Ummm, what are 'support' trees and what is 'food forest'? Not trying to be a sa, just never heard these terms.
Twenty-some years back we took a couple acres of the family farm that had been a combination of cattle pasture and rotational crops. Dad was a pretty conscientious land manager and was in pretty good shape from a fertility standpoint. There wasn't a tree on the place then, but now have plenty. We've had some luck with Arbor day trees, Dad planted an entire field behind my house with DNR trees some 10 years ago and those are looking great, we've bought some local nursery trees that are doing great.
BUT - Now I find myself in the position of taking the chainsaw to several trees I put in 'cause I thought they would "look good" to make room for some fruit bearing trees. I wish I had thought more carefully earlier because I could be enjoying apples, peaches and maybe some pears instead of working to get the ornamentals out and productive items in. My advice (worth every dime you're paying for it) to the IP who seems to have the same opportunity I had years ago: Contact the DNR, but first think about how these trees can help in long term preparedness and yearly fresh, healthy food enjoyment.
My Wife and I purchased ~6ac of "farm land" over the winter. It is completely bare, We're going to build a home and garage/workshop later this year. I'll be converting the bare field to grass this spring, starting a garden finally, and want to get as many trees planted as possible.
So, when is the best time to plant containerized (retail) trees? Any difference for bare root? I've noticed all the home stores have gotten lots of trees in already, so I'd love to start buying and planting as soon as is safe.
Any tips for me? We're going from less than 1/4ac, to almost 6, so I'm beyond excited. While this place might not be my perfect prep/SHTF location, it will beat living in Indy. My dreams are bigger than my wallet, so I'm sure it will be a test of my patience.
With great land comes great responsibility....
...meaning you'll have a sh!tload of grass to mow. Mowing a lot of grass can get pricey, once you start looking at those dixie choppers. That much acreage would warrant a tractor and a half-bat in my opinion.
There are a bunch of nut trees (pecan, walnut, almond, hickory etc.), then sugar maple (maple syrup), pawpaw (Kentucky banana), fruit trees, berry bushes (cherry, blue berry, goose berry), ground level (strawberries wintergreen), underground (ground nuts, sun chokes), climbers (hops, kiwi, grapes). Just an example. All that can be planted together in a food forest, edible landscape.
To type it all out I could be here a while. Here is an example from a property I did. It is 50 acres but closer to what some of you have than a suburban example. http://wolfbeachfarms.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/design-public.pdf
I drew up a quick (terrible) ms paint sketch of how I'm thinking about laying out my initial order of trees. Since we haven't started building yet, I have to try and stay clear of the possible construction zone. I plan to try to make the empty spots go to work for me more once construction is over.
So, tell me how you'd lay it out differently. (The garage, home, septic, and pond are all proposed sites)
not to scale... Property is ~800'x300'
forgot to draw it, but a solar panel array will be either on or near the detached garage, so I need to keep the southern view open around that building.
Holy cow! That is 10lbs of doo doo in a 5lb sack! All of that on .55 acres is going to be very crowded.