At the start of this year, I created 4 raised bed fruit tree guilds; a permaculture design concept that creates a supportive mini ecosystem. In today’s episode, let’s have a look back over the year and find out whether they were a success or not, what I loved and didn’t love, and whether I think you should try them for yourself.
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22 Comments
I'd love to hear from you! What do you think of the fruit tree guilds?
Lovely to see you back. They look great, I love the idea and look
Like 15 here from Mr. Garry. How are you Niall?
It’s terrific that your fruit guilds were a success! Fruit Trees are, in my opinion, quite finicky in the first year! Even during the first few years! The guilds most certainly help with the variety of plants!
Well done Niall. Stay safe my friend ❤
Love that so much Niall! Maybe you should start an annual fruit guild challenge and invite people to create their own, test it out, and share results? Could turn into something epic!
These guilds are such a terrific idea. You got excellent advice from Mayou (sorry if I’ve got the spelling wrong) and clearly followed through with a great selection of plants that worked really well. It’s a pleasure to see that your enthusiasm for this style of planting has paid off. Will look forward to seeing how your plans develop in the coming year. Good luck!
Thank you for your superb explication!❤
Good to see you back. Inspired by you and Maiju I planted around my small apple trees purchased a few years ago from Morrisons and Aldi! Looked really attractive, had an excellent crop of fruit albeit marked but definitely edible. Like you I went a bit mad with flowers thinking they would be low maintenance. They looked great and certainly attracted the insects particularly the comfrey, phacelia and cosmos but I will tone it down next year. I hack my comfrey down this time of year add it to my butt of comfrey tea, lay it straight on cleared beds as a mulch and any over goes in the compost heap. Once again great to see you back.
Excellent video as always 👌 😊 Your guilds look 10 times better than mine 😂 You have so many wonderful plants in them, and you're so right to refer to the guild harvests as treasure hunts 🥰 The one major benefit from the guilds to my apple trees has been that so far none of the apples had any coddling moth larvae damage, but they had plenty of it to the apples in the orchard (not using any fermone traps)… I am absolutely delighted to see how successful and beautiful your guilds were/are ❤ Well done for the great planting combination 🤗👏 Maiju 🌿💚
Lovely garden, Niall! You have done a wonderful job of creating biodiversity in your garden. I have many of the same flowers and herbs as you growing in my orchard. It is so beautiful to see all of the pollinators and other beneficial insects enjoying all of the annuals and perennials that I've grown over the last several years. I love growing a large variety of flowers to make bouquets throughout three seasons in my zone 8a. Knowing that the flowers and herbs not only provide lovely bouquets to enjoy, but they also do the job of fixing the soil with nutrients, providing for the trees and insect population makes being a gardener such a joy!
You forgot to set up the end screen 😅
It's wonderful to see you again, Niall. May you and yours have a wonderful Holiday Season. Take care, DA
So nice to see you. Fruit Tree Guild worked beautifully. Plant choice was stunning. I love the multi color blooms and diverse texture of each plant. Looking forward to a cleanup and cut back for winter so I am able to see your fruit trees. Thanks for the video.
Dandelions are edible and medicinal. A few are welcome in my guilds.
Hi Niall 😃 Happy Sunday
I could see the path of success when you laid them out. My idea of perfection formality and working with the environment. Yes, it will keep improving with age.
I enjoyed the video as always, Niall.
I love the riot of color and texture. Looking forward to seeing the beds mature in the coming years. Thank you for another beautiful video.
Loved this video, I’m going to have a go at these. Didn’t it look just beautiful as well. Thanks for sharing this with us 🤗
Love this, thank you.
Are dandelions native for you? If they were native for me I'd definitely keep a little around, they accumulate a lot of minerals. I pull mine out, remove the flower stalks and leave them on the soil surface when I weed.