10 March 2009,

The Beautiful picture of a buttressed tree in the title above is a photo I took at Mt Glorious, QLD, of a Giant Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide excelsa) , the rainforset up there is just beautiful, with lianas, ferns, palms, figs, strangler figs.

I own a little block of land (left), 640m2, and would love to plant a rainforest here, but I need to grow food also, so Have had to compromise- also, this area is not rainforest, it is open forest, so conservationally, I should be planting species that grew here originally. What I am planting is a mixture of native (prefferably to this area) 'bush' foods, exotic foods and locally native plants. The exotic food plants are mainly hardy perennials, adapted to this climate.

The climate here is very hot in summer with most of the rainfall in early/late summer, and cool in winter, with the occasional frost in some areas. Although an hour south west of here they get a lot of frost. Working with the weather here, I can plant a many layered forest, as we get plenty of sun to penetrate the canopy, and most plants here can't cope with the full sun.

The land here was bare when I moved in a year ago, save for half a dozen young paperbark trees (Melaleuca quinquenervia), and a good sized bloodwood, just a little too close to the house for comfort, but I couldn't bear to cut it down.

So basically I am aiming for a food forest.The yard is divided into sections; front, back, side and kitchen garden. The soil here is quite sandy, so I am adding organic matter. I have planted so far;

Exotic fruit
Mango, Lychee, Papaya, Loquat, Avocado, Grape vines, Passionfruit vines, Lemon, Fig, Banana, Tamarillo

Native fruit
Native raspberry, Native Passionfruit, Carpobrotus-Pigface(Groundcover), Melastoma (shrub), Backhousia citriodora (smlTree), Alpinia caerulea (native ginger), Native mulberry (shrub), Austromyrtus dulcis (smlShrub), Pipturus argenteus – native mulberry (shrub)

Native vegetables
Dioscorea bulbifera (vine), Native Cordyline ,Eugenia reinwardtiana (shrub), Eustrephus latifolius(climber),Geitonoplesium cymosum (climber), Castanospermum australe (lgeTree)

Exotic vegetables
Pumpkins, Sweet potato, Tomato (self-seeds), Okra, Beans, Potato (am looking into a perennial alternative), millet, sorrel, dock, parsley, rosemary, other herbs, Choko

I am currently working on extending the growing space. i have been sheet mulching before planring, and putting a barrier around the fence line to stop the neighbours grass from grwing through and taking over, which it is trying really hard to do. Grass is my worst weed!

I will post some before and after photos when the plants have grown a bit more. If anyone wants specific info on how any of these plants grow, or seeds/cuttings ( in Australia) just let me know.