Action Oriented: Part 2
How to start a micronursery for free, and grow food for three generations
In this series we are asking doomer optimists to give us a little taste of the kinds of actions they are taking in the face of the doom. The idea here is to start to map the breadth of the available activities out there that could get one started on a path toward something optimistic.
Just like our mini-manifestos, we all don’t have to agree about the best activities to pursue, or the ways in which we pursue them. What we agree on is that we should all be taking steps toward action.
It’s a coincidence that doomer optimism shortens to DO, but it could be our mantra, “do!”
Part 1: Small lot urban edible garden by Prasan (dhanuraashi@)
How to start a micronursery for free, and grow food for three generations
by Sim
Why micronurseries
These days so much of our food comes highly processed — or at least long-travelled and underripe — but did you know humans once survived and thrived off perennial, calorie-rich nuggets that grew from shrubs and trees? They're called nuts, and they're the future (and past) of food.
Nut trees are long-lived carbon-sequestering machines. They feed a wide array of wildlife and provide high-quality wood at the end of their life. Why shouldn't we grow more nut trees?
Many food-producing trees can be grown in the way described below, but this article is going to focus on growing nut trees.
Things you'll need and where to source them
Nursery pots (as many as you can get your hands on)
Nursery pots are pretty common. They're those flimsy black plastic pots you get when you buy plants from a nursery. Source from your neighbours, a local landscaping company, or a local nursery; they usually have stacks of them and will either give them away or sell them for cheap. If you can't find nursery pots, buckets, or even cardboard boxes can be used in a pinch.
Seeds
If you don't know what you want to grow or what you might have access to, check out iNaturalist or FallingFruit to see what kind of food trees grow in your area. You can often get a fairly accurate location of trees nearby. One of the best times to go out is in the autumn. By this time trees will be seeding and you'll at least be able to get an idea of when they'll be ready for harvest. You might have to wait, but it'll be worth it. It's a good idea to select for desirable traits — like trees that have sweeter fruit or larger nuts. Or trees that produce more than others. Though genetics from seed are usually a gamble, collecting only the largest nuts/fruit from the most prolific tree won't hurt your chances.
Soil
This particular recipe calls for a mixture of organic waste materials, local dirt, and a scoop of forest soil (if you have access to it). You're going to want to collect 2:1 soil base (dirt, sand, clay, loam, whatever) to organic materials (grass clipping, leaves, sawdust, arborist chips) and a scoop of forest soil (we'll talk about this later).
A shovel
You'll need something big enough to scoop a wheelbarrow or to full of soil.
A wheelbarrow or a large bucket
A wheelbarrow is the ideal tool for mixing growing medium, but a 5-gallon bucket will do the trick too.
The preparation
Now that you have all the necessary materials, it's time to gather the final ingredient; patience.
Mixing the soil
For the base, you can use whatever you have around — sand or dirt will work fine — just scoop some up into the wheelbarrow.
Next, mix in some organic matter - like sawdust, leaf mould (old decaying leaves), grass clippings, making sure you have twice as much base material as organic material.
Finally, and this is optional, you'll want a helping of forest soil — or soil from a nearby wild area. This will ensure your soil mixture is inoculated with all sorts of good bacteria and fungi that come from a functioning ecosystem. It'll give your plants a headstart.
Cold stratification
If you live in a temperate zone (somewhere with a frosty winter), you'll need to prepare to tuck your nuts or fruit away to cold stratify. This is the period of over-wintering a seed endures before germinating in the spring.
There are a few simple ways to stratify seed:
Put seeds into a plastic ziplock bag (or a salad clamshell!) with a small handful of your soil mixture. Moisten the soil slightly before you put it in the bag. Leave the bag in your shed, garage or your fridge to overwinter.
Fill up your nursery pots with your soil mix, planting your seeds a few inches down into the soil. Store somewhere protected from weather like a garage or shed.
Fill your pots with layers of seed and soil, until each pot is full, and store them somewhere out of the weather, but where they can still experience the cold.
Don't forget to label your seeds!!!
Depending on how long winter is in your area (let's average 90-120 days), you'll want to let your seed cold stratify for about this long. This is where you'll need to tap your patience.
3-5 months later…
Time to plant?
As things start to warm up outside, you can check in on your seeds.
For method #1, you can take the seeds out of the fridge, and leave them somewhere warmer to acclimate them to spring. Before long you'll see any viable seed start to shoot out a taproot.
For method #2, you'll just have to keep an eye on them until they emerge. This method takes patience, as they'll likely be focused on root growth for a few weeks before any top growth becomes visible.
For method #3, you'll need to wait until the weather is truly warmer. Gently pour your pots of layered seed back into your bucket or wheelbarrow, and fish out any germinating seeds. Be very careful of the taproot, as they tend to be fragile.
Once the taproot (a long whitish tendril) makes an appearance, your seeds are ready to be planted. Fill up your nursery pots with the soil you mixed in the fall, and plant your seeds. At this point, you'll want no more than one seed per pot. Don't forget to label them.
As your plants root, and start to put out leaves, it will be tempting to baby them, but DO NOT BABY THEM. If you want strong, resilient trees, (yes, you do) it's important they experience some neglect. Keep your young trees partially shaded, with a few hours of sunlight per day. Most nut trees usually start as an understory tree — shaded by relatives — biding their time until there's an opening in the canopy — sometimes waiting many years. Ensure your trees' soil is moist for the first week or so, but after that, give them a deep watering no more than once per week depending on weather and climate.
Now what?
Ideally, you've planted more than enough trees to plant out in your own space. Ideally, you'll have enough to share with neighbours, and a few to trade with other local gardeners for more interesting plants. Additionally, a healthy nut tree baby will easily go for $10.
It's probably fairly safe to plant out your trees into their forever home after a year of solid growth, or two at the most — if they have a big pot, or a safe space to continue to grow throughout the year.
I'm not an expert. I've only planted a few dozen trees over the past few years. I'm new to this but happy to share my experiments, and what has worked for me. Everything I've shared here was (almost) foolproof, and was easily accomplished, complete with ignorance and neglect.
About the author
Sim is a proud papa, adventurer, nature lover, gardener, permaculturist, forager, designer, food nerd, and an advocate for a regenerative and communal future. In his downtime, he's growing Permapeople.org — an open-data plant database complete with a seed-swapping marketplace and garden design tools.
Love it. Very useful info!