Welcome to our Polyculture Profile series. During this post, we'll look at a successional three layer polyculture that we originally used to grow tree and shrub seedlings for our nursery but is now a perennial feature in one of our forest gardens.
It may be helpful to look over this Polyculture Profile Layout post before or after reading the profile, where we provide a description of the profile layout and some general notes to consider, should you wish to try and grow the polyculture yourself.
Polyculture Name - Tethys - perennial productive polyculture
Compatible Climate (KCC):C - D (B with irrigation)
USDA hardiness: 5-9
Water needs: Irrigation required for optimal production
Light preferences: Full Sun/Dappled Shade
Soil preferences: Light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) - fertile
Suitable pH: Acid, neutral and alkaline
Layout: Belt
Intro
Tethys is a three layer polyculture for raising nursery plants. The polyculture consists of a temporary tree layer, a shrub and herb layer. We plant first year shrub seedling transplants into the bed until they are two or three years old at which point they are sent to our customers or planted out into their permanent positions in one of the gardens. These young seedlings benefit from some shade in the first few seasons so we inter planted them with foxglove tree - Paulownia tomentosa saplings.
The polyculture consists of a 1m wide basin (low part of the swale) and a 1m wide berm. Native volunteer plants grow in the basin and the nursery plants are grown on the berm.
We had this polyculture positioned on a swale to take advantage of a mountain stream we can divert into the garden to irrigate the plants. Although I have presented the design on a swale, there is no point in placing these plants on a swale unless you have a similar irrigation situation. The polyculture will grow just as well on even ground, provided adequate irrigation and fertility is provided.
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Maturation phases and polyculture succession
The saplings will be very small when first planted out. The sizes in the below image are exaggerated in order to provide an impression of spacing and locations. Weeding is required in the first season to prevent the volunteer plants overwhelming the young saplings.
By the end of the second summer the foxglove trees are ready for transplanting. Some of the most vigorous shrub saplings can also be removed thereby thinning the rows. When growing plants from seed it’s amazing to witness the genetic diversity among them with some growing four times as big as others and variations in leaf sizes etc. The comfrey can start to be cut and applied as mulch to the nursery plants in the spring following planting. Comfrey root cuttings may be taken in the autumn of the second season at around the same time the foxglove trees are transplanted.
By the end of the third summer the shrubs are ready for transplanting. We left a few Japanese quince mother plants behind for propagation and the cherry plum - Prunus cerasifera plants are now starting to provide shade. The lower limbs of these plants were lifted to allow light to the under story. All prunings were cut into small pieces and applied to the berm surface as mulch. We also added blackcurrant - Ribes nigrum and aronia - Aronia melanocarpa into the shrub layer to fill the available space.
By the end of the fifth summer, the cherry plums were dominating the space, but with the lower limbs lifted there was still enough light coming into the understory to keep the shrubs healthy. At this stage we chose to fell the trees to ground level and used the wood for fuel logs and the branches for mulch on the berm. It was the easiest plum harvest ever! The under story now dominated by the remaining shrubs is ready for replanting with more shrubs or herbs. The illustration below shows patches of chives between the remaining Japanese quince shrubs. The comfrey should go on growing back as long as you rest them sufficiently between root harvests.
This is just one of many ways you can use the time and space within a polyculture design. The method above was successful for us to raise quite a lot of plants in a relatively small area while providing habitat and maintaining soil fertility - the soil in the area is still in great condition.
Flower/fruit and maintenance
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