People handle landscaping in a hugely inefficient and expensive way with a lot of waste in Florida, and I don't know why. They hire people to trim and haul away all the good organic matter in their yards. Then they hire more people to spray poison all over where they live. Then they hire more people to haul in better soil or more plants when the old ones do poorly. Then they hire more people to water, and pay for a lot of excess water even in times of consumption restrictions and drought. Then they pay more people to bring in store-bought mulch.
But it's completely free to use all the various palm fronds, leaves, limbs, and other refuse right on the soil underneath the plants as they fall. When you do so, the plants get far more nutrition and are happy, and in many cases they get back the same nutrients they need, like for instance banana peels under a banana plant help with potassium. This means they don't need pesticides, nor fertilizers. Plus, they are always mulched so they need a lot less water, and don't need weed killer. And, there is no need to pay anyone to do it. I often just weave the fronds under the plant without bothering to chip, since they break down rather quickly here, when the plants have grown big enough to cover it so it doesn't look messy. When the plants are still small and the ground underneath is very visible, I have a fairly cheap chipper/shredder I bought off Amazon for those spots.
It's an easily self-sustaining method, is far better for the health of one's family and community, costs far less, and takes far less time than the way most of my neighbors handle their yards. It's like our culture has lost all contact with common sense. I don't know who first tricked Floridians into the idea that you need a landscaper and a ton of poison and extensive watering and fake mulch to have a nice yard, and then you need to go out and pay outrageous prices for crummy old produce at a grocery store that was shipped from 4,000 miles away, and then go to a doctor and pay outrageous prices for chemicals that were designed to do exactly the same thing as a plant originally could do for your health... but it amazes me that in a region that grows so many plants so easily - many of which are both edible and medicinal - almost all of this space is completely wasted, tons of money is thrown out the window, people actually aren't all that healthy, and the land and water is full of poison. None of it makes any sense to me.
We live in a natural paradise that has been completely ruined by human ego and ignorance. Plus then everybody complains they don't have enough money, when a huge chunk of their income goes to the grocery bill and landscapers and doctors to fix the cancer and autoimmune reactions we get from the poisons we put in our own homes.
I feel a bit like Grimal myself (although I am in the Upper Keys), because the person who owned my house before me was a perfect example of all that waste - growing a bunch of plants that were not native to here and had no edible or medicinal purpose whatsoever, and trimming and poisoning them within an inch of their lives. 3 years of daily work on this yard all by myself to completely overhaul everything in it including the soil, and I still have a long way to go. But I hope that I will leave something much nicer behind than what I inherited when I first arrived here. Granted a massive hurricane could come and wipe it all into the ocean, lol, but fingers crossed that won't happen!
I have some 300 species/varieties of plants here now, all packed into a single yard, and quite a few are finally beginning to take hold in the soil and do something.
My goal is to be almost completely self-sustaining someday. Right now, the yard accounts for about 30% of my groceries, and 20% of my medication (which is saying a lot, because I am fighting a life-threatening illness and that is very expensive). Each year I plan to increase those numbers. I'm growing multiple plants that have complete proteins, as well as root vegetables/carbs, vegetables, tons of fruits, and a large variety of seasonings. The vast majority of the plants have a dual medicinal purpose, and a few are rare strictly medicinal plants with powerful properties that make up for the fact that you can't eat them. So at some point, aside from buying a few items like rice, I really would want for very little.
It's been a huge amount of work, but so great to finally see this year some little bit of fruit and other foods growing in every month of the year. Right now they're just very small amounts because the plants are young, but each year there should be better yield. Plus, many of the plants are already making new plants, which can help supplement my income a little bit as I sell off some of these rare fruiting plants to other locals. But I am not quite at that point, the yard needs to be more established first.
The yard also helps to make friends, as people are very curious about various unusual plants I have here, or are grateful to share in a harvest of something they've never tried.
I truly can't imagine why everyone doesn't do this!
It's difficult work, and sometimes plants die and that's devastating, but it's fulfilling on nearly every level.
Topic: Wonderful "off grid" dry tropical fruit farm story and methods (Read 4188 times)