permaculture

[Jack Rowe <jackrowe@compuserve.com>]

Many woody plants do almost ALL their work the first season underground...
especially those with taproots (I'm unfamiliar with Sea Buckthorn). A wild
persimmon or oak, though, with a 6" top the diameter of a healthy
matchstick and 6 or 10 leaves, will have a taproot thick as a
kindergartener's pencil and far deeper than can be casually dug
successfully.

Ideally, woody plants get planted directly where they are to live out their
quietly-exalted lives, especially those in climates with tough
summers/winters/drought, etc. A season after they've sprouted in the ground
they are extremely capable and tough, even though wisely remaining mostly
unseen. Probably they are mostly subterranean, biomass-wise, for life. I've
considered the lifestyle more than once, myself. I guess counting the
entire biological cycle, I will also be mostly-subterranean!

Jack