Many people may wonder why all of the hullabaloo with “open-pollinated” and “heirloom” plants versus hybrids. They all grow food don’t they? It all eventually comes down to reproducibility and food security. Bear with me while I explain why hybrid seeds destroy your freedom as a consumer and as a gardener. I try not to delve into hyperbole when it comes to the issue, but it becomes difficult not to given the ramifications of the problem. But before I go into that, some definitions on what types of plants I am talking about. Open-pollinated (OP) plants are plants that follow the course of nature. They are pollinated by whatever means they use, whether it is by wind, insect, etc. Seeds from these plants remain true to their type season after season, with genetic variability to allow for local adaptations to weather, water needs, soil, and other factors. Most importantly, they are fertile. Heirloom plants are OP plants that have a long genetic history, in much the same way that a family has a long genetic history. Many companies will not call a plant an heirloom unless it is at least 50 years old. Heirlooms often have specific growing requirements based on their breeding. This is obvious in heirloom tomatoes. Some tomatoes are for cold weather, some for hot. Some for slicing, some for canning or sauce. Hybrid plants are a product of people crossing two varieties to gain a specific result. I am not speaking of natural, random variation or crossing of genetics as would occur in nature. Commercial hybrids are an altogether different thing. People grow hybrids because of “hybrid vigor,” a phenomenon where the hybrid offspring often performs better than the parents. That is fine. All OP plants originally came from hybrids. However, you cannot save seeds from commercial hybrids or create OP varieties from them. They will not breed true like an OP variety. Most hybrids are bred to be sterile on purpose. Hybrids are the overwhelming majority for people to buy and grow in their gardens. In fact, it can be incredibly difficult to find non-hybrid seeds of some vegetables even on the internet. Broccoli is notoriously tricky because of this. This is where the destruction of freedom enters the equation. You cannot save seeds from hybrids. If you use hybrids, you are fully dependent on the commercial seed companies to provide them to you. Think about this. Consider if you grew your garden to eat, not just for pleasure, and if you did not have your garden, you would starve. Consider that you cannot save seeds from hybrids. You are at the mercy of the seed company. It is perfectly logical economically. A company wants to keep you buying from them. They do not want you to be able to save your own seeds; that means you do not have to buy from them in the future. See the problem? They do not care about whether you starve if something goes wrong. They care about your money. There is no love of humanity in their business plan. Someone may ask, “But you can stabilize a hybrid over time and make it work for you.” I could make the argument that fifty years ago, you could do this with some success. However, let me introduce you to something called CMS “cytoplasmic male sterility.” CMS is where a sterile female is crossed with a fertile male to produce sterile offspring. You have made a mule. A mule is a dead-end. You cannot breed a mule. It is sterile. If you want another mule, you have to go get a donkey and a horse. But what if you do not have a donkey and a horse? Well, when your mule dies, you no longer have a mule. This is how the seed companies of today operate with almost everything they sell. They only sell mules so you have to keep buying them. They copyrighted all of the horses and donkeys, forcing you to buy their patented mules every year. Can you see how that removes your freedom and food security? What if someone shoots your mule? You don’t eat. What if your mule gets disease and doesn’t produce anything? You don’t eat. Not only that, you don’t even have a good selection of mules. It is altogether insulting. We as consumers and gardeners need to return to OP plants. Plants we can save seeds from and get away from the trap of commercial seed companies.
But there is another danger in hybrids, different than not being able to produce fertile seeds. They are genetically homogeneous. Why is that a problem? It represents a huge risk to you as a gardener, especially if you depend on your garden for your food. Let’s say you have ten “Better Boy” tomato plants. They are all equally susceptible to the same diseases, pests, and problems. If something bad happens, it happens to all of them. You no longer have tomato plants. You are, to be frank, ruined. That is the stuff that leads to famine, starvation, and poverty. There is a chance you may have a better yield than somebody else, but you also run the risk of complete destitution. However, if you have an OP variety, there is some genetic variability between seeds, even ones taken from the same mother. There are small differences in tolerance and resistant. Over time, they can adapt to your climate and needs as you save seeds from the best plants. You can breed a plant that will always perform for you, reducing risk of food shortage and plant death. Even if some do poorly, others will survive to feed you and your family. A CMS hybrid can never offer you that. As permaculturists, we strive for the food security and freedom of our communities. CMS hybrids have no place in anything we do. They are a mockery. My next article will be about breeding plants that will always perform for you. It is called “landracing” and it is an extremely powerful tool for you to achieve food security, peace, and freedom. The Texas Wildscape Program is to encourage homeowners to create wildlife habitat and be a part of habitat conservation. Because permies strive to use as many native plants as possible in their designs, and encourage the presence of birds, insects, and other small creatures, a Wildscape Certification makes complete sense. Why should you try to get certification? Let’s say you are in a suburb with an HOA that is not permaculture or wildlife habitat friendly. You might be able to get your design permitted if you can prove that it will be an asset to the state of Texas. HOA and ornery neighbors tend to get a little wide-eyed whenever you bring in governmental programs. How can they ethically deny such a program? It is a powerful tool to overcome obstacles. Same thing goes with certified bee or butterfly gardens. Almost no one still demands you remove your flowers when you have a nice little sign saying it is for the bees and butterflies. If they still won’t allow it, you have the power of the state behind you, and in the case of the Best of Backyard Habitat, perhaps even the federal government. It doesn’t just make sense ecologically, but also politically. This sounds cynical, but many places are adverse to ecological design and getting this certification might be the only way you can implement it. This article is designed to be a one stop shop for getting these two certifications at once, the Wildscape and Best of Backyard Habitat. The only things you may have to research more on are particular plants you want to use, but I do give you suggestions on where to start. This is a long article, but it is all you need to know. I spent the hours compiling it so you don’t have to. Qualifications for TWC 1. A minimum of 50% native plants. 2. Year-round wildlife food sources. Feeders are only acceptable in lean months when no food could be reasonably available anyway. 3. Wildlife shelter 4. Reliable, permanent water source. If you also want to be in the Best of Texas Backyard Habitat Certification program (and with a little extra work you could be both), these are the additional qualifications. 5. No more than two plants listed in the Invasive Exotic Species list and an “obviously native plant habitat”. 6. Controlling cats, house sparrows, and English starlings. 7. Engage in at least six of the following measures: Rain garden or buffer system to filter storm water. Drip soaker hoses. Do not use sprinklers. Xeriscape planting. Watering infrequently and only in the morning or evening to prevent evaporation. Deciduous trees on the southern face of your house. No chemicals. Mulching. Reducing or removing lawns. Removing invasive exotics. Indoor cats only. Composting yard and food waste. As you can imagine, it becomes simple and easy for the permie to have both of these certifications. Normal permaculture practice does almost all of this anyway. Now let’s go into these points in a bit more detail. How can you implement all of these things? Details 1. 50% or more native plants. The only thing you have to do to meet this requirement is be thoughtful in your plant choices. There are many wonderful native plants to fulfill any permaculture need. One of the best ways to accomplish a mostly native environment is with a food forest. Determine to use as many native species in your food forest as you can. Natives grow better and more reliably anyway. When they say 50% natives, they are looking at total number of plants, not number of species. That means that out of 100 plants, 50 of them must be native. How many different species you have is not considered in the percentage. Now, you may have a question about whether a Persian mulberry counts towards the 50% since we have a native mulberry, or the same thing with a Japanese persimmon and our native Mexican persimmon. Well, I asked one of our Central Texas Urban Wildlife biologists about this, and this is what she said. The Wildscape certification is meant to raise awareness and appreciation of our native plants and the role they play in native habitat. While native persimmon aren't glamorous as people-food, they are exactly what our native wildlife - birds, butterflies, bees, and others - are adapted best to use. Same goes for our other berry-producing plants, including dewberries. If you want to know whether a plant is native to our area, check out the native plant database from the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center at wildflower.org/plants. 2. Year-round wildlife food sources. This can be done by making sure you have something that is always blooming, seeding, or fruiting for every month of the year. For bees and butterflies, this means stocking a large assortment of native wildflowers such as Indian blanket, Swamp milkweed, American basketflower, Tahoka daisy, prairie verbena, gayfeather, and scarlet sage to name a few. *Disclaimer – I am in no way affiliated with the Native American Seed Company. They are just the single best source of quality native wildflower and grass seed in the state, so I am recommending them. I receive no financial compensation for this. It is my honest opinion. If you want potted plants to make the process faster, go to local native nurseries. I will have some listed at the end of this article. Consider the “Bee Happy” and “Butterfly Retreat” mixes from the Native American Seed Company, either as an easy mix to plant or as a starting place to determine what flowers you want to use. Their mix provides food for pollinators from February through December. Plant a wide variety of native milkweeds for Monarch butterflies in particular. The Native Plant Society of Texas has a Monarch Recovery Program that provides grants ($50-400) to members dedicated to make a habitat for Monarch butterflies. There is also a Monarch Waystation program. Contact Cathy Downs ([email protected]) for more information. For hummingbirds, consider bush sunflower, coral honeysuckle, Turk’s cap, purple prairie clover, black-eyed Susan, gayfeather, scarlet sage, standing cypress, clasping coneflower, cutleaf daisy, and butterfly weed. Tubular flowers are always a hummingbird favorite. Consider the “Quail Mix” from the Native American Seed Company for quail, dove, seed-eating birds, and turkeys. It contains a mix of plants such as Illinois bundleflower, partridge pea, Texas cupgrass (a favorite of Painted Buntings!), switchgrass, Eastern gamagrass, pitcher sage, and scrambled eggs. Good trees include pecan, sycamore, oak, mulberry, Mexican persimmon, Mexican plum, elm, Mexican buckeye, and maple. To encourage native predatory insects, consider angelica, anise hyssop, butterfly weed, any of the clovers, dandelion, purple poppy mallow, yarrow, tansy, zinnia, and spearmint. 3. Wildlife shelter. Invest in fallen logs, bee motels, bat boxes, and other structural things to give habitat. A stack of boulders gives hiding spots and a good basking location for reptiles. Logs and a strategic pile of brush are helpful for small invertebrates and mammals. Many of our native grasses like Little Bluestem or Indiangrass provide habitat for small ground-dwelling birds such as quail, which need the space between our clumping native grasses for movement, cover, and nesting. You can find beautiful examples of insect hotels. They are not only lovely and interesting, but useful habitat. Wildlife habitat doesn’t have to be ugly. Unless you are willing to control House Sparrows, DO NOT put up nest boxes. You are just creating an opportunity for the sparrows to kill the bluebirds, swallows, and martins that might use it. It is better to put out no nest boxes than to assist house sparrows. 4. Reliable, permanent water source. This might be the hardest requirement for a backyard permie. Temporary water, sure. Permanent, not so easy. The simplest and quickest way would be to provide a livestock water trough that you always keep clean and full of water. It is probably a good idea to do this anyway, but it isn’t very permie. How does a permie make a permanent, clean water source? The key is to catch as much water as possible and then sink it into the soil. This requires contouring the land to divert water where it is needed, organically rich soil that can store water, planting densely to shade the soil, and mulching very deeply. Soil with excess water will naturally collect it at a low location: your pond or stream. Even in very dry locations, you can make a permanent water source within 5-10 years (or less) doing this. This also makes plants drought resistant because the soil is able to not only hold a lot of water, but keep it from needlessly evaporating. A good first step is to capture water from your roof in either rain barrels or a pond. To calculate how much water you have available, find A (area of ground covered by the roof in square feet), R (average rainfall in your location per year in inches), and then calculate the following. [ (A x R) / 12 ] x 7.5 = gallons of rain collected per year A 1000 ft2 roof with 20 inches of rainfall will collect 12,500 gallons of rainfall per year, or approximately 1000 gallons per month. Some of this will be lost to evaporation or just be lost entirely. Some will also be used as irrigation to water your garden. In this case, you could survive on storing about 500 gallons (~2000 liters). Rain barrels are 50-55 gallons each, so that means ten barrels. For a pond, it could be approximately 7x5x3 ft. Make a pond deeper rather than shallower. Too high a surface area creates too much evaporation and will make your pond drought sensitive. Think more stock trough than dinner plate. Excess water from filled barrels can be diverted through a dry stream bed to a small natural pond. But ponds are terrible, chemical-laden monstrosities you say. Well, poorly designed ones are, yes, but ones that emulate nature are not. Self-cleaning natural ponds have 25% of their surface area covered in streambank plants. Algae has so much competition for food that is cannot gain a foothold in your pond. Let’s say you get WAY too much rain, much more than normal. Have it to where your pond can overflow and the excess water goes to a swale system to water your fruit trees. Many people install a pipe an inch or two below the overflow line to take off surplus water before it can crest over. A wonderful source of water that every house has is greywater, which is the water coming from the shower/tub, bathroom sinks, and washer machine. The kitchen sink is usually considered blackwater because of the food contaminants. One person averages 20-45 gallons of greywater a day. For a family of four, that is an average of 130 gallons a day and almost 4000 gallons a month. You probably won’t bring it back into your house, but you can definitely use it for your plants. That is 4000 gallons of water a month you don’t have to pay for and 4000 gallons that will help your garden be more drought tolerant. To use greywater, you have to divert the water off from the sewer line and filter it before it gets to your plants or pond. Get a licensed plumber to divert the line and install a 660 watt pump (if you are on a concrete slab, greywater may not be possible at all so get that checked first). A wetland biofilter is used to remove stuff from the water. Key thing before going into biofilters. If using greywater, do not use bleach, borax, salt, or other chemicals. Use natural, biodegradable clothes detergents such as Ecos, Seventh Generation, or soapnuts that are low in salt. Use natural soaps, shampoos, and other body care products. Aforementioned