Not quite as wet as it was on Thursday, but still pretty soggy today as we continued with the Food Forest. Jane and Dez were on nettle removal near the newly-planted apple trees, while Rita, Dave and Janet made up some (sort of) hugelkulture beds, put in the Quince and Gage trees that didn’t go in on Thursday, and put down layers of cardboard and woodchip mulch.

The trees here are planted into mounds so that their roots will not be in the waterlogged soil (hopefully these mounds will be big enough to keep the root systems from sitting in water) and the bases of the mounds are made in a (loosely) hugelkuture style (ie with logs and other organic materials that can break down and release nutrients to the trees at different rates).

These trees will make up the canopy layer of the Food Forest, and we will be planting some of the lower layers (fruit bushes, herbs, ground cover) around the trees in the coming weeks. The idea is to make sure there are plants with deep roots that bring up nutrients (such as comfrey, which is already present here and which we are working around), nitrogen fixers (such as peas or clover) and plants that will attract pollinators (like herbs and edible flowers) grouped together, so that the plants can all help each other.

Jane yet again wins most stylish working party attendee…