PLANTING DETAILS

THE “WHY” BEHIND THE DESIGN

The current center green space of driveway #1 at Kukulakila townhouse complex consists of 3 trees, none of which are native or provide any sort of yield, and turfgrass. The trees are weak due to incorrect pruning and compacted, nutrient poor soil and need to be removed and replaced.

This is the area that I have proposed a Food Forest prototype for the complex that can be diplictated throughout the property in different green space areas.

This area needs multi-layers of plant material to create visual interest, shade and an opportune growing environment for many of the suggested food producing crops. A large Mango tree planted in the NW corner is the anchor tree as it grows to 100 feet. Due to the location of where it is planted, it will provide some shade, but not too much to shade out all the crops. The next tree on the N side of the garden is an avocado tree, both trees provide dappled shade for the more shade tolerant underplanting of Mamaki trees and Asian greens such as Bok Choi, Tat Choi and Pac Choi.

Different species of citrus trees including Meyer lemon, limes, Calamansi, grapefruit, lemons and oranges are situated throughout the space in several strategic areas to create some seasonal shade for the understory planting and to avoid a mono culture as citrus as susceptible to scale and mealybug in a tropical environment. Larger shrubs including Cassava and Island spinach provide minimal daytime shade for the smaller plants such as peppers, okra, mixed herbs and sweet potato, which will help them get established after harvest and replanting. Papaya trees are also placed through the garden in groups as they need both male and female trees to produce fruit. By placing the Papayas in groupings, we can help to encourage yield.

The center of the area is the proposed storm water catchment space that would be sunken to between 1-3 feet to collect and contain water in heavy storms. This is the space where Taro (Kalo) would be planted as it is tolerant of both wet and dry soil. Surrounding the edge are bananas, as they prefer more moisture than all the other plants in the food forest. They would be able to absorb the extra water needed by growing roots toward the water catchment area. Sweet potato plants are also suggested for around the edge of the sunken area as with additional water, the leaves grow larger and more quickly, making these sweet potato vines the ones we would harvest for the leaves and shoots, where the ones in the drier areas will be harvested for the tubers.

ECOSYSTEM MIMICRY ACTIVITY 5.2 STACKING IN TIME AND SPACE BERNICE FIELDING

HAWAIIAN COMMON NAME LATIN NAME VERTICAL SPACE OCCUPIED TIME TO MATURE YIELD NAME

Avocado Persea americana N/A 30-60 feet 5-10 years Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana Banana Mai`a 10 - 15 feet 6 months 'Silk'. Bok Choi, Tat Choi, Pac Choi Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis N/A 1-2 feet 2 months Cassava Manihot esculenta N/A 9 feet 8-12 months Citrus sp. Citrus sp. N/A 18-25 feet 3 years Hawaiian pepper Capsicum frutescens N/A 2-3 feet 6-12 months Island Spinach Abelmoschus manihot Pele 6 feet 2-3 months Mango Mangifera indica N/A 100 feet 5 years Okra Abelmoschus esculentus N/A 3-5 feet 2-3 months Papaya Carica papaya N/A 6-15 feet 3 years 3-4 months for tubers, 1- Sweet potato Ipomoea batatas U`ala 9 inches 2 months for leaves Taro Colocasia esculenta Kalo 3-6 feet 9-12 months Waimea Pipturus Pipturus albidus Mamaki 6-20 feet (Average is 10-12 feet) 6 months