chemicals will kill your wetland biofilter. Also, don’t divert water when cleaning soiled cloth diapers. Let that go into the sewer system. You cannot use softened water because of the high level of salts. A wetland biofilter is a system of wetland plants that filter water. It goes in dirty and comes out clean. It is actually a really simple thing when you get down to it. Wetland plants naturally filter water for their food. We use them in ponds to keep the water clean and prevent algal growth. Soil is fantastic at removing harmful bacteria and contaminants. UCSB student Dayna Yocum created a wonderful design manual for this type of system. You will need a downhill slope of about 0.5% for this to work. To keep from flooding plants on a daily basis, I do recommend taking the water from the biofilter into a pond before using it on plants. One, the pond is great storage. Two, the pond plants will further clean the water. Three, you just got your permanent water source for certification. Four, you can take the water from the pond and use it on your plants so you know how much water each plant is getting. This keeps one plant from getting 6 inches of water a day while others get nothing. It can be properly allocated. Locate your pond centrally and it couldn’t be easier. Plants for a wetland biofilter include cattails, bulrushes, and reed grasses. A mixture of native wetland plants is best. Many greywater specialists recommend against using greywater for food plants where the part we eat would come in direct contact with it, like lettuce, tomatoes, etc. But honestly, if you are using manure tea or compost tea, filtered greywater ain’t got nothing on poo. 5. No invasive exotic species. A permie would not want to use invasive exotic species in their designs. Such plants are too destructive and present too big a threat to surrounding ecosystems. Existing invasives should be destroyed with extreme prejudice. For a full list of species listed as invasive exotics in Texas, go to Texasinvasives.org. This list includes the Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera), wild garlic (Alliaria petiolata), camelthorn, anchored water hyacinth (Eichhornia azurea), common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crasspies), Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), swamp morning-glory (Ipomea aquatica), tea tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia), chinaberry (Melia azedarach), couch panicum (Panicum repens), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), Japanese privet (Ligustrum japonicum), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and any of the tamarisk trees (Tamarix ssp.). 6. Cats, House Sparrows, and English starlings. This measure might seem a little odd to some people. Cats? House sparrows? Why try to fight against our fuzzies and our tweets? You have to remember that this is for “best of backyard HABITAT.” You can’t have a good habitat if cats are killing all of your birds, essentially making your backyard a death trap, or having invasive birds killing all of our native ones. The National Wildlife Federation considers these three exotic species (yes, cats are exotics) as an ecological threat to our country. This is serious biological business. Cats are not allowed because they have this nasty habit of killing things for fun, including all your pretty birds, insects, and small reptiles. Not conducive to a thriving wildlife habitat. To prevent cat predation, keeping them indoors is obvious, but not everybody does this and there are wild cats too. Cats are considered the greatest human-linked threat to wildlife. Unlike actual wild cats (cougars, lions, jaguars, etc), domestic cats kill for fun, no matter how much they are fed. They do not care whether a songbird is endangered or not. If it moves, they will kill it. Domestic cats kill 2.4 billion birds each year in the US. Cats are not native to North America. They are not “natural.” Let’s say you own cats and want to give them the benefit of the outdoors. I would urge you not to. My cats are perfectly fine watching bird television through the window. However, many still let their cats outdoors. Even if you let your cat out during the day, fix them and do not let them out at night. Cats are primarily dusk and dawn predators that sleep during the afternoon. They do not hunt as much during the day. Also, if a cat is going to be hit by a car, fight with another cat, or be attacked by another animal, it will probably be at night. Use a CatBib before you let them out. Your cat will look ridiculous (and hilarious) in a catbib, but it will reduce bird predation by 81%, small mammals by 45%, and herp (reptile and frogs) by 33%. Most cats also don’t seem to mind wearing it. It is shown to be much more effective than bells. You can get a catbib for less than $10-15 at catgoods.com and they come in small or large sizes. To prevent wild cat predation (defined here as cats you have no control over), here are some things to do. Keep feeders or water sources at least 10 ft away from trees, shrubs, and tall grasses that cats can potentially hide in. In wildlife ponds, provide plenty of cover for fish in the form of native water lily pads and make ponds at least 2 ft deep enough so fish can escape to the bottom. Keep trash protected. Trap feral cats and bring them to a vet to be euthanized. Stray cats can be socialized and kept inside. Ferals cannot, though if you get the kittens early enough they may have a chance. You will know when you have a feral cat rather than a stray, trust me. A synonym for them is “spitting lightning demon.” There is no helping a feral cat. Save them from a life of fear, disease, starvation, or a slow death after being hit by a car and humanely euthanize them. Feral cats have an incredibly poor quality of life. *Disclaimer – I love cats. I was always the designated “cat catcher” on our farm when a new cat would come around so we could have it fixed. We had nine incredibly lazy outdoor cats at one point and one indoor cat that even though he is gone now, will remain with me forever. We also had almost no lizards and very few birds and no rabbits. As an ecologist and scientist, I recognize the problem of cats. The simple fact of the matter is that there are way too many and the feral cat population needs to be drastically reduced. Pet cats should be kept indoors and managed responsibly, just like any other animal. Dogs are not tolerated when they kill other animals and show a high level of aggression. Cats should not be tolerated when they do it either. There is the topic of barn cats, or cats specifically kept to control rodent populations in barn environments. As a farmer, I understand this. They are quite good at it. However, how many barn cats do you realistically need? Two or three is plenty for even the biggest barns. Only keep fixed barn cats. We’ve talked about cats. But House (English) Sparrows (Passer domesticus) and English starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)? First, they are both exotic invasives. They are not natural to our ecosystem or even the continent and should not be tolerated. I will first describe why these two species are particularly bad and then the measures against them, both passive (not killing), and active (killing). Let me tell you about the headless bluebird. If you think fighting sparrows is a terrible thing to do to our little tweets, think about what sparrows do to bluebirds. Even if the sparrow has twenty other nest boxes to choose from, a sparrow will enter bluebird boxes, kill the chicks, and peck the adult’s heads off. I am serious. A house sparrow will peck through the brain to kill the bluebird, swallow, or martin. Sometimes people find the head entirely missing. House sparrows are extremely territorial and will kill any cavity-nesting bird in their area. Many wildlife organizations have taken to trapping and killing sparrows on their hiking trails. Bluebirds, swallows, and other cavity-nesting birds only occur where the sparrows are not. Let that information sink in for a moment. Everywhere else, the sparrows kill them all. House sparrows are also carriers for 29 human and livestock diseases such as West Nile, schistosomiasis, equine encephalitis, and tuberculosis, among others. English starlings compete with blue birds, cavity-nesting birds, and purple martins, as they only nest in cavities. Make sure your dryer, stove, and exhaust fans are covered with a fine mesh. Starlings produce two clutches of 4-7 eggs per season and are quite aggressive, allowing them to overwhelm less fecund native species. Chances are you have seen starlings and wondered what that blackish, yellow-beaked bird pecking around the parking lot was. Here are some general passive control guidelines. Keep trash covered and protected. Keep gutters clean to prevent starlings from making a nest in them. Do not use bird feeds with cracked corn, millet, grubs, suet, or black oil sunflower seeds; instead use safflower seeds or thistle seeds and a goldfinch feeder that forces the bird to hang upside down to access the seed. Use a Magic Halo around feeders and nest boxes. It deters 88-94% of house sparrows in winter and 84% in the summer. See sialis.org/halo.htm for how to make a Magic Halo. Use nesting boxes with holes smaller than 1.25 inches (or 1.5 inches for bluebirds) and do not use perches. Consider diamond shaped holes that are less than 7/8 inch tall. Multiple holes can possibly allow better bluebird escape in the event of a house sparrow attack. Consider box types such as chickadee boxes, towers for chimney swifts, and nesting platforms. Sparrows and starlings generally don’t like those. Use a modified Magic Halo around nest boxes and box entrances to deter house sparrows. Everything so far are passive measures. To be frank, they are not terribly effective at handling the problem, which is that these two bird species are wiping out our natives. The only measures shown to be effective are active. Active measures for all intents and purposes means killing the birds. In this respect, house sparrows and starlings are treated like rats. The only way to take them under control is to bring down the population. That means killing them. We do it with mice and rats. We do it with house sparrows and starlings. Relocation is not effective. You only introduce the birds somewhere else and give them opportunity to kill everything else there as well. Trapped birds must be euthanized. If you find nests, destroy the eggs (or addle them) and remove the nest. If you can find the male defending the nest, kill him. Successive nest destruction will send male house sparrows on a murderous rampage. House sparrows and starlings are not protected species and exotic invasives, so trapping them is considered predator control and only requires a normal hunting license. If you go this route, you must be very familiar with humane bird trapping methods and bird identification. Starlings are pretty clear, but House sparrows are not. Make sure you are properly educated in identifying House sparrows, as many Little Brown Jobs (that is an actual scientific birding term) look alike unless you know what to look for. When in doubt, don’t kill it. To learn about trapping, go to sialis.org/hospdispatch.htm for more information. Trap birds with funnel traps, elevator traps, or in-box traps. Trap starlings in the winter when most migratory species are gone and these birds are more desperate for food. The best bait is suet mixed with sunflower seeds and mealworms. Trap sparrows during the active nesting season as well as in the winter. YOU MUST CHECK TRAPS FREQUENTLY. You do not want any bird to suffer death by ants or dehydration. Euthanize the birds and donate them to raptor recovery centers or reptile farms. Do not feed euthanized sparrows to cats as they can transmit toxoplasmosis. 7. Choose six from among these measures. a. Rain garden or buffer system to filter storm water. A rain garden is essentially a swale designed to catch storm water runoff, filter it, and absorb it before it gets to the road. Like permaculture says: stop it, store it, sink it. The best place to store water is in the soil. Once it gets to the road and into the sewer, water is wasted. A rain garden depression is often built near sidewalks or the road, though it should be built wherever water runs and collects. It can easily be part of a swale and pond water catchment system. Many people who do not collect roof water in ponds or barrels could choose instead to divert it to a rain garden. They are just plant filled swales and serve the same purpose. Dig a trench on contour, a round-ish crater, or both to catch runoff. But the round-ish crater sounds suspiciously like a pond you say. If you follow permaculture design for a few years, it may eventually be filled permanently with water because you just did your job so well. But rain gardens usually are only filled during times of heavy rain and are the last stop before the water leaves your property entirely. The plants chosen can withstand periods of drought and inundation and are usually riparian species. Plants on the top level are native plants that can withstand a lot of drought, but not necessarily inundation like the bottom species. These can be practically any native plant. Many people use wildflowers because they are pretty. Try cherry sage, flame acanthus, lantana, rock rose, Turk’s cap, coreopsis, any of the muhly grasses, mistflower, meadow sedge, winecup, and beautyberry. Bottom species could be any species that you would use for a wetland, such as sedges, buttonbush, inland sea oats, and horsetail (wonderful source of dietary silica). b. Drip soaker hoses. Do not use sprinklers. Soaker (weeping) hoses and drip hoses are much more water efficient than sprinkers. Because water never flies through the air, it doesn’t have a chance to wastefully evaporate. Because water is released slowly, more of it absorbs into the soil and isn’t lost as runoff. They are also quite cheap, easy to install, and simple to put on a timer (use a timer so you don’t forget to turn the thing off). To make it even more efficient, use smaller pieces of soaker hose connected to regular hose. The soaker hose goes on the plants, trees, etc, but the regular hose is used to fill the gap between plants. No reason to water a walkway. Soaker hoses can be left on top of the soil or buried underneath some light mulch. Loop soaker hose in a ring around the dripline of trees, not around the trunk. Water trees deeply 1-2 times a week when needed rather than frequent short waterings. This is also preferable for veggies, but may need 3-4x a week depending on the heat and rainfall. Use a vacuum purge valve at the end of the main line so water continues to empty out when the water is turned off. Soaker hoses produce better results with less work and water use. Perfect for this permie. c. Xeriscape planting When they say “xeriscape plantings,” the examiners will look for native plants that do not require supplemental water in your area. There is more to xeriscaping than just plant choice, but the actual design elements such as mulching and reducing lawn area are listed separately. This option looks purely at plant choice as a way to steward limited water resources. Whatever native plant performs on only rainfall meets this requirement. This means plants for your county, not just your state. Plants from East Texas will not do well here in North Central Texas. They want acidic soil and more rainfall than we get. Conversely, plants from far our West will not do well here because we get too much rain for them and the soil requirements may not match. Get plants known to grow well in your county on your ecoregion (Blackland, Cross Timbers, etc). Contact the Native Plant Society chapter for your county to see what grows well for you. Usually natives are drought-tolerant and low maintenance, which is helpful, because I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have a lot of time. For us, that could include Mexican persimmon, flame acanthus, mistflower, lantana, Turk’s cap, winecup, beautyberry, and big bluestem. If you were curious, the other tenants of xeriscaping are: conserve water by reducing irrigation and using natural rain, improve the soil, limit lawns, use native plants, mulch, use soaker hoses instead of sprinklers, and design for low maintenance. Sounds pretty permie to me. Just be aware that xeriscaping is not about using no water. That’s stupid. If you don’t have water in the ground, you won’t have rainfall, and you can’t have water in the ground without native plants to keep it there. I am not talking about cactus. Cactus don’t store water in the ground. The emphasis must be on KEEPING the water you have where you have it, not letting it run off. That is the problem I see with a lot of supposed xeriscaping. They install all of these plants that don’t use a lot of water, but initiate no method to store the water they do get. Water runs off crushed rock, is not absorbed by the soil or plants, and leaves the location. It is a terrible way to do things. It doesn’t put the water back in the ground. Xeriscaping by definition is landscaping to reduce the need for