Wow that’s really interesting. Thanks for posting.
Careful with borage, dogs will eat it and it will make them very sick. Love the plant though, great source of nectar for insects.
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ive heard that. my 3 dogs like to taste things so no borage here!
i dont really follow guilds. i just plant what i think makes sense. dont know if that disqualifies my yard as a food forest but im ok with that.
planting Ribes under your trees in your zone is a great idea. they will appreciate the shade and it mocks the enviroment that they grow in the wild. honeyberries are similar. i hate grass as much as you do. hopefully when im done with this property i can sell the mower. 
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I’m sowing micro clover (turf clover) in hopes of it making a “grassless lawn” It’s supposed to be max 4-6 inch high even without mowing.
It’s still very much an experiment for me though. So can’t say if the “advertising” on it is true or not.
it’s a perennial and N fixer, so if it works out to not grow to high and decently suppress weeds. It’s the “dream” for me. Would be nice beneath tree’s. And to plant taller herb’s/ plants in.
also just saw this
only has 1 followup video. Im curious what happend. Maybe funding dried up or they choose another option to share results.
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I have spread clover (Dutch White) on top of wood chips. Only a little bit has grown but may be more in the future. My trees are still small but I want to break up the heavy clay soil and am thinking of eventually growing grains like rye, buckwheat, alfalfa. They all have deep roots. This will make me buy a roller crimper from my compact tractor but this will keep the weeds down and provide green manure to the soil.
In addition to my strawberries, raspberries, dill… I would like to add more edible stuff that I like to eat of course…
Garlic, Egyptian Walking Onions, Asparagus are some that I have considered.
Lots of permaculture youtubers have Rhubarb and Comfrey and the Rhubarb leaves and Comfrey can be used chop and drop style for mulch.
Not sure if I like Rhubarb - never tried any. I mostly grow stuff I like to eat !!!
I like to season beef ribeye steaks with salt pepper garlic thyme… some fresh thyme would be nice and could dry some for keeping long term
TNHunter
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creeping thyme is easy to grow and spreads out. can also walk on it with barely any damage. theres a ground cover raspberry from china that grows in your zone. i think its called emerald carpet sold by burnt ridge nursery. box huckleberry is low growing and hardy to your area also.
@steveb4 - thanks for the recommendations…
I think I may have to change mulch before I plant a lot of other stuff in my (sort of permaculture bed).
I am mulched with hay now… and so far so good with that.
But it is a real pain to put down any type of mulch when you have a lot of smaller plants to mulch around… like my strawberries.
That is what has (so far) really kept me from planting a lot of other stuff in the bed…
Easy to mulch around fruit trees and berry bushes, but smaller lower growing stuff… sort of a pain.
I would love to grow a bunch of other stuff in there… but then when you do have to add more mulch… well that complicates things. Perhaps that is easier if you are mulching with wood chips ?
I may have to make that change, some day.
TNHunter
yeah woodchips are easier. i get a big pile of arborist chips and dump them in small piles with my tractor all along my plantings. i then use a rake to spread it out. its easy to place it where you want that way. used to do it with my dump trailer and lawn tractor.
mines near bloom. ive downsized on comfrey. had way too many so i took out 6. going to replace with canada red rhubarb. l have a high demand for it.
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Did you spread out seeds? Or plant plants between the wood chips?
The seeds are small/tiny. I would not expect good results from spreading them above or under wood chips. Might be better to sow them in a smal patch and plant them out when larger if you got a thick layer of mulch. They stolon after a while (spread out by rooting the “runners”)
normal White clover (Dutch) gets quite tall though. And flowers quite a bit and quite early. The micro clovers should have more desirable traits. But i guess ill find out the coming years.
Eric. I would suggest you try out low growing “shrubs” or ground cover type plants. As others had mentioned, honeyberry , currant, gooseberry and lingonberry are some I’ve considered.
You could consider Salal berries as a native option, or check out Aronia, Goji, certain Blueberry (some don’t need highly acidic soil), strawberry, or one that I am very excited to plant, box huckleberry. There are a few other huckleberry species out there like Himalayan Blueberry that I’ve researched as evergreen options. You could even look at Oregon grapes or strawberry bushes (I can’t due to my zone).
My thread here may be helpful to you BRING ME A SHRUBBERY! (zone 6A)
I actually was thinking about buying a goji and some currents. I already have 7 or 8 mid height blueberries in pots that I need to figure out what to do with. Oregon grape and salal probably not in the mix but just because I have it all over up at my cabin. Strawberries seem like a good fit … my trees are small so the underplanting needs to be small too.
Bakers creek heirloom seeds sells black wolfberry (black goji). I have a bunch started this year. If small is the objective, definitely consider lingonberry and the "Berried Treasure"BRING ME A SHRUBBERY! (zone 6A) - #10 by disc4tw as they are both very attractive ground covers. My huckleberry is on the tail end of blooming right now
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I’ve had that Emerald Carpet raspberry choked out twice by leaves overwinter.
I’m a big fan of letting leaves lie to mulch and it seems this was too much for the plant.
I’ve got the “once I’ve killed it three times I’m done” rule and this one might not get a third chance.
My vote is alpine strawberries… I like Yellow Wonder as it can fruit first year from seed and goes like gangbusters the second year.
Scott
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They are nice too if you don’t want a spreading growth habit (as I’m sure you know Scott).
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Yellow Wonder is a clumping strawberry and it doesn’t send out runners…
Scott
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