so far my food forest has only got me compliments from my neighbors. i turned my steep weed covered ditch into a perennial wildflower garden. the folks walking by have asked me how i did it. all i did is kill off the weeds and scatter 5bs of wildflower seeds. I’m also starting to add medicinal/ edible flowers underplanted in my food forest which should also help it look nice also.
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I sometimes entertain clients and after cleaning up the grounds to show it off they are often envious of the nursery and orchard that surround my house, the flower plantings to provide my wife tea roses, food for birds and various pollinators and the big productive vegetable garden almost at its feet. “Oooo… this is like visiting a vineyard in Sonoma CA.” That is high on the list of compliments because for many of my clients that is their retirement dream- owning their own vineyard and producing $150 bottles of wine. .
Some of them pay for a company to plant and tend kitchen gardens for them and those companies don’t tend to be run by real gardeners. However, they know more about it then many of my clients, and they are pleased to get a couple dozen tomatoes, fresh basil and enough lettuce for their salads. But they tend to be impressed by a real country home vegetable factory.
They do sometimes complain that my own orchard looks better tended than the one they pay me to take care of.
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We don’t get enough rain to to mow the native grass. It just declines and dies out. You end up with weeds (wild flowers) in the summer and dirt in the winter. The dormant grass holds a lot of moisture in the soil during the winter.
Some of the neighbors are afraid of fire and would rather have bare dirt. I won’t be participating in that lol.
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you guys need as much plants as you can get to keep your soil in place. i can see cacti, lavender and sage growing as understory plants there. I’m sure there are many others.
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Personally i find chaotically planted nature scenes that are well spaced to be incredibly beautiful. Especially trees in a forest.
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My soil is surprisingly good since it hasn’t been abused. This pic is of the W. side 8 acres I haven’t messed with. This is what it looks like during summer. I don’t even let people walk on it 
Some of my neighbors don’t approve and think it should be mowed 
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looks good! keep up the good work!
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Thanks, but that’s just Mother Nature right there. It’ll be awhile before the edge reaches over into that area.
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What a great view. And the mature trees as well!
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LOl! This thread began years ago with someone commenting how ugly our orchards are. They argued for planting flowers and other landscaping feature which quite a few of us already do. LOL I grow a lot of flowers and keep some weeds because they feed pollinators. It’s early. I have not worked my flower beds yet. But with the fruit trees blooming, things are quite attractive in my view. Here’s my most recent video tour.
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my garden is a safe space for everyone who is kind and empathetic. it’s ugly because I am poor and ugly. there’s chairs and a hammock. I got lemonade.
I don’t want perfection or fields of lavender. I don’t want to grapht or think about calling other people “snowflakes”, I get enough snow already. if people are sensitive there is a shady, soft spot for em here.
if people are rough and tough and mean they can help dig a ditch with me.
American orchards are ugly, because in America there ain’t a thing wrong with being ugly. all the pretty is on the inside.
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Doesn’t look ugly to me. Full of great color and very soothing to look at.
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Same, voles are a major problem here. I want things open so they fear the owls, foxes and housecats on patrol.
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There was an elderly couple that got taken in by one of their children and their house for sold. The flipper took every last plant on their property down. Took out the shape ponds, pommagranite, and others I couldn’t identify that had lived there for years and the path through it all. I guess Americans prefer a plain green lawn unless they are gardeners. And even then don’t do research and get discouraged by getting the wrong plants.
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My wife always comments that whoever eventually buys our house will have to deal with the thousands of bulbs that come up every spring.
Putting down sod will be a waste as the bulbs will just rip through it in time…
Scott
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pretty sure property “investors” in general, want every wall off -white and every bit of ground plain grass, as a blank slate. most don’t allow tenants to garden or paint, either. there’s always exceptions but especially the companies that buy houses do this and yes, blank slate is very ugly.
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