irrigation. That doesn’t mean you should have nothing to do with water! A permie uses xeriscaping ideals every time they install swales to store water or mulch to prevent evaporation. Both of those things keep water in the soil and reduce the need for irrigation. If you want to xeriscape, and I think you should, build up your soil with organic matter, install swales and water catchment systems to store water on your property, mulch heavily, and use native plants. You will severely reduce the need for irrigation. What water you do get will never leave your property. It will stay exactly where your plants need it and make your plants drought-tolerant. Again, there is a difference between lessening water consumption for its own sake and conserving water to where it can actually be used. d. Watering infrequently and only in the morning or evening to prevent evaporation. This is an offshoot of xeriscaping. Use less water and when you do have to use it, water only in the cool hours of the day to prevent evaporation. Pretty straight forward. Who wants to water in the afternoon anyway? Too hot for that. e. Deciduous trees on the southern face of your house. This is a passive solar technique that works extremely well in hot climates like ours. I am doing it with my greenhouse. It is important to use deciduous trees. The idea is that the tree would shade the house in the summer, thereby reducing energy usage and keeping the home cooler, while letting light through in the winter to heat the home and keep it warm. It is key to use the southern face because that is the face that receives the most heat energy from the sun while not getting too little or too much. The eastern face gets sun in the morning, but it quickly becomes shaded the rest of the day. The western face gets the hot sun in the evening and makes your home boil. The southern face takes in warm sun, but not hot, for the longest period of time in our hemisphere. For passive solar houses, using the southern face properly is everything. We want to minimize all solar gain during the summer, but still use it as much as we can during the winter. Deciduous trees fit the bill. I would also encourage evergreen trees on the western face. Western windows just bring in way too much heat during the hottest part of the day. Minimize western heat gain as much as possible by using trees or awnings. This is an easy thing to do and I highly recommend it. It has very high payoffs for the investment. I would do it even if it didn’t bring me Backyard Habitat certification. f. No chemicals. In the ecologically minded garden that uses predatory insects, birds, small vertebrates, and pollinators to the work of maintaining the balance of the ecosystem, this should be self-explanatory. You do not want to use chemicals because chemicals are indiscriminate. They kill the ladybugs as well as the aphids. Chemicals also leach into the soil and are brought downstream into the local water supply, so chemicals are dangerous not just for you, but for everyone. Stay away from chemicals. If you have a bug problem, invest in a few thousand predatory insects that would love to eat them all. You can get five thousand lacewing eggs or the same number of adult ladybugs from GrowOrganic.com for $30 each. Praying mantid egg cases are $5 per case, with each case carrying ~200 eggs. When you see aphids, resist the urge to kill them. Give your ladybugs time to find them and have a buffet. g. Mulching. I should not need to go into the virtues of mulching, but in short, thick mulch cools the soil, prevents evaporation, protects plant roots, suppresses weeds, serves as a site of decomposition for the creation of soil, is habitat for beneficial soil microflora, and slows water down so it doesn’t run off the property as quickly. Mulching is so cheap and the benefits so high I do not know why someone wouldn’t do it. You don’t have to use bagged mulch if you don’t want to. Mulch just refers to anything used to cover bare soil. Try grass clippings laid over several sheets of newspaper or cardboard. Get leaves from neighbors (that don’t use chemicals!) and use your own. Six inches of rotted hay is wonderful and there are bound to be round bales of hay just going to waste in a farmer’s field. Do not use rocks or rubber mulch. Rock yields few benefits and radiates too much heat, which we do not need more of. Now, if you want to use rock around frost sensitive plants, that is fine, but not as a general practice. It is just too hot for that. If rock is all you can get, then fine. Rock is better than nothing. But it is not ideal. Rubber is a terrible idea. It never decomposes, you will never be able to get rid of it all if you change your mind, and does not contribute to the soil at all. Just don’t do it. Black gardening plastic is nearly as bad, can scorch plants to death, and prevents water infiltration into the soil. If you use sawdust as a mulch, make sure it is not pressure-treated, and only use it on acid-tolerant plants. It can also become very compacted. Not recommended, but again, if it is all you have, it is better than nothing. h. Reducing or removing lawns. When I see a lawn, I see water and money dying. That is the best way I can describe it. A lawn not only demands high amounts of water, fertilizer, mowing, and effort, but it gives nothing back in return except the misguided idea that lawns are for the wealthy and powerful. I don’t care if lawns are for the wealthy and powerful. Lawns are stupid. Yes, I said it. Lawns are stupid. The only reason I would keep any bit of a lawn, and it would be native buffalograss if I did, would be for young children to run around in. I completely understand wanting some lawn for children or grandchildren. But a lawn for this purpose does not have to be very big. 10x10 at most is more than adequate. Let the kids play amongst the trees too. If your HOA can stomach it, remove as much lawn as you legally can. Replace it with native plants, fruit trees, gardens, and wildlife habitat. Anything but Bermuda or St. Augustine. I like St. Augustine as much as the next Christian. He was a good theologian in many respects. But the grass is of the devil. If you wish to keep some of your lawn or are required to keep a percentage of it by your HOA, replace it with native buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides). It is a wonderful turf grass that needs less than twelve inches of rain a year to stay green and stays 4-6 inches high without mowing. It has this habit of curling down, so it looks even shorter, and feels luxurious between your toes. Native American Seed Company sells it in combination with blue grama and curly mesquite. Buffalograss does not need fertilizing, has no diseases or pests, resists thatching, and is tolerant of many soil types (it doesn’t like acid though). Buffalograss requires sun, but if you have a lot of shade, consider Texas bluegrass (Poa arachnifera). i. Removing invasive exotics. This is self-explanatory. Kill invasive exotics. Do not tolerate them. The application lists invasive plants to avoid and kill: privet (Ligustrum japonica), nandina, Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese tallow, Chinaberry, bamboo, pyracantha, red-tipped photinia, Japanese boxwood, giant cane, and salt cedar. j. Indoor cats only. As mentioned previously, cats are destructive. You get a bonus on your Best of Backyard if you only have indoor cats to protect the wildlife. k. Composting yard and food waste. Composting is a critical component of natural gardening systems because it is your source of plant food. Rodale has an entire book on composting. I could go on for days, but since this article is already dastardly long (I’m honored you’re still reading!), I will say only what is pertinent. Compost because it saves you money, is cheap and easy, grows the best plants ever, and makes you look like a bloody cool gardener. It is basically decomposed organic matter. Because plants are cannibals. It reduces the need to fertilize, lightens heavy soil, improves the water holding capacity of sandy soils, and feeds your plants with naturally bioavailable nutrients that chemical fertilizers can’t hold a candle to. Compost. Just do it. It’s like mulching. It’s so easy and the benefits are so high there is no reason not to. There are as many ways to compost as composters. Find what works best for you. Some prefer the three box method, where you layer stuff up and then let it sit for a long time. You fill a box and then go on to the next one. Others like the rotating drum. The easiest method is the ditch. You have a ditch. You fill it with kitchen waste, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, and anything else. Then you bury it over when it is full and make a new ditch. Lasagna gardening is basically composting in place. Researching different ways to compost is fun. You want a good mixture of green (fruit peels, coffee grounds, grass clippings, manure) to brown (dead leaves, hay, wood chips, branches, hair). Green brings in nitrogen and water. Brown brings carbon. Too much green and everything rots. Too much brown and it just takes forever to decompose because there isn’t enough water for the bacteria. Turn it every month to add oxygen for your lovely microorganisms. Some people make a compost fence. Take a 4x4 post and put small grid fencing on both sides. Fill the middle with small branches, twigs, etc. They will decompose over time and it takes up very little space. Vermicomposting in all the rage with permies. And fishermen. It is composting with worms. The requirements for vermicomposting are just about the same as regular composting, except you need a box/bin to put the stuff in and they need a lot of air. Use a series of PVC pipe with lots of small holes in it to aerate throughout the organic matter in addition to holes in the bin itself. Worms are very efficient composters, take up little space (even an apartment permie can do this), and provide tasty protein-packed worm treats for fish and poultry. Red wiggler worms and red earthworms are the most popular. Compost tea is compost soaked in water and then sprayed on your plants. It is the compost version of manure tea. This allows the gardener to use a diluted form of compost to strengthen plants on a regular basis. Compost tea has been shown to help against plant diseases and harmful insects. List of local native plant nurseries.
Barton Springs Nursery in Austin. Bartonspringsnursery.net Hill Country Natives in Leander. Hillcountrynatives.net McIntire’s Garden Center in Georgetown. Mcintiresgarden.com Native Texas Nursery in Austin. Nativetx.com Natural Gardener in Austin. Naturalgardeneraustin.com Red Barn Garden Center in Austin. Redbarkgardencenter.net Wright’s Nursery in Briggs. Wrightstexasnursery.com Get seeds and bare root plants in the mail from Native American Seed. Seedsource.com The Native Plant Society of Texas, the Lady Bird Wildflower Center, and the Texas Master Gardener programs all hold plant sales throughout the year. Look up their schedules at npsot.org, wildflower.org, and txmn.org respectively. If you know of other native plant nurseries, please send me an email at [email protected] and I will add it to the list! This post is intended to encourage you to not be afraid of bamboo in your permaculture projects. Yes, you read that right. You do not have to be afraid of bamboo. Worked with correctly, it can be very useful and attractive. Bamboo is one of those plants that either makes a person get all excited or makes them terrified for their houses, gardens, and small neighborhood children. For me, it depends on one key aspect of bamboo: whether it is clumping (sympodial) or running (monopodial). Running bamboo is the bamboo that most people think of when they hear “bamboo.” It is fast growing and tends to be quite invasive by sending out runners underneath the soil. It gives bamboo its sinister and overwhelming reputation. Running bamboo is playing with fire, especially if you live in a suburb or have a relatively small piece of land. I hesitate to recommend it unless you plan to use it as fodder for goats or livestock, in which case its fast growing nature and tendency to run rampant is desirable. Clumping bamboo is a safer and more general option, so that is what I am going to talk about for the rest of this article. Clumping Bamboo Characteristics Bamboo is an evergreen with varying heights and diameters depending on the cultivar. The most common clumping genus is Bambusa and is generally tropical. They will not grow well above Zone 8, but for us here in central Texas, they are able to withstand the heat and humidity. They are not as cold hardy as running bamboos and may die below 25-29 degrees. Some frost protection may be necessary for the roots if you live north of Dallas or have a frosty microclimate. Try Bambusa multiplex or B. textilis. There are dozens of cultivars of both species, so have fun researching what best suites your needs. I also hear good things about Fargesia dracocephala ‘Rufa’, though it might require more shade than most. Clumping bamboo does not perform like running bamboo. It forms a large clump. Rhizomes stay relatively close to the plant and move much slower than runner rhizomes. Clumpers are more easily controlled. It acts more like a shrub. An old bamboo plant can be very compact near the base if it is not periodically thinned. As the poles have so many uses, this shouldn’t pose a problem. Some varieties form a dense thicket while others are relatively naked at the base, so choose based on your needs. Density determines suitability as a shade screen, noise blocker, or hedge. Clumping bamboo still grows very quickly. The difference is in the habit. Clumpers still send out rhizomes to increase its size. They still grow bamboo shoots. However, they will not pop up thirty feet away from the parent. Shoots stay close by and are easily dealt with. Or eaten. Cultivation Tropical bamboos like full sun, but may benefit from a little shade during the heat of the day. You can plant them just about anywhere they get at least 6-8 hours of sun. If your area receives a lot of heavy frosts, then plant it where it will receive some shade. A frost combined with full sun can remove water faster from the plant and make it more sensitive to death. I do not foresee this as being a big problem for us in NC Texas, but it is something to keep in mind. Bamboo generally does not like heavy or waterlogged soils. Some cultivars are more tolerant of this than others, but too much water in most species will rot the rhizomes and kill the plant. When first planting the bamboo, mulch around it heavily to protect the roots. Space bamboo plants 3-5 ft apart if you are trying to make a hedge or screen. Plant anytime after your last frost and then anytime up to two months before your first frost. Early spring is ideal. ![]() Uses in the Permaculture Garden 1. Food or fodder. Bamboo shoots are a popular food in Asia. They are low in calories, but high in dietary fiber, B vitamins, potassium, copper, and zinc. Shoots need to be boiled twice before consumption to remove toxic compounds, but other than that are perfectly safe. As an evergreen that tends to grow continuously in warm, temperature climates, bamboo leaves and young plants may be a good fodder source for livestock in lean months. Many people have used it while young and small to graze goats. 2. Tools, Furniture, and Flooring. You can make cutting boards, utensils, screens, fishing poles, baskets, and more with bamboo. Bamboo flooring is extremely popular right now. I have a set of bamboo cutting boards I like and use every day. 3. Building. Bamboo has been used for thousands of years as a cheap source of lumber and is one of the most sustainable sources of building material. A nice stand of bamboo will supply you will plenty of poles to build arbors, trellises, bridges, and other structures for the garden. Moso bamboo is particularly known for this. 4. Fuel. Burn bamboo into charcoal or shred it up for the compost pile. I consider charcoal a crucial element to homestead medicine, as it is an antibacterial coagulant that is wonderful for deep or infected wounds. I healed my mother’s puncture wound with charcoal after it had already become hot, red, and swollen. Making charcoal from bamboo is a more sustainable option than burning hardwoods. 5. Fiber. As a handspinner, knitter, and natural fiber enthusiast, I have noticed that bamboo is becoming increasingly popular as a textile. It is cooling, light, and airy. Because it does not have much spring, it is often mixed with wool or silk in yarn. Bamboo fabric feels much like linen and acts much the same way. The non-chemical way to process bamboo into thread is much the same way as with linen and is often called bamboo linen. If making your own clothes is an important part of sustainability to you, but you can’t raise or object to fiber animals, than bamboo may be a good source for you. 6. Land improvement. Bamboo has a thick, fibrous root system that can stabilize slopes, prevent erosion, and provide shelter for wildlife. Clumping bamboo especially is an excellent option for hedges, privacy screens, and sound dampening. Some have also used bamboo to remediate soils. They can be used as windbreaks, but use them in conjunction with deeper rooted plants such as trees. Bamboo has a shallow root system, tends to be top heavy, and can be blown over if it is the sole plant receiving very heavy winds. 