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« on: October 08, 2015, 11:48:25 PM »
I work at a Middle School in west palm beach, Fl zone 10b and the school was looking at starting a vegetable garden, and that sort of changed into lets do more of a backyard kitchen inspired demo gardens from around the world. more perennial plantings, less annuals etc. anyway, I recomended they stick to more herbaceous or shrubby types of fruit trees like papayas and bananas, citrus and guavas, but the desire to have other fruit trees is pretty strong.
Therefore, since this forum is worldwide and there are well traveled folks here I'd like to pick your brains a bit; I have several questions for you:
first a little background info on the space: the garden area is well protected between 2 story buildings that run North-South, roughly a 120' x50' planting area, 6+ hours of direct sun a day. We are hoping to represent the following countries or regions of the world: latin america and the caribbean, India/Asia, and maybe western Africa. but, I'm open to other ideas. also if anyone would like to partner with us, volunteer their expertise, seeds, plants, cuttings, discounts etc for the school garden let me know.
Q1: what trees/herbs/ perennial vegetables would you suggest or recommend as typical/authentic to represent each demo backyard garden?
for example, for a caribbean inspired garden I would think of: sour orange, avocado, yuca, pigeon peas, plantains, oregano, chayote squash, etc.
Q2: What fruit trees would fit the design without completely overcrowding everything else. or (my suggestion) what dwarf varieties can be grown as a specimen in a large pot to dwarf it further, almost indefinitely (for a good 7-10 years) if possible?
Q3: could you recommend any local sources for mulch, topsoil, plants, and trees that would deliver and maybe sell at a discount?
I will print your comments and suggestions and push them through the bureaucratic machine.
thanks in advance.