This month is definetely one where you need to sit and observe what is happening in your food forest and make a plan from there. I know in my situation (as I’m writing this in mid January), my food forest is slightly stressed with lack of rain and I need to be careful that I don’t overstress the system. There is a heavy rain warning coming up so if that does eventuate I will do a chop n drop after that once the plants have revived. Everything has grown alot and I’m going to chop n drop for the mulch and to let in a bit more light to the smaller trees that are coming through.
My system was looking a bit yellow (nitrogen deficient) last year so one application of an organic fertiliser back in December and it’s looking much better. I will go through and do another light application once the autumn rains start arriving. My big job in the food forest this month will be to get more logs and mulch in there, I had insufficient support trees when I initially installed my system, but I am learning as I go and I know how I need to fix it.
If you don’t know where to start with your food forest, jump back to last month's blog as it will have plenty of info to keep you going through summer.
There is the Food Forest Family (free) and Food Forest Fellowship (monthly subscription) on Skool if you want to learn more about food forests. I also have plenty of contacts around New Zealand if you want some extra help with design, install or management, so just ask and I’ll find someone close to you to put you in contact with.