Posted: January 25, 2022
An Indigenous gardening model that fits today’s landscapes.
Sunflowers were one of the flowering plants indigenous farmers planted near their Three Sisters gardens. This Tithonia, or Mexican Sunflower, attracts pollinators and beneficial insects to maintain a healthy community of plants. Photo taken by author
I recently attended a lecture focusing on the use of native plants in a suburban home landscape. I was conversing with the lecturer afterwards about various uses of beneficial native trees and shrubs in suburban landscaping. When we choose to plant native trees, shrubs and perennials around homes it provides good quality food for insects, birds and small mammals, as well as healthier soil. But what else can they do for a gardening homeowner?
Natives are often less fussy about their care. They need less fertilizer, though annual applications of compost add fertility and maintain soil health. And you don't want to apply insecticides and fungicides to them, except in the unlikely case of a severe outbreak of a pest or disease. But let's not forget they are not completely self-maintaining. Sometimes a particular plant may like your growing conditions too much and need some management; bee balm and mountain mint are rambunctious examples in my yard.
The conversation turned to the possibility of an edible landscape using native fruit and nut trees. Persimmons, pawpaws, pecans, blueberries, and serviceberries are a few of the natives that can become the centerpiece of an edible landscape, a planting that provides food for the gardener. And this is not a definitive list. These gardens can be small with one or two centerpiece trees, or large enough to provide fruit all season if you have the space. These plantings don't have to be native; including familiar trees like apples or peaches in the mix is certainly acceptable. These gardens also include smaller shrubs and perennials that provide food for the gardener as well as beneficial insects and songbirds. Since you are the gardener, you can decide what grows in your garden.
The lecturer then asked if what we were talking about was permaculture. What I described was an example of polyculture. Permaculture is more of a philosophy or a lifestyle that includes polyculture food production. Permaculture started when Australian biologist Bill Mollison saw how nature sustainably managed the use of energy (sunlight) and available resources (soil elements, water, and air) and used this knowledge to build and maintain farms as self-sustaining plant and animal communities.
Permaculture is recognized as a system in which the landowner enters the natural balance of their place without becoming a disturbance in that place. Permaculturists try to live in a place, using the resources of that place, and maintain that area's natural balance as much as possible. Often, it is a community effort where tasks and products are shared among families. It doesn't seem entirely possible in my mind, even if it's a communal effort. It takes a lot of work and knowledge - and chocolate doesn't grow in this climate. Where permaculture is a lifestyle, polyculture gardens and agroforestry are techniques.
But it is possible to take our gardening up a notch or two. Edible landscapes are polycultures that take us a lot closer to the goal of living on our land along side our wild plant and animal neighbors. The concept of a self-maintaining food system is not new, or even original. It's been going on for millennia, and small communities of indigenous growers who are keepers of this agricultural wisdom are scattered worldwide in pockets of territory largely hidden from modern society.
All over the world, agriculture was perfected by indigenous communities, each different in their unique geographical homelands. Each group fine-tuned their techniques, along with their seed stock, trees, and shrubs to the location they inhabited. They understood how soil and growing conditions can differ between different plots of land and the variance of weather conditions between them.
In south central PA we can look north to New York to see how the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Federation) and their agricultural traditions are examples of permaculture. Over generations, they saved seed from the tastiest, most productive, and most reliable plants. These indigenous farmers weren't averse to trying new varieties of food plants either, considering corn, beans, and winter squashes - the Three Sisters - are not native to this area. These food sources arrived here through trade routes that brought them from Mexico and Central America.
From what I've read of their agroforestry, these people favored local fruits and nuts but didn't refine their agricultural effort to the extent they did for annual crops. They maintained areas of fruits like pawpaws, persimmon, and various berries to supplement their Three Sisters diet. Nuts, especially chestnuts, provided additional protein, plant oils, and starch. Leaves, flowers, roots, bark from various species of trees, and herbaceous plants provided flavorings. These agroforestry areas and the surrounding unmanaged forests were also their pharmacy. Hunting and fishing also provided high-quality fresh and preserved food, too. Let's not forget maple syrup, their principal sweetener.
My yard includes native and non-native shrubs and trees which were primarily planted for the food they produce. It started six years ago and last fall we had our first pawpaws. Even if I consider only the pawpaws, it was satisfying to eat this delicious fruit. But these trees also provide compostable leaves in the fall, and potentially host the larvae of the beautiful zebra swallowtail butterfly. And the seeds I've scattered may become new pawpaws. What turns a solitary nut or fruit tree into a polyculture garden is expanding the area around the tree with other food plants. My pawpaw garden includes blueberries, herbs, perennial onions, and pollinator-friendly perennials. (The blueberries are off to the side. Remember they need acid soil and that needs to be maintained differently.)
The inclusion of food-producing trees, shrubs, and herbs to your yard expands its potential for producing fresh, nutritious food for you. Judicious choices include herbs and perennials which also provide food for pollinators and beneficial insects, thereby expanding the ecological value of your piece of suburban landscape. This could be the start of a new generation of living with nature.
Debby Luquette is a Penn State Master Gardener from Adams County. The Penn State Cooperative Extension of Adams County is located at 670 Old Harrisburg Road, Suite 204, Gettysburg, phone 334-6271.
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