7. Plant nursery. This may be an unconventional usage for bamboo, but a stand can act as a nice nursery for young plants. Its dappled shade and relatively open base make it a good candidate to place young trees that may still be sensitive to the sun. It also protects from harsh weather. Consider placing a stand or two next to your greenhouse to shield your young fruit trees or seedlings that need hardening off. I hope you are no longer afraid of clumping bamboo. It really is a useful plant for the permie, as it is definitely multi-functional. It may not be native, but the jujube is not a native either and I included it with honors in the “Overview of Texas Fruit Trees.” Sometimes a plant is just too good to pass up. Clumping bamboo is one of those plants. I encourage you to try it out if you can use it. North Central Texas has a long growing season, relatively mild winters, and harsh summers. Many fruit trees find this perfectly acceptable. I’m going to give a nice list of the best fruit trees for our area if you want to create an orchard or food forest. I will also endeavor to give any tips about their cultivation or best places for them. Most of these trees do not have established guilds to support them, so have scientific permaculture fun trying to determine the best guilds. I would love to hear suggestions about what plants you have found to go well with a particular tree! Many fruit trees are self-pollinating (SP) but produce better yields if they have another cultivar for cross pollination. Some fruit trees require a cross pollinator (CP). Those are things to keep in mind about a tree and if you need to plant bunches of them for better pollination. For a food forest, where ease of maintenance is a lovely feature, try to get trees that have never been pruned. Sometimes this means planning a couple years ahead and requesting non-pruned trees from a local nursery. The advantage is that the tree will grow as it genetically is intended. It may not produce as much as a pruned tree, but it will certainly produce a lot. The problem with pruning is that though it can greatly increase yield, you MUST keep pruning the tree. You pay for yield with maintenance. If you want a tree that pretty much maintains itself, select a non-pruned tree. If you want higher yield, such as in an orchard or you can only have a small number of trees, pruned trees may be best. It depends on your situation. Modern fruit trees have been bred to be really high producing. Pruning increases this, to the point where the fruit sets so much fruit it may break, or you may harvest a lot of poor quality fruit. Thinning the tree helps prevent this. You simply remove the smaller, misshapen fruit when they are hazelnut size. Peaches tend to be particularly bad about this. They sometimes grow six fruit all clumped together and there is no way they will all have enough space as they mature. Thin so only the best fruits remain and you’ll be rewarded with a healthier tree and higher quality fruit. Always mulch trees out to the drip line, or as far as the branches spread, and water at the drip line also. Do not water at the base of the tree. That doesn’t help them. Water underneath the branches. It is also better to water deeply once or twice a week, once established, rather than light waterings every day. Apricot SP or CP Winter hardy, but like peaches, sometimes bloom too early and the flowers get killed by frost. This is likely to be your single biggest problem when it comes to getting a decent harvest with apricots. Select cultivars with ~600 chill hours for Bell County, or if not specified, late bloomers. In colder climates, planting along a south wall may help prevent flower frost. If pruning, prune to an open center and limit cuts, as apricots can be susceptible to disease (generally the same problems as peaches). Apricots don’t like a lot of humidity. This is one reason to prune for a breezy open center. Avoid trees grafted onto peach rootstocks. Apricot fruits dry well. If they produce well for you, they can be a great fruit to set up for winter and they make an envious jam. Like peaches, some varieties are freestone or clingstone. Susceptible to peach twig borer, brown rot, and bacterial canker. Plants that prevent these diseases or repel the offending insect would be candidates for a guild. Any plants that help peaches will probably also help apricots. Avocado SP or CP It is vital with avocados to get the right cultivar. Houseplant avocados don’t really bear much fruit, so you need to put it in the ground if you want a decent yield. For us here in North Central Texas, we may not be able to keep a tree fully outdoors like people along the Rio Grande Valley. Even if the tree survives the winter, the flowers probably won’t. The Mexican species (Persea americana var. drymifolia Blake) is the most cold-hardy. Planting along warm, south walls may be sufficient. Unless you get a dwarf variety, they probably grow too tall for the average residential greenhouse. Avocado need a lot of space. Even strictly pruned trees can reach 40-60 feet. They are sensitive to salt, so if you are on city water, you may need to filter your water before using it on your tree. If on a well, it pays to get your water tested. Mexican species are not salt tolerant. Usually an avocado tree dies because of salinity, causing browning of the leaf edges and eventually tree death. Don’t grow avocados from a supermarket seed. Avocado do not breed true from seed and it can take 15 years before it starts to bear fruit. If you really want an avocado, buy a tree from a reputable source that tells you what species it is (West Indian, Guatemalan, or Mexican). Cultivars to try here in Texas include Lulu, Opal, Wilma, and Pryor. Citrus SP Some will probably frown about me lumping oranges, limes, satsumas, and the like together into just “citrus.” I do this because it is easier to explain. Generally, citrus will not survive our winters without a south wall or a greenhouse. Many people have succeeded growing trees along a protected south wall made of concrete or brick and periodic cover during freezes. Satsuma and kumquat are more winter hardy than a lemon or lime (the ‘Miho’ satsuma can go to minus-fourteen!). It can be worth experimenting with a tree and location, for a tree in the ground is always preferable to a container if you can. Some producers have free-standing trees and erect plastic row covers over them in the winter along with prodigious mulch. Seasonal greenhouses. But not everyone has this option. Most decide to grow smaller container trees they can bring in the house when it gets cold. Citrus seem to not care. You can get a pretty heavily producing container citrus if you know what you’re doing. Regardless, citrus need 6-8 hours of sunlight. In the full heat of summer, they may prefer dappled sunlight. Lemons, limes, and grapefruit are the least cold hardy. Satsuma, kumquat, and ‘Changsha’ tangerine are hardy once established and even better when a few years old. If you want citrus in Texas, it will have to come from Texas. The state is under quarantine to prevent the spread of Citrus Greening Disease from Florida and California. For container trees, do not fertilize after July to increase cold hardiness. Let the top inch or two of soil dry out before watering again. Water deeply and less frequently. Water even less in the winter. Citrus actually don’t mind a bit of mild neglect. Thinning the tree is also recommended to keep the tree from overtaxing itself and decreasing its productive life. The general estimate is 4-6 fruit for a 5-gallon tree per year. Fig SP (at least the ones we normally grow) Figs are one of my favorite trees and a vastly underused tree in this area of Texas. My parent’s old house had a fifteen foot high fig that was just as wide and gave me a cowboy hat full of figs every day in August. They were luscious, succulent things and the tree did it practically by itself. All we did was prune the suckers and try to keep the horse from eating all the fruit. (I am a little partial to figs, if you can’t tell.) Our fig was on the eastern side of the house on top of a hill where it got a lot of wind (and near the gutter spout). Whether that was the ideal placement or not was irrelevant. The tree did great. Figs are not that picky, though they don’t like wet feet. Once established, they don’t need much extra watering except when it is really dry. A deep watering every 8-10 days during dry spells is adequate. Figs are a staple in the Mediterranean. Italians believe that a house is incomplete without a fig. Mediterranean plants tend to do well for us here in Bell County and the fig is no exception. Once established, the fig will bear productively and reliably for a long time. Prune for a breezy, open center and you will already avoid most fig problems. They like ample sun. You will rarely come across a lovelier tree to put a bench under. The fig produces almost complete shade. This makes it difficult to plant things underneath it, but that is not a bad thing. Mulching only and not cultivating reduces root-knot nematode outbreaks. Figs are highly perishable and will not ripen off the tree. There are a few ways to test for ripe fruit regardless of cultivar or color. One is the droopiness. The stem of the fig will be soft, pliable, and the fig will hang heavily with gravity. When pressed, the stem should pop willingly off the branch. Any resistance to being removed has a positive correlation with unripeness. Another is the sweet drop, literally a drop of clear, sugary goodness on the fruit. The more fruit you pick and eat, the better you’ll be able to know when it’s ripe. If you can find a fig growing somewhere that seems to be doing particularly well and produces good fruit, ask the owner for some cuttings in the winter. Figs grow well from cuttings and you know you will be getting a tree that is more genetically predisposed to do well for you. A fig is a great tree for food forests. They take almost no care (little or no pruning), produce well, and have few pest problems. Some cultivars produce a small breba crop early in the season if the factors are good and then the main crop towards late summer. The harvest lasts a good month or two. I would harvest the bottom half, climbing into the tree on its strong but flexible branches, and leave the top half for the birds. I never wanted for figs. ‘Celeste’ is a popular, tasty cultivar. It is generally preferred over ‘Brown Turkey,’ who seems to be hit or miss when it comes to taste. ‘Black Mission’ does not do as well. One thing to consider with figs is whether the cultivar is open or closed eyed. The fig fruit is just a big receptacle. The actual seeds are inside, which means the end of the fruit has an opening. In more humid areas, a closed eye variety is recommended to prevent disease and pest problems. ‘Texas Everbearing’ is a reliable, closed eye variety. Reputable nurseries should say whether the cultivar is open or closed eyed. Jujube SP The jujube is an exotic deciduous tree from China. Normally, being the avid naturalist that I am, I would hesitate to include it in the list. However, there aren’t a great deal of fruit-bearing trees that do so well in Texas with our wacky weather, so here is some information about the Chinese date. Some jujubes are for fresh eating while others are for drying and processing. Know which kind you want. The fresh ones are reported to taste like sweet apples. The drying ones, when dried, taste like a date and are often turned into jujube butter or honeyed jujubes. They are generally used like apples. Fresh ones are best for pies. Harvest date and fruit size depends on the cultivar. Fruit can be ¾ of an inch to 2 inches. Fresh cultivars: Honey Jar, Sugar Cane, Chico, Winter Delight, Li Drying cultivars: Lang, Li, Shanxi Li Jujube is known as a problem-free, low maintenance tree that does not require a lot of water. They are also really long-lived, like several hundred years old. A jujube grows to around 20-30 ft tall and adapts to a wide range of soil types. They are cold hardy and bloom in late April, so flower frost is not an issue. Unlike loquats, they are not understory trees. They want all the sun. All the better in Texas. Fresh fruit must be eaten or processed with 3-4 days. Dried fruits can be stored for several years, making the jujube a good survival tree and a welcome addition to the family orchard or food forest. Growing two or more varieties is not necessary, but it can increase yield. One thing to consider is sprouting. A mature jujube produces underground roots and suckers that can take over if left unchecked. Unless you want a jujube thicket, cut sprouts off at the ground. Don’t plant jujube next to fountains, septic tanks, or other underground water pipes. Loquat (Medlar) SP The loquat is an understory tree, meaning it prefers dappled shade and produces best underneath the protection of a taller tree like an oak or elm. It can get 15-20 feet tall and when mature, produce thousands of golf ball-sized yellow fruits. It rivals the fig for sheer production numbers. The tree is quite cold hardy, though the flowers die at around 27 degrees. One reason why they do well underneath the moderated protection of a bigger tree. The tree blooms in late fall and the fruit matures during the winter, so without some protection, you may not get a harvest. It is not as sensitive as mango (its flowers frost at 45 degrees), but it behooves you to plant it on a south wall or underneath an established tree. Loquats are not as regulated as peaches or plums. Cultivar quality varies widely. Find a good tree if you can and take cuttings or buy from a reputable source. The Rainbow Nursery in San Antonio has a huge, ridiculously fruitful loquat they may consider propagating if you ask. Cuttings are the best way to ensure you get the same tree. They do not often come true from seed. Don’t prune. The tree doesn’t need it. It is a good option for a food forest due to its ease of care and is a fruit tree that can fit the understory niche. The yellow fruits make a great jam, though can be tedious to pit and peel. You may consider planting a loquat as a supplement for your livestock and as a wildlife food source. Mango SP I include the mango in the list just because I positively adore mangoes AND if you have the right setup, they can be a great tree for you. Because mangoes. Problem is, if you read the loquat section, their flowers frost at a balmy 45 degrees. Since they flower over the winter, this basically means you can’t grow mangoes outdoors in this area of Texas. Well, you can, but you won’t get any fruit. They are strictly tropical. However, you can grow them in a greenhouse. Other problem, mangoes normally grow about 40-60 feet tall and can take decades before they fruit. Solution: buy an established dwarf tree. The smallest mangoes get to around 10-15 ft tall. With pruning, you can keep them to around 8 ft, which is doable in a greenhouse. I would do it just because I love mangoes. However, as a permaculturist, I recognize the relatively exorbitant cost of growing mangoes versus other fruit trees like peaches or figs, so I cannot say I recommend mangoes for anything. It is a tree to grow out of love. If you don’t absolutely love mangoes and salivate at the thought of a ripe mango, I wouldn’t do it. Benefits do not outweigh the cost. If you do want to grow a dwarf mango, your options are limited. There are not many and they are not cheap. One good thing is that it can be 110 degrees in your greenhouse and your mango will love it. I don’t think it is possible to scorch a mango tree. They like it hot. They need it hot too. When buying a cultivar, buy from a reputable source. Monoembryonic cultivars do not breed true from seed, so you have to be careful. Don’t even try growing a mango from the store. How your mango ripens depends on the cultivar. Some must be removed unripe or they will never ripen, whereas some ripen best on the tree. The mango is a tree that requires a lot of research. Again, if you aren’t fond of mangoes, don’t bother. Mulberry SP Another unappreciated and often maligned tree because people plant varieties that produce hoards of catkins, but no fruit, and are therefore a complete nuisance. A fruiting mulberry, however, is a joy. Will stain your face and hands worse than a beet, but that’s part of summer, isn’t it? We have two native mulberries, Morus rubra (red), and Morus microphylla. The Asian variety is Morus alba (white). They are in the same family as figs (Moraceae). The fruitless cultivar of M. alba is what makes people hate mulberries. Fun fact, silkworms eat mulberry leaves as their main food source. Another fun fact, the milky sap can cause contact dermatitis and possible hallucinations in large quantities. Imagine a blackberry bush the size of a tree. That’s a fruiting mulberry, and that’s why I love them. M. microphylla is a bit…wilder than M. rubra. Its fruit is