Fruit Understory

Our gardens feature more than 25 fruit trees. The soil under them used to be bare and compacted. During this project, we worked to plant perennials under a dozen of the trees. Under our stone fruit trees is now our artichokes, yarrow, yucca and various salvias. Under our citrus trees, is a bed of calendula, native beach strawberry and feverfew. Understory plantings help bring nutrients down into the soil, attract pollinators to the tree, retain soil moisture and keep erosion and weeds (!) at bay. We are still experimenting with under stories that are hardy enough to allow students to occasionally trample them.