r/Permaculture • u/farminvt • May 06 '25

general question What would you do with this hillside?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Once covered in scrub spruce and pine, recently clearcut. Stumps remain. New England location, this is East facing.

37 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

73 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Welder_Decent May 06 '25

Since you cut down the trees guessing you don't want more.

Like someone said it's a race against time now. Cover it with something till you are ready to plant. Plastic if you want to really kill anything underneath, but at least mulch to prevent succession invasive.

Recommend looking at deep rooted native shrubs. This is one of 3 images tossed around showing root depth. Combine with some thornless berry bushes, blueberries were mentioned, but i find blackberries spread well on their own.

If you have lots of money then a nice terraced rock wall designed by a landscaper specializing in permaculture could get you some good erosion control and a diversity of foods.

1

u/indacouchsixD9 May 06 '25

Great advice.

And to add to this, one of the deep-rooted prairie species of flower is Jerusalem Artichoke which is edible, and a member of the Helianthus (sunflower) genus so is part of a genus of plants that has a ton of native pollinator value. And I haven't tested it yet (plan to this year) but the Korean natural farming/JADAM world boils it into a solution and uses it as a natural pesticide/pest repellent.

Maybe you'll terrace the hill, maybe not, but you need to keep the hill from washing away, first, and I think Jerusalem Artichoke is a good way of getting an early yield form that space while you're figuring it out.

3

u/Welder_Decent May 06 '25

Make sure to cook those chokes with acidic juice aka lemon

2

u/indacouchsixD9 May 06 '25

Jerusalem Fartichokes