smaller and just seems like the wilder counterpart, similar to how a Mexican plum produces smaller, wilder fruit than a modern plum. Still a wonderful tree, and still produces hoards of fruit, but it is something to keep in mind when looking for trees. You will not find M. microphylla in a nursery. You’ll find it in the wild. The mulberry is a great food forest tree. Its harvest season is good, April to June. The tree has fruit at every stage of ripeness at any one time. It stops producing just when the fig is starting to pick up, so the two go well together. However, because they drop almost constantly for so long, people consider them a nuisance near patios, streets, and driveways. The fruit stains. No way around it. The tree shines out in the bush where it belongs. It thrives with almost no care and doesn’t require any pruning. All it requires is a little bit of breathing room. M. microphylla gets about 15 ft, whereas M. rubra gets 40-60 ft. There is also the Middle Eastern mulberry with fruits that can be up to 3 inches long. These are the ones you are most likely to find in a nursery and are the most coveted (as well as the most expensive). Pakistan and Persian are popular. Leave the tree empty underneath except for a good layer of mulch. The easiest way to harvest is to spread a sheet or tarp below and shake the branches. Ripe fruit drop onto the sheet and can be easily gathered. Do not worry about birds or wildlife. The tree makes plenty for all of you. It’s a delicate fruit and perishable. Makes a great jam, pie, or syrup. People often plant mulberries on the edges of their property for wildlife food, and if you are looking for Wildscape certification, this is a great native tree to consider. You can also grow it for your ducks and small livestock. Olive SP or CP (depends on cultivar) Olives are a Mediterranean tree like the fig. They prefer long, dry summers. Olives only grow above 70 degrees, so the farther north you are, the more difficult olives will be for you. Cultivars differ with the vernalization temperatures required during the winter (cool evenings, warm days). You may have to try several different varieties before you find the one that performs best in your area. Olives are cold hardy to about 23-27 degrees depending on their age. Some are better about that than others. It is recommended to plant them near warm, protected south walls or use row covers. Gradual hardening off is the most important factor for olive cold hardiness. They do not like it when the temperatures are unstable. The wider the temperature change, the harder it is for them, and the likelihood of damage increases. Since Texas is infamously ornery when it comes to weather, this can make growing olives a bit of a challenge. Plant trees in areas that do not experience wide temperature changes. A suntrap created with thick trees might be a good idea. Most cultivars are SP, but some are CP, and all will benefit from cross pollinators. Arbequina is a common variety to plant for cross pollination. Olives do not put out particularly deep roots. They spread wide. Soil must be well draining. Olives, though they appreciate water and produce higher yields with regular watering, do not like wet feet. They are like polar bears in the summer. A polar bear is more likely to die from heatstroke than from the cold. Olives are more likely to die from too much water than from not enough. If you have thick, clay soil, you may want to consider planting on a slope with a small swale to catch some (but not too much) water in the event of heavy rains. Olives need full sun to fruit. Space trees far enough apart so they do not overly shade each other. They are bad understory trees. They require little fertilization and generally do well with little care. Olives also have relatively few pest problems. The weather is the hardest part about growing olives in Texas. Olives do not produce well until they are 10-15 years old. Until this point, they are inconsistent. They don’t particularly care that you want a big harvest. They just want to grow into a solid, mature tree. If you want fruit for your homestead now, you may have to wait awhile. In the meantime, plant other fruit trees like figs or plums to feed you until then. Some cultivars are better for oil or as table olives, so choose your variety based on your desires. Pawpaw (Custard Apple) CP The pawpaw is a medium-sized native tree that bears fruit about the size of your hand. Many people say the fruit tastes great with a custard-like consistency. Some don’t like them. So before you think about planting a pawpaw for your own consumption, eat a pawpaw. I have honestly never had the chance to eat one. Otherwise, you may consider it as a wildlife food tree or food forest backup. Young trees are very light sensitive, so you will only find these trees as an understory tree in the wild. When older, they prefer more sunlight. If you have a 3-5 year old tree, you can plant the tree almost anywhere, but younger trees need protection. The leaves are rather large, so windy sites should be avoided. Pollination will probably be your biggest issue. The tree is NOT self-pollinating and requires insects to pollinate flowers. It is better to bunch trees together rather than in rows for better pollination. You also need at least two trees that are not genetically identical, obviously. You can also hand pollinate trees if you only have a few of them. The pawpaw prefers rich, acidic soil (5.5-7.0 pH). It’s most often found in East Texas and the eastern parts of the Post Oak Savannah bottomland. Pawpaw is adaptable, but they require good drainage. They like humidity and at least 150 frost-free days to ripen fruit. The fruit begins to self-ferment the moment you pick them, so they must be consumed or processed within 1-2 days. The flavor also changes with age. It changes from banana to more caramel. Depends on what you like. Fruit quality is also variable. Buy trees made from cuttings of a known high-quality tree instead of a riskier seedling tree. Or if you are lucky enough to find a tree in the wild with fruit on it, take a bite, and then take some cuttings if you are satisfied. For those interested in medicinal things, the seeds can be dried, powdered, and used externally to control lice. It is also a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly. A pawpaw may be a great addition to a butterfly habitat, regardless of the fruit. The pawpaw is an easy to grow fruit tree for those with more acidic soil and offers special benefits. A pawpaw may be just the right tree for a particular niche in your food forest. ![]() Peach SP Ah, peaches. Practically the quintessential Texas fruit tree. Go down towards Fredericksburg and all you will see, other than the wineries, are peach orchards and roadside stands selling fresh peaches, peach preserves, peach jam, peach pickles, peach pies, and anything else you could possibly think to do with peaches. When people think of a fruit tree to put in their yard, peaches are almost always on the list, if not first. Peaches do well in Texas, obviously. If you are mindful of their needs. Cold hardiness isn’t really an issue for us, but peaches will burst into full bloom in the spring…and then a freak frost kills all your flowers. If you know nothing else about selecting peach trees, learn about chill hours. Chill hours are the hours below ~35 degrees that must elapse before the tree will break dormancy in the spring. Higher chill hour requirement, the longer it takes. This map taken from a great article done by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, shows general chill hours by county. You can expect that if you live in a 700 zone, but have a 400 tree, the tree will bloom way too early and the flowers will die leaving you cropless. However, if you are in a 400 zone with a 700 tree, the tree will bloom way too late, probably make stunted fruit, and not have enough time to ripen the fruit before it gets cold again, leaving you will tasteless pucks of what wanted to be peaches. Try to get a variety within 100 of your zone. A little less is okay. Texas A&M has a nice list of good Texas cultivars and their chill hours at the end of the article. aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/files/2010/10/peaches.pdf Playing around with the chill hours can net you a longer harvesting season, though you do run the risk of a fruitless variety or two per year. If you live in 600, plant 700, 600, and 500. If you have a mild winter and no freak frosts, you get all three cultivars producing. If the frosts are particularly bad, you still have the 700 to fall back on. Diversity is your friend with peach trees. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Peaches are generally clingstone or freestone, which describes how tightly the pit sticks to the flesh. Home canners often prefer freestone peaches because they are easier to process. Clingstone are better for fresh eating and getting peach juice all of your face. Something to consider, especially if you plan on putting up gallons of jam every year for the market. As far as cultivation, peaches hate wet feet and do not like to be waterlogged. Good drainage is a must. This can be difficult for us on Blackland. Putting the tree up on a high berm or hill may help prevent problems while the tree is young. Peach trees are heavy feeders, so expect to use lots of compost and rotted manure. Keep the tree completely weed/grass free out to the drip line. Peaches in particular do not like competition. Place trees on higher elevation than elsewhere, such as the upper half of a north-facing slope, to minimize frosts and save those precious flowers. Thin fruit. Peaches often try to set too much fruit and break themselves. I’ve seen a peach tree so heavy with fruit that one of the main branches broke right off, taking half of the tree and its hundreds of peaches with it. If pruning, and with our modern varieties you probably will have to, prune to an open center. How tall you keep the tree depends on you. Most try to keep the tree under seven feet for easier harvesting. Peaches are very short-lived. You can expect them to live about ten years. They live hard and fast, do peach trees. Plan this into your succession model. They may not be the best option for a long-lived food forest, but are great intensive orchard trees. Also keep in mind that you shouldn’t plant peaches where peaches used to be for at least three years to prevent disease. Peaches have several disease issues and can be kind of needy compared to some other fruit trees. Nematode problems can be a big issue in sandier soils. Look for nematode resistant rootstocks (avoid cherry or plum rootstocks as a rule). Don’t plant peaches next to nectarines, which are even more susceptible to the same things and just bring their problems to the peaches. Smother the ground underneath a peach tree with plants that repel moths, aphids, Japanese beetles, scale, and other pests, and attract their predatory counterparts. Garlic can repel the hated peach tree borer, so plant a lot of garlic. Some plants to consider are yarrow, Queen Anne’s Lace, angelica, and alliums in general. I’ve heard that the classic apple guild works well for peaches also. Pear CP Pears come in a few different types: European/French, Oriental hybrids, and Asian. French pears like Bosc, Bartlett, and D’Anjou don’t tend to do well here in North Central Texas (they also tend to be the ones available at Lowe’s and Home Depot, which may be part of the bad reputation a lot of pears have here). French get fire blight something fierce. The Orientals and Asians can be productive however, so I will focus on them. Pears are like peaches in that they hate weed competition and they need thinning to keep from overbearing. Not thinning could cause the tree to skip a year from just investing too much energy into too much fruit. Oriental pears don’t ripen well on the tree, so they are removed when relatively firm and let to ripen on the counter. The harvest is from August to September, so a pear can be a good option to follow up after earlier harvesting trees like figs. Unlike peaches, pears are not self-pollinating, or if they are self-fertile hybrids, you don’t want to chance it. You should plant different compatible cultivars in order to produce good yields. Choose cultivars that flower at around the same time. Fire blight is our biggest problem here in Texas. Select resistant varieties and pay attention to your trees. Avoid fertilizing with a lot of nitrogen, as this increases the chances of fire blight. They are also susceptible to iron deficiency, but that can be amended with iron chelate applied to the soil. On really alkaline soil, your pears may suffer from cotton root rot. If that is the case, try another tree. Pears just won’t work for you. Pears have become popular as wildlife food plants for agricultural exemptions and Wildscape certification programs. You can afford to plant extremely resistant, but maybe not as tasty, cultivars if that is your goal. A pear tree is a great addition to the home orchard or food forest. Cultivars to try include Warren, Magness, Ayres, Moonglow, and Pineapple. Persimmon SP We have a native Texas persimmon, Diospyros texana, that produces small, chocolate colored fruit on a short, bushy tree (if it’s a female tree!). It is mainly planted as a wildlife food tree during the winter, since many find the tree useful for little else. I think it has a place in the Texas food forest provided you have the space. It requires no care at all and will grow just about anywhere, though you often find it in rocky woods and along streams. You can use it on the perimeter of your food forest to feed the deer and other wildlife so they leave your more precious plants alone. A sacrifice tree, if you will. The Oriental persimmon you’re likely to see in a store, D. kaki, is more likely to give you a crop writing home about. Many Orientals trees you can buy here use D. virginiana (our only other native persimmon) rootstock to make them more adaptable, which means that the Orientals won’t have a lot of the problems they would have otherwise, mainly, root rot. An ungrafted Oriental will probably die. Grafted onto a D. virginiana it will thrive quite nicely. Persimmons are highly adaptable as long as they don’t stand in water. They hate wet feet. Employ a good thick mulch to prevent fruit drop. They have few pest problems. A cultivar can be either astringent or non-astringent. If at all possible, leave astringent ones on the tree until after the first frost, or remove them and let them ripen up until that point. You’ll know when the fruit softens. Non-astringent cultivars can be eaten regardless. Cultivars to try include Eureka, Fuyu, Izu, Fankio, and Hachiya. The fruit makes a great jam. They are often peeled, strung on cotton line, and hung from the rafters to dry for winter storage. Their high vitamin content makes them a good source of nutrition during the winter. People wanting to live purely off the land may consider persimmons for this purpose. Their ease of care makes them good candidates for a food forest. Cold hardiness and blossom frost are not issues. Plum
