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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] olive guild

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  • From: lbsaltzman@aol.com
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] olive guild
  • Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:43:35 -0500

I also like winter nasturtiums near trees. We harvest the flowers and leaves
for food and what is left dies back to a nice straw mulch in summer.







-----Original Message-----
From: Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:26 am
Subject: [permaculture] olive guild



I am also in a fire-prone, Mediterranean climate, in northern California, and
have a few olives. I recommend coming up with a guild of low-growing plants
that can grow with olives. There are a few species that are fire-resistant
and
even fire-retardant that shouldn't compete too much with olives (maybe some
Salvia species?). The improvement in the soil should more than compensate
for
any competition with the olives. A moist legume would be a good part of the
mix. Fava beans growing in the Winter wouldn't even require irrigation and
would be a great help to the soil and olives. Comfrey is a permaculture
mainstay for planting at the base of trees. It is very moist, creates a lot
of
quickly degrading organic matter, and brings up nutrients from deep down. I
have used it in swales as a fire barrier.

I would also keep a flattened mulch of grass (if available) around the
trees.
Grass burns quick, but not too hot, and if the mulch is kept low and the
trees
pruned up a little, there shouldn't be much of a chance for trees to catch on
fire. You could even put clay tiles or some other kind of fire barrier
around
the base of the trunks. Another safety option would be to install very low
micro-sprayers for irrigation to keep the mulch around the trees wet in case
a
fire comes near. These sprayers could be the regular way of irrigating, or
they
could be enabled only in emergencies (they are less efficient).

Please keep in touch and let us know what you come up with. Many of us are
dealing with similar issues.

Rain


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