I’ve got a completely wood-chipped front yard with 8 fruit trees in it. Starting to think about ways to break up the monotony. I just watched a youtube video with some suggestions … too irritating to link to, but one of the suggestions was Lupinus rivularis.
Does anybody want to share any ideas, especially with pictures?
If you use poisons to control insects forget about lupins- they flower when trees need spray and you will kill native bees. Things that flower late and are not invasive would be best. Nothing that is known to be attractive to stink bugs.
If you plant something in bloom when spraying your option to avoid poisoning bees is to place a tarp over blooms before spraying and removing once spray stops dripping from trees.
I have day-neutral strawberries (Albion and Seascape) planted under my fruit trees, with a mulch of rice hulls.
I have strawberries mixed in with cosmos under my fruit trees.
Strawberries (including day neutrals) tend to be in bloom at the time insecticide is required where I am, but you are in Seattle where it is presumably much easier than in NY to grow fruit without it.
I grow watermelons between some of my fruit trees. It worked great last year as my fruit trees were just planted. It won’t work when the trees mature.
This is something I’ve recently become aware of, but I’m glad you reminded me about this. I haven’t done any spraying yet, as this is just my second year and I’m still quite ignorant.
I keep vacillating between thinking about using the space between trees for more food production versus trying to make it be a more of a pretty garden. Some big zucchini mounds would be pretty cool. I like it.
No reason you can’t do both. My edibles garden is in the front yard, so making it look nice was of particular importance to me when I renovated it last year. It has since won an award at both the state and national levels.
i got everything planted in my woodchips under my trees and bushes. arctic raspberries , alpine/ woodland strawberries. egyptian onions, garlic, coneflowers, lemon balm , lowbush blueberries, red welsh onions, creeping thyme, betony, butterfly weed, be balm. i probably forgot some.
saw a presentation by the owner of American Meadows and now I desperately want to plant a section of my lawn (that is too sloped to mow) with perennial meadow flowers. Other options might include goumi berry to use for nitrogen fixing and tasty berries. check out your guild options if you plan to go the permaculture route
I have chives and garlic chives that have basically naturalized under most of my fruit trees.
I think a lot depends on what you want to accomplish with the planting. Is it just so the ground has something green on it? Is low maintenance a high priority? Ornamental? Food production?
Some easy to care for things I would consider, that can hold their own against weeds, and don’t spread uncontrollably themselves: rhubarb (I’m serious - in the Pacific Northwest, it’s green most of the year, produces a nice edible product. and is almost maintenance free - in time it may be too big, depending on your tree density); smaller varieties of daylilies; hostas; a sedum like Autumn Joy.
If you want low growing / carpet like, as I suggested before, I would consider bugle or lamium (although these may run into flowering time problems if you spray insecticides).
I would also consider some of the dwarf false cypresses (Chameacparis spp) if you’re ornamental minded. Handle partional shade. Add color. Easy controlled for size with a once a year shearing.
Chile peppers
I had to murder lots of flowers to do this as my time and back are a limiting factor and just saving rare stuff was difficult.
You definitely can’t spray anything for the bees but then you get to keep your beneficials
Here is a predator mite I found on the first apple tree I looked. I also easily find hypoaspis miles mites but they move far too fast for my camera.
He’s the little orange guy
i took my steep ditch near the road. killed off the grass and planted crown vetch , lupine and wildflower mix. its starting to fill in. by next summer there should be barely any weeds/ grass in there. no more mowing that nightmare for me.
Eric,
Don’t underestimate the value of ignorance.
Realizing that it exists opens the possibilty to use it as a currently blank canvas that can be filled magnificently.
Our members here are the paintbrushes that will gladly help you fill that canvas.
And, don’t forget our unofficial motto…
*"WHY JUST DO IT WHEN YOU CAN OVERDO IT"
Mike
I found that items planted under fruit trees become a nuisance eventually. There is the issue with spraying, but also just being able to walk under the trees, especially if you want to bag or thin fruit. I ended up digging and moving the bushes I had under my trees.
I just converted part of my lawn to wildflowers. I intend to convert the rest of the lawn later.
Consider planting wildflowers under your trees.