SP or CP depending on cultivar You will come across two species of plums, the European Prunus domestica, and P. salicina from Japan. If in doubt about a cultivar, the Japanese plums tend to do better in Texas. Try Campagna, Ruby Queen, or Superior. They are reputed to have a great taste. There are some hybrids that may be worth experimenting with as well. Other cultivars to try include Methley, Morris (CP), Bruce (CP), AU Rosa (CP), and Santa Rosa. Cultivars vary with their harvest date, so play around with different types of plums to extend your harvest season. Planting several varieties also increases yield even in self-pollinating trees. Like peaches, plums are hard producing and short lived. They have the same general cultivation requirements as peaches and suffer from many problems common to peaches, so a guild that does well with a peach will probably do well with a plum and vice versa. If pruning, prune European plums to a central leader and Japanese plums to an open center. Thinning is often necessary. Pick Japanese plums early and ripen indoors, and let European plums ripen on the tree. We have native plums, but they are really only good as wildlife food or as an ornamental. The Mexican plum, P. mexicana, produces really small, tart fruit. Pomegranate SP The pomegranate is a medium-sized tree/shrub with thorns. If grown as a tree, you will have several branches coming from a single crown, not a single trunk. I often fed the pruned suckers to my goats and they love them. You may consider a pomegranate hedge as an animal deterrent. Winter cuttings root easily, so this would be easily managed. It is actually a kind of attractive plant, with bright orange bell-shaped flowers. Hummingbirds love pom flowers. Cold hardiness is not a problem up to about zone 7 and pomegranates enjoy our long, hot, dry summers. They ask for little in the way of soil except really good drainage. They like rock and tolerate salty soil. Poms need full sun to fruit at their best. They will grow in partial shade, but they won’t like it. They are drought tolerant. Fungal and insect problems affecting the fruit are the most dangerous. Too much rain during the ripening season can cause fruit rot or make the fruit split, inviting other problems. Just pay attention to your tree. Keep the base of the tree trimmed of lower branches and suckers to increase air circulation and don’t crowd the tree. Cultivars to try include Wonderful, Sumbar, Al-Sirin-Nar, and Salavatski. Pomegranates are hardy, maintenance-free trees that generally exist by themselves. They would do well in a food forest. Other Trees Apples seem popular here in Texas, but I have never had success with any. They usually have a really high chill hour requirement that makes them unsuitable for us and they do not easily tolerate our hot summers. If you know of some varieties that have worked for you, please contact me. A lot of people like apples and I’m interested to see if there are any we can reasonably grow here. Bananas are not cold hardy. Well, citrus are not either, and you may a valid point. However, most bananas that produce decent fruit are so big they cannot be planted in containers. This makes their permaculture usefulness in this part of Texas rather slim, since bananas take 10-15 months to fruit. Bananas outdoors will just freeze and die. Now, you can dig up the plant every winter and put it back in the winter, but this isn’t great for fruiting. There are dwarf bananas, but then you have the general requirements of a citrus. Since bananas are so cheap, I would save my effort for a plant that doesn’t require as much work. Cherries usually require too many chill hours to bloom and fruit properly. Anyone north of Dallas may be able to grow a sour cherry, but sweet cherries are generally not adaptable to our part of Texas. Cherries also require pollinators, so you can’t just plant one. People are breeding cherries with lower chill hours, but I want to stress to anyone who is thinking about getting livestock that a cherry tree can be dangerous. A handful of dried leaves will kill a mature goat almost immediately. Even if I could grow a cherry tree, I would not plant one for the safety of my livestock (and I love cherries). I do not know how sensitive horses and cows are to cherry leaves, but I would not risk it. I also want to state that the requirements for a blooming cherry and a fruiting cherry are not the same, just like a Bradford pear isn’t the same as a Moonglow. Guava have basically the same problems as bananas. They are tropical and are not cold hardy enough for our area. They grow better near the Gulf where it is warmer. Pistachios do not tolerate humidity and require hot, dry summers and moderately cold winters. Consequently, they do quite well out West in the desert they are best adapted to. I do not think they will do well in North Central Texas. Practically as soon as you get into permaculture, you start to learn about the concept of a “guild.” A guild is a group of plants in symbiosis, that is, they all benefit and support each other. Ideally, all of the plants in a guild should provide us with food or some benefit, such as herbs that can be used medicinally or in tea. Most of us have limited space and limited time. It is better to use plants that are the most useful to us. A permaculturist is nothing if not pragmatic. A plant that yields five functions is better than another than only does two. You get more for the same amount of time and energy. There are several possible parts to a guild. I say “possible” because not every guild is capable of having all functions. You may simply not have the space, or want something a little less complicated. Then again, you may only need four or five plants because they all do multiple things. Designing a guild takes research and insight into what you want. My categories are informal. Every permaculture book or instructor seems to have a different way they set up guild categories, but they all say pretty much the same thing. Tree or Supportive Factor A tree is almost always the starting point of a guild. Trees are important for the ecosystem, and here in Texas, you cannot have too many trees. Is it also usually the tree with the most potential for serious gain, such as in fruit, nuts, or timber, so it is the tree you most want to support. It forms the ecological and physical backbone of the whole operation. Its shade protects more delicate plants. Its trunk supports vining plants. Its roots break up heavy soil and prevent erosion. Its branches and leaves moderate the temperature. Subsequent members of the guild are all chosen in some way by how they will help your particular tree. Soil Breakers For us in Texas, and in particular those of us on Blackland, using plants that break up heavy soil may be the difference between failure or success. Heavy clay soil is so easy to compact and once compacted, terribly difficult to fix without causing more damage than before. If you have a bit of time, soil breaking plants may be the answer to fixing your soil before planting the rest of the guild (including the tree). Compacted clay doesn’t allow room for air or water so many plants suffocate and die. Just increasing pore size by making big holes helps. Then you can add compost, manure, and organic matter that fill in the holes and keep the soil from being compacted again, because everything has a bigger particle size than clay. Examples include comfrey, chicory, daikon radish, dandelion, Swiss chard Cover crops that can help break up soil by sheer root mass include crimson clover, alfalfa, buckwheat, and many of our native bunching grasses such as Big Bluestem. If you are concerned about using a grass where in the future you want to put a tree, don’t worry. Just mow the grass as low as possible, cover it with cardboard, wet it down, and mulch. Not even Johnson grass will survive. Grass Suppressing Bulbs It can be disheartening to install this beautiful guild and then have grass overrun it within a couple years no matter how much you mulch. There is a solution for this: bulbs. Not all bulbs will suppress the movement of grass across the soil, but some will. Bulbs stop grass by physically blocking roots and being competitive, which in the case of some grasses, is the only way to stop them. Alliums are among the best, being onions, garlic, chives, and leeks. Many people use garlic and onions because they are easy and cheap. You just make a perimeter of garlic or onions around your tree. Though, be careful, because some herbs and plants do not like being around garlic or onions. ![]() Pest Repellants An important part of a guild are plants designed to repel harmful insects from your trees and fruit-bearing shrubs. Some trees are more delicate than others and need more help. If a bug is particularly bad in your area, make sure you inundate your tree with repellent herbs. Many repellent plants like peppermint and chamomile do so by virtue of their scent. Coriander repels Colorado potato beetle, so that is a good thing to plant around potatoes. Garlic is a general repellent. Lavender repels moths. People often plant parsley with asparagus because parsley repels asparagus beetles. Most pest repellent plants are relatively small herbs so you can plant a lot of them in a small space. Insect Attractants While repelling bad bugs, you also want to attract and encourage the good ones. This is the main basis behind bee and butterfly gardens. Make sure that you use plants that provide food and nectar throughout the year to encourage all of your great helpers to stay. Arrange several plants in blocks to be the most effective. Predatory insects: yarrow, dill, angelica, coriander, fennel, tansy, cinquefoil, buckwheat, sweet alyssum, parsley, lemon balm. A lot of predatory insect plants feature umbellate flowers like Queen Anne’s lace. Bee: native wildflowers for your region, basil, bee balm, borage, goldenrod, a host of mints and salvias (you can’t do wrong with a Lamiaceae), mistflower, oregano, flame acanthus, hyssop, rosemary, butterfly weed, mealy blue sage, Turk’s Cap, horsemint, coral honeysuckle, prairie verbena Butterfly: blue mistflower, flame acanthus, salvia, coral honeysuckle, milkweed, passionvine, native grasses of all kinds, alfalfa, blue wild indigo, clovers, butterfly weed, vetch, fennel, lantana, Echinacea Alternatively, you can also designate a sacrifice zone on another part of your property to specifically attract bad bugs away from your more valuable plants. Organic nurseries do this a lot to cut down on infestations in their greenhouses. I worked at a nursery where they had a spot with thyme, butterfly weed, several basils, and a host of other plants. Because the plants were outside and so accessible, many of the bad bugs decided to go there, saving the nursery a lot of trouble. Soil Improvers Some plants are hyperaccumulators. They uptake harmful substances into their tissue. We then remove and destroy the plant to get rid of said harmful substance. Some people do not need to worry about lead or aluminum in their soil, but people buying old houses or land with a questionable use history may look into it. Plants have been used with great success to remove substances from the soil and in some cases they are the only effective way of doing so. Pink crown (Sarcosphaera coronaria) removes arsenic. Indian mustard removes chromium and copper, as does water hyacinth and sunflowers. Rapeseed and water hyacinth remove mercury. Water hyssop, Indian mustard, rapeseed, sunflower, duckweed, and wheat remove lead, which can be particularly important for old houses that used lead paint. Then there are plants that just plain improve soil without being so fancy. In permaculture, there is such a thing as a “dynamic accumulator” that makes nutrients bio-available to other plants, but there is no scientific evidence for this. It could very well be true, but we have no proof. Comfrey is named as the prime example. Does it actually do it? Unknown. Many plants improve soil in a myriad of ways. The most famous ones are the nitrogen-fixers I will describe later. But you could say that any sufficiently deep-rooted plant or any plants that can be effectively used as mulch are soil improvers. It is a broad and general category. Cover crops are often used to improve soil, especially in the winter when not much else is going on. This is often the best way to improve large areas of land relatively quickly. Ideally, you plant these crops a couple months before your first frost so they grow, accumulate biomass and nutrients, and then die or go dormant during the winter. In the spring, you mow it, compost it, and enjoy your improved soil that you can now plant with other things. Cover crops: buckwheat, alfalfa, clover, oats, barley, wheat, rye, winter peas, hairy vetch Be mindful. In our climate, the clover probably won’t die. But it can form a nice underplanting for other crops. Even if you do kill it with newspaper or cardboard, the clover will have done its job. ![]() Biomass and Groundcover Biomass plants are plants you grow for mulch and compost. They are the plants that ensure you have enough organic matter to feed your other plants, like your annual vegetables and fruit trees. When trying to be as self-sufficient as possible, the biomass plant allows you to produce your own compost so you don’t have to go buy it. If you have the space, biomass plants are completely worth your time. And money. Biomass plants should grow quickly and decompose quickly. You should be able to “chop and drop” multiple times a year if possible, or if not, produce a comparable amount. It also shouldn’t be a chore to mess with or try to invade your other plants. That’s rude. Plants include: amaranth, oats, buckwheat, clover, alfalfa, comfrey, our native bunching grasses, fava beans, Swiss chard, sweet potatoes (tasty!), willow, sedges and rushes if you have a pond Groundcover plants are what they sound like. They cover the ground in a short, dense blanket. Nature hates naked soil, so if you don’t cover it, nature will find a suitable weed to do so. Naked soil is also a waste of opportunity. Groundcovers reduce weeds, shade the soil, and prevent erosion. They should be planted everywhere, including among your larger shrubs and herbs. They do not replace mulch, but they act like living mulch. Plants include: clover, creeping rosemary, oregano, sage, strawberry, dewberry, thyme, Roman chamomile Nitrogen-fixers Nitrogen-fixers are a crucial part of any system because they convert unusable atmospheric nitrogen into a bio-available form that other plants can use. The plants themselves don’t do this however. The Rhizobium bacteria in a symbiotic relationship on root nodules do this. Even so, some plants are better than others. Also, if your soil has never had a nitrogen-fixer growing in it, the Rhizobium bacteria may not even be there. Even if you plant clover and peas they cannot do anything without the bacteria. I recommend inoculating your soil when you first start working with it so you can give your plants a good head start. It’s quick, easy, cheap, and there’s no good reason not too. Use them everywhere. You cannot have too many of them. They are great additions to the compost pile and also make good mulch. It is always recommended to rotate annual vegetables with legumes to replenish the soil and prevent disease. Plants include: most legumes (Fabaceae), alder, astragalus, alfalfa, beans, bird’s trefoil, black locust, carob, clover, cowpea, honeybush, indigo, jicama, lentil, licorice, mesquite, vetch Climbers Vining plants can generally do whatever a non-vining plant can do, except it does it vertically. Vines attract pollinators, provide food, shade the soil, create biomass and habitat, and take advantage of a niche unique to them. With the right support, they can grow on anything. I like to use vines to shade my house and reduce my utility bill. I build a trellis a foot off my house and grow various climbers on them, especially western walls and over western windows. The wall is shaded by the plant, but air also circulates between the vine and the wall, decreasing the temperature further. Hops can grow 40 ft in a season and provide neat little cones to make sleeping pillows with, so they can net me a possible source of income while saving me money (or if you’re into making beer). The kiwi is another rapidly growing vine. It has large leaves that work out perfectly on a pergola, not to mention the fruit. Options include cucumber, melons or gourds, grapes (general or muscadine), hops, kiwi, passion flower, pole beans or peas, coral honeysuckle Nooks Nooks are not plants, but habitat. They are structures purposely set out to act as homes for beneficial insects and small creatures like lizards and frogs that lend their aid to the stability and diversity of your ecosystem. In the case of certain wood logs, they can also be inoculated with mushrooms to add another wonderful food source to your guild. It does little good to attract all these great animals and then give them nowhere to rest and lay their scale-covered heads. Or reproduce, which is really what you are after. Insect hotels have become popular, attractive structures to grace the ecologically minded garden. They contain places for solitary bees to lay their eggs and habitat for many other things. Some of them look really cool too. But you can achieve much the same effect by leaving out a few choice logs, brush, rocks, or similar natural things. Your voluntary helpers will thank you. Permaculture definitely values flexibility. If a plant isn’t doing well in one place, then move it somewhere else. If something was built poorly, learn from it, and fix it. Stubbornness and intractability are not virtues in the permie mindset. However, permies are careful in how they do things. A permie spends a lot of time observing and thinking. It is not reactionary. The only way to make positive changes is with thoughtful consideration before doing them. Many permies have a spot on their property that they use for this purpose, to slow down, observe, and think. You may notice something important you may have missed otherwise. The phrase for this principle is, “Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be.” A permie needs to know where they are going, what the goals are, and what it takes to get there. Let’s say you are on a boat out in the middle of the ocean. You need to know three very important things. First, you need to know where you came from. Secondly, you need to know why are out there in the first place. What needs to change? What is so important about this journey? Lastly, you need to know where you are going. People who make mistakes are usually missing one of these vital components. It is easy on the permaculture journey to forget why you are working and what you are working towards. If you are someone who loses sight of your goal easily, then print out your design and hang it up where you can look at it frequently. Let it inspire you. It will remind you of your vision. What is your vision? In other words, what is your mission statement? When you get caught up in life, and you forget, have your mission statement to refer back to. It will keep you grounded so you can look forward.
