dwarf/rose, Cusick's, Nelson's and the meadow (all of which I love, they are such great plants) but I haven't been able to find the Henderson's yet… It seems like it's a more threatened species, so I would love to give one a home (if I could find one).
Do you have slug & snails
Wal-Mart water isle is a great for cardboard, no lettering/tape/staples, just plain cardboard they use to separate the cases of water.
Ok but what about lupine being very poisonous do you really want it by edibles
Just looked into lupine plants, and it says that they are toxic to animals and humans
Did You Say Luppton?? 💗💗💗💗
What Are Theses Two?? 💗💗💗💗
Hey, Meliisa, a couple of questions….
1. If I have (will) a Dwarf Apple, in a large container, can I do this in there?
2. Can I use Lupinus Albus (White Lupini – the edible bean variety)?
3. In another video, you showed Comfrey, will this "take over" the pot and stunt the apple tree (I have grown Comfrey for tea and it has always taken over anywhere I plant it)?
4. Would this work for tropical plants like Dwarf Banana?