It is easy to look at a mess of weeds, broken fences, or simple nothingness and be discouraged. Surely, I am not judging you when I say that. People like Joel Salatin are considered permie visionaries because they were able to see what they wanted to create, how they eventually wanted it, and not forget that sight. Polyface has accomplished huge things in the world of sustainable agriculture. You may be thinking, well, I’m not a Joel Salatin and I don’t own Polyface. There is no reason what you can’t be like Joel Salatin and create a Polyface. Even if you live in a suburb in the middle of Dallas. For a permie, you might as well dream big. It may take you twenty years to get there, but that is okay. Be creative. Thoughtfully respond to challenges and changes. It has rained in my part of Texas more in the past year than in the past 10-15 years. I have an inundation of water I will probably never have again, but I need to work with it now, so I am creatively responding to changes. I never thought I would have too much water in central Texas, but I do now. I am building catchment ponds and swale systems I never considered two years ago. Stuff happens. Work with it. A permie must be creative and flexible. You never know what nature might throw at you. The phrase for this is, “Don’t think you are on the right track just because it’s a well-beaten path.” Permaculture values crazy ideas and experiments. Done properly, permaculture can be a scientific endeavor where people test their ideas, no matter how strange or unusual. Who knows? Your idea may be just the right answer for someone’s situation. Have a problem? How can you use it as a benefit? On an ecological standpoint, the marginal place between two systems is the most diverse and special. The edge between a forest and a field support more species than both systems combined. It doesn’t just support forest species or field species. It also has species particular to the edge that do not exist elsewhere. Why do permies make everything wavy instead of straight? Because waves maximize edge and edge equals cool stuff. Don’t build a round pond. Make a pond shaped like an amoeba with lots of different depths. It can support so much more and you will be able to plant so much more in the same amount of space. You will hear permies talk about the edge for days. They will say how straight lines rarely exist in nature. Some others will try to make everything round and wavy just because it maximizes edge, even if it decreases functionality. There is a happy medium to maintain between having as much edge as possible while still being functional. My garden uses boxy raised beds, typical of a Southern Living magazine. But that is not permie, you say. It is not wavy and edgy! This is true. However, my native soil is so heavy, and it has rained so much, that if I do not have raised beds I won’t be able to grow anything soon enough to feed myself. That is all well and good, you say, but why have beds in straight lines? Because making round beds with the material I have to use is cost prohibitive. I can make round, wavy beds, or something reminiscent of a Mandala. Mandala gardens are very popular. I have chosen not to do that in my intensive fenced-in garden. It goes against my permie grain to do it, but it is the best decision for my needs. Everything outside the garden is as textbook permie as could be.
My point is that the purpose of your permaculture system is to FEED YOU. Ecological principles such as maximizing edge and valuing the marginal areas of life must peacefully coexist with your need to eat, not become tyrants. The edge is a tool. Use your tools as best as you can. The edge is extremely valuable. It is almost always the most productive area of your system. Use it wherever you can, but don’t let this principle work you. You are supposed to work the principle. If a part of a design does not work for you or your client, then it doesn’t work for you or your client. The principles are a textbook. In your life as a permie, you eventually have to get outside the textbook and begin to do what you need done. This is such an important aspect of permaculture that it would be difficult to overstate. Permaculture is ecological and an ecosystem runs and breathes based on its level of diversity. One of the hallmarks of a climax community, an ecosystem that has finished succession, is a high level of permanent diversity in plant and animal species. We see this in old growth forests such as the forests surrounding Arlington National Cemetery. The system is able to exist because it has many specialized species and niches. Think of a large corporation. It has hundreds of different jobs filled by thousands of people. The jobs are the niches and the people are the species. A business cannot be expected to survive with only janitors and accountants, but that is what modern agriculture is trying to do with its monoculture system. When you have thousands of acres filled with one species, let’s say wheat or corn, it should be no surprise that if an outbreak occurs, it would destroy everything. There is only one species to kill, one group of identical accountants in a business of just accountants. You see how this could be a problem. That is how famines are born. But when there is a diverse system, the different members support and protect one another. Even if there is an outbreak, it only kills a small set of species, not all of them. ![]() Do not put your eggs in one basket. Just like in the stock market, diversity reduces risk. Your comfrey may die, but your chamomile and borage still remain. Hornworms may annihilate all of your tomatoes, but if you have squash, peppers, and asparagus, you will still eat that day. Back to the climax community. There are levels to a mature system and this is what the food forest concept is based off of. Feel free to read up on that, but in short it is a design that mimics a climax forest to support fruit tree production. There are species that attract pollinators, shade the ground, compete against grass, and other niches to sustain the growth and health of the tree. The tree gives physical support, a deep percolating root system, leaf matter for mulch, and protection from the elements such as heavy winds or rain. Take out one element and the system is not as strong. Diversity is necessary to the proper wellbeing and continuance of an ecosystem. Permaculture seeks to create an ecosystem. You cannot do so without a diverse population of plants and animals. Even if you don’t have chickens or goats, nematodes, insects, and small birds can account for all that you need to make your system thrive. The small things make up most species on the planet anyway. The microbial flora in the soil alone can number ten billion per tablespoon with hundreds of species we cannot even culture in laboratories yet. Every new species brings something different. Of course, diversity for diversity’s sake does not make any sense either. What plants you use have to go together and that takes study and experimentation. That is what the permaculture guild is all about. Species have to match your climate and environment. I would love to grow elderberries, but my soil is just way too alkaline and heavy. It makes more sense to invest in adaptable native species. Then again, sometimes it is fun to just throw something out there and see how it does. Once your system’s diversity is maintained (think climax) then you have the freedom to really have fun. You may find that you possess a special microclimate that allows a new species to thrive. Diversity takes advantage of the unique aspects of your property and your needs. Monocultures are delicate and extremely risky (not to mention boring). Protect your investment, time, and food security with a diverse system that is able to support itself. The food forest is an important and well-known topic in permaculture. It is the culmination of the slow, low-maintenance, perennial model of food production and a great example of the value of a diverse landscape. The goal is to grow lots of food in the way most closely resembling nature. The food forest is, as you would expect by the name, a forest that produces food. It does this completely by design. It is layering plants together in mutualistic relationship to provide for a person’s needs. In short, you make a personally tailored ecosystem compatible for your region. The vast majority of plants used are perennials or self-sowing annuals, allowing for a self-regenerating system that once established requires relatively little effort. How big you make your forest garden or how detailed you make it completely depends on you. Anyone from a small urban resident to a hundred-acre farmer or a park can have a food forest. ![]() Your forest is your garden. You certainly do not need a forest already established on your property to make one. Neither do you need a lot of space. Almost any urban resident with a yard, front or back, has the space for a food forest. It is the ecosystem diversity, not its size, that is important. If you have a 6x6 yard, you can have a food forest. You may have to aggressively prune your fruit trees to keep them relatively small, but you can definitely have a functioning ecosystem. Design is critical to a food forest. You cannot slam lots of different plants together and expect them to work with the beneficial and supportive functions you desire. Some plants positively hate each other. You want high yield, so you cannot put plants too close together and cramp them. One, they don’t like it and it will come out in their lack of growth; two, you will have to do more work in thinning, clearing, and separating (especially in bulbs and herbs); three, it will be physically harder to move around and actually access your plants. Making work is not the goal. You want to put as much effort into the design before you ever put something in the ground. Messing up on paper costs you nothing. Dead plants do. In a food forest, you want a complementary ecology. Think companion planting with perennials instead of just vegetables. If you have a rose, you plant garlic. Now imagine a peach tree with garlic to repel the peach tree borer, a really prickly rose to keep animals away and give you rose hips for your winter tea (the garlic also helps the rose), yarrow to attract predatory insects to the peach, clover as a nitrogen-fixing groundcover, more garlic along the perimeter to stop grass, comfrey to act as a mulch source, and native wildflowers to attract pollinators of all kinds. Add a nice big log inoculated with mushrooms if you want to, or just a log for the good bugs and worms to play with. Now you are starting to see a food forest guild and you’ve taken companion planting to the ecological level. You see, a forest cannot exist with just a tree, just like a family does not exist with just one man. You need the wife, the aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, friends, and children. Plants need a supportive group just as much as we do. A well-functioning family is a joy to behold and it is a wonderful thing to aspire to. What we are trying to do with a food forest is to take several people (plants) and tell them to be a family. You can see the obvious problem. You had better choose the right people or this is just not going to work. But with proper research and design, you can be confident of your choices. The first aspect is the different layers of a food forest. The tree is the king, but the king needs the cooks, stewards, guards, and other people to ensure the castle runs properly. A good supporter can work several jobs and perform many functions. Don’t plant something that doesn’t give back. Also, because you’ll be planting around trees, make sure you choose plants that can take some shade, and to plant the ones needing full sun to the south. 1 and 2 are your trees. Whether they are 1 or 2 depends entirely on size. A loquat is a smaller, understory tree perfect to put underneath a taller mulberry or pecan. Not only do your trees give you food and timber, they also moderate the climate, cool the soil, prevent water evaporation, and provide wildlife habitat. They are so important to the ecology and increasing our groundwater, especially in hot climates like ours. 3 are your fruit-bearing shrubs and berries. They take up the empty space underneath a tree and provide protection for the smaller, more delicate plants in subsequent layers. Rugosa rose, blackberry, raspberry, rosemary, artichoke, asparagus, and alfalfa are all good candidates. 4 are your herbs. This is the most diverse group by far and performs practically every function. Herbs attract pollinators and beneficial insects, repel bad insects, accumulate nutrients from the soil, fix nitrogen, can be medicinal, and of course, give you food. Ideally, each herb chosen should fulfill as many of these functions as possible. What herbs you choose will depend on your own needs and the needs of the trees and shrubs. If your tree/berry shrub is susceptible to Japanese beetles, you want to use herbs that repel Japanese beetles AND attract their predators. Use herbs everywhere. They tend to be small, so you fit them between larger things (though don’t cramp them!). Choose perennials or self-sowing annuals like dill, chamomile, lemon balm, calendula, and chives. You should also see about providing a year-long food supply for your pollinators, which often come in the form of herbs that flower at different times of the year. 5 are your root plants and grass blockers. Plant them along the edges to stop grass from encroaching on your shrubs and trees (no shrub or tree likes grass). Plant them elsewhere to break up heavy soil (comfrey, chicory, and daikon radish are great for this) and to feed pollinators. The alliums (garlic, onion, etc), turnips, radish, and beets are all good options. Root crops can often be left in the ground after mild frosts, so they are easy to deal with, and can be used as livestock food during the winter. 6 are plants you put in your swales if you have any. If your ground is flat, you may not have swales. But if you do, the swale presents a new opportunity for you. You can often grow plants in a swale that you might not be able to due to nutrient or water needs. You could also plant more herbs or use this area as a strip for annual vegetables like melons and cucumbers that benefit from the extra water. This way, you will know where your annuals are and be able to access them easily. Just make sure that your annuals are not being shaded by the tree if they like a lot of sun, like cucumbers. 7 are your vines. You may not have the space or infrastructure for vines, but they are a useful addition to your food forest. Many people plant muscadine grapes to grow up their larger fruit or shade trees, as grapes like the dappled shade, and are trimmed back every year so they do not overwhelm the tree. You could also use melons, kiwi, cucumber, or a native flowering vine. Coral honeysuckle is not parasitic on a tree, using it only for support, and hummingbirds binge on the flowers. 8 are your groundcovers and they should not be ignored. Even if you have a thick layer of mulch, the groundcover aids you in a way none of the others can: by preventing airborne weeds. Also, if you use alpine strawberries or dewberries as your groundcover, they can be downright tasty. Groundcovers also shade the soil and cool it down, more than just mulch alone could, and prevent other plants, like peppermint, from getting a little too happy. Useful groundcovers include clover, oregano, sage, thyme, strawberry, calendula, and hairy vetch. One thing not mentioned here, but is in some places, is the fungal and mycorrhizal layer. What goes on underneath the soil. It is just as important as the top, I assure you. Without the fungi and soil microbiota, plants can’t grow. Nitrogen fixers can’t convert nitrogen without Rhizobium bacteria. Trees cannot adequately uptake nutrients without the mycorrhizal fungal framework acting on their roots. When it doubt, inoculate. Spread fungal and bacterial inoculants in the soil when you first plant. Otherwise, it can take years to build them up in the soil. You can wait, and farmers through the millennia have had to, but this is one thing I like about modern science. We have inoculating powders that save us time. It is worth doing and does not cost much either.
Also realize that if you want to plant something that isn’t on your list, then do it. Have fun and experiment with your food forest. Stick a pepper plant in there somewhere. Or a mass of radishes. See if sweet alyssum helps your plum tree. But you have to resist wanting to change everything. This isn’t an annual garden that makes complete changes through the seasons. Perennials grow slowly over time. They resist such rapid changes. You have to be committed to let nature do its thing and not disturb it so much. Sometimes this can be difficult, to back away and allow things to roll on without you. It means you have to relinquish a certain degree of control. It takes some humility. Your food forest will evolve over time. Some things will die. Some things will do particularly well. You adapt with it. It’s great fun. When I say “Texas ecoregion,” I do not mean the general geographic distributions we generally think of. I’m not thinking “panhandle,” “west,” or “central hills.” That doesn’t tell you anything about the soil and the flora. An ecoregion describes the changes in the ecosystem across a geography. When I hear “Blackland prairie,” I not only know the soil type, but what kinds of trees, plants, and animals I can expect there versus another ecoregion. Shinners and Mahler spent a great deal of time on North Central Texas flora. Their book, a massive volume that would break someone’s head if you dropped it from a height, is called Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas. If you’re serious about Texas, I recommend you buy this book. It’s a hundred dollars well spent. Much of the information I’m going to give you comes from their book. It was my textbook in university, and for good reason. There are several factors influencing Texas ecoregions: temperature, the Gulf, geology, and the overriding climatic pressures of being part of a great and diverse continent with a lot of stuff going on. Texas has almost everything possible (not as diverse as California, but we try.) The Blackland Prairie alone has three different types of soils, though I’ll spare you that for this overview. Temperature in Texas works along a diagonal from the Panhandle to the Gulf. It’s not a perfect description, and a meteorologist is probably crying somewhere, but it’s good enough. And because rainfall goes in an east-west pattern, this can make some complicated weather patterns towards the interior of the state. The eastern half of Lampasas County gets on average 15 more frost free days than its western counterpart. Texas is tricky. Things can change drastically between a county or within a county. When looking for a permaculture designer, it is critical to find one who knows YOUR county and YOUR ecoregion. The soils are different. The plants that prefer your region may be completely different from someone on the other end of the county. You have to endeavor to learn your place well. The Gulf affects a lot of Texas, though its effects decrease the farther away from the coast you get. Obviously, humidity and rainfall are impacted. The Gulf moderates temperature and climatic extremes. You are less likely to experience long droughts and wide temperature fluctuations the closer you get towards the coast versus inland. Massive bodies of water have that effect on climate. The soil also tends to get more acidic and sandy, as salt, wind, and rain buffet the landscape. Here in North Central Texas, those factors are less apparent. For us, the Gulf influences our wind and rain patterns the most. I specialize in the Cross Timbers, Blackland Prairie, and Post Oak Savannah, so those are the ecoregions I’m going to describe today. That includes approximately 70 counties in Texas. Two things contributed most to the stability and health of these three regions: fire and ungulate migration. Fires, either natural or induced, kept shrubbery and opportunistic species under control. It revitalizes grasses, doesn’t really harm trees that much, and clears land of green briar, weeds, and plants that cannot survive the burn. What you are left with are patches of strong, slow-growing trees like black hickory and oaks, and lush, open grassland. It is nature’s method of spring cleaning. There are also some species that require the fast, intense heat of a grass fire to reproduce, like the Longleaf pine. Buffalo and other migratory species did their part by spreading seeds, churning the soil, and fertilizing the ground. They stayed long enough to mow and then did not return until the next year, leaving the grasses time to rebuild, grow deeper roots, and survive. This migrational pattern is critical to replenishing and sustaining prairie. When a grass is allowed to grow to full height, cut down, and then allowed to seed, the grass becomes thicker and stronger. When grass is cut repeatedly, its roots eventually degenerate to match its height. That means a grass kept at three inches can only maintain roots that are three inches. And you wonder why our lawns and pastures have such drought problems. They can’t grow the roots to grow strong and deep. But a migrational pattern strengthens the grass. Many native grasses under this system can grow roots reaching twelve to fifteen down in the soil. Blackland Prairie This region takes up the eastern half of Bell County, my main stomping ground. Interstate-35 cuts the county in half and runs straight up the Blackland belt from Austin to Dallas. Why build a huge road there? The prairie is flat (gently rolling at worst), relatively free of trees, and a great place to move thousands of head of cattle from north to south. It’s a natural thoroughfare if there ever was one. Most of Texas’s largest cities grew up on this strip. The clay is black, alkaline, and waxy, with white limestone bedrock. My property for example is 98% clay and it takes ages to dry out, which is both a blessing and a curse. Clay holds a lot of water and a lot of nutrients because of its tiny particle size, but it suffers from a lack of oxygenation. It can also be easily compacted. Care must be taken with this soil type to increase its organic mass with large particles, such as compost, to improve aeration, and to walk on specific paths. You don’t want to walk on your growing places. The clay can be difficult to break through, so plants with thick, penetrating roots do better. For root crops, round roots can break up the clay better than long, thin roots. For example, beets are a better choice than carrots. Percolation, or the movement of water through a medium, can be an issue. Plants that can break up the clay are a valuable and critical asset to this soil type. This soil is considered one of the most fertile soils west of the Mississippi. Pioneers immediately started farming it with success, though their wagons often got stuck in the mud. The clay has this habit of getting wet from rain and expanding, drying out, and forming these huge cracks when the soil shrinks. Loose particles fall into the cracks. When it rains again, the soil fragments expand, exert lateral pressure, and create a series of mounds and depressions called a gilgai. This irritated the pioneers a lot. Some of these cracks were two feet deep and the depressions up to twenty feet across. Wagons couldn’t pass through in wet weather, but wow, the soil will grow some grain. It was once the greatest cotton producing region in the world. Another thing you may want to consider is what we affectionately call the I-35 corridor. Tornadoes love moving along the Blackland. I actually had an MRI scan done in Temple once when there was a tornado warning outside. It was just a warning, but tornadoes can and do occur much more often in the Blackland than if you went a little west or a little east. This should not be surprising. The Blackland is flat, weather patterns mix there, and stuff happens. Only 1% of native Blackland Prairie remains. I will be writing an article about Blackland prairie restoration for those who are interested in grasses that are six feet tall with roots twice as deep. Blackland is a true prairie with a huge variety of grasses. There are several types of grassland communities. Little bluestem is a main contributor. Oaks and trees are generally restricted to ravines, rivers, and streams, or certain protected areas. Every five or ten years, wildfires would run through the prairie. This often destroyed young trees and kept many species to rockier areas, particularly the mountain cedar (Juniperus ashei), and kept the grassland as a grassland. Now that urbanization and cultivation have made burnings almost nonexistent, opportunistic species such as cedar and mesquite are taking over. Overgrazing by livestock mismanagement has further altered and maligned the native flora. This pattern follows for the other Central Texas ecoregions, who are drastically changed, if maybe not as much as the Blackland. ![]() Cross Timbers and Prairies The Cross Timbers are west of the Blackland and includes the Lampasas Cut Plain, which is its own special thing and sometimes considered part of the Edwards Plateau. It stretches up into Oklahoma and Kansas. While not technically part of the Great Plains like farther west, it has the last vestiges of timber and shrubbery from the eastern forests before you get to pure grassland. It gets higher in altitude as you go farther west, and the western Cross Timbers are often called the Upper Cross Timbers. The soil is predominately clay, but has much more sand in it, and the topsoil tends to be thin and easily eroded. The bottomland has thicker soil, but up on the hills, you can often scrape off the topsoil with your boot. The pH can vary slightly due to the higher sand content, and for central Texas, could be considered acidic in some places. The soil has a high mineral content. The well water can taste funny because of it. There are many ravines, canyons, and rocky outcroppings in the hills. For this soil type, keeping the soil in one place and preventing erosion is most important. Topsoil is precious here and should be cared for properly. Even mild disturbance can rip off whatever soil you might possess, leaving only bare rock and sand. Overgrazing is extremely dangerous as the grass holding the topsoil is removed and it just blows away. Farming can be difficult due to the lack of soil, but can be rewarding with due diligence and effort, as it generally does not have the extreme drainage and percolation problems of Blackland. Cattle ranches are the main component of agriculture in the Cross Timbers. Mismanagement has seen to the destruction of much of the native flora and has allowed opportunistic species to invade where soil remains. If raising livestock in this ecoregion, migrational patterns and livestock rotation are necessary to sustain and build the soil. Effort should be made to imitate buffalo grazing patterns where at all possible. The flora is patchy in the Cross Timbers, ranging from open to dense, with multiple species of oaks, elms, and other deciduous trees. Post and blackjack oaks predominate along with live oaks, all of which are considered unattractive species for logging compared to others. Because of this, the trees were relatively untouched. Now, the oaks see the most decline from oak wilt and competition with mountain cedar who have been allowed to encroach due to fire suppression. Entire hillsides may not boast a single oak anymore. There are multiple communities of shrubbery and herbaceous plants that make up the forest sections. Because of the poor soil, the plants here tend to grow slowly, but with determination. Many people have marveled at an oak apparently living on nothing but several feet of rock. Post Oak Savannah
The Post Oak Savannah is almost like the strange love child between the Pine Woods and the Blackland. It is its own distinct ecoregion, but is dispersed between what would otherwise be Blackland or Piney Woods. Some people consider it part of Blackland, but some don’t. The soil gets gradually more acidic as you go east. Bottomland is mostly clay as particles wash down from higher elevations, and the uplands contain more sand. There is usually a dense clay pan underneath the soil, which affects how water moves across the landscape. Percolation can sometimes be a problem. This makes the care requirements for this region a bit of a mix, but generally erosion and overgrazing are the biggest issues. Soil can be thin, but not as thin as the Cross Timbers. This area generally receives less rainfall than the Piney Woods. The flora of this region is variable and some areas appear more transitional than others. Trees are a mix of post oak, blackjack oak, red cedar, and Lobolly pines as you get farther east. The grasses are of a bunching Blackland type where there is more open ground. Flora from the east mix with flora from the west, and combine to make their own special assortment in the savannah. Both the Savannah and the Cross Timbers have oaks, but they are different species and types of oaks. Plants tend to stray from the heavy alkalinity of the Blackland to their more acidic counterparts. You may actually be able to grow blueberries here, if you find a particularly acidic spot. Just like in the other two ecoregions, fire suppression and overgrazing have extremely altered the native flora and soil quality of the Post Oak Savannah. Little of the old growth forests remain and most area has been converted to pasture or open range for cattle. Mesquite, yaupon, cedar, and others have started to take over from the oaks. Almost all of the native bunching grasses have been replaced by exotic grasses like bermuda and bahaia. The diversity of the landscape has drastically declined and many of the species dependent on certain plants have dwindled or fled to other areas. This has also destroyed much of the soil and the land cannot support what it used to. The Post Oak Savannah provides a unique opportunity for the permaculturist with it being such a transitional area. Things that would not be possible in the Piney Woods or the Blackland may be possible in the Savannah. |
Rebecca Burrow
I am a Christian permie designer trying to spread the word about Christian land stewardship through permaculture. I like goats a lot. Maaaaaaaah. Archives
September 2016
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Burrow Permaculture Consulting | Permie Blog |