the guild for our little plum tree

Our little plum tree is also situated in the fruit orchard. I have been told it is a "Victoria", which is one of the self-fertile old English varieties.

Our little plum tree to the left

The tree will be protected from the north-western wind by a ribes sanguinum and some pine trees in the neighbour's garden. I also added three sea buckthorns. I love the sight and powerful taste of their berries. When I found out that they also are excellent nitrogen fixing plants and wind barriers, I did not hesitate. We bought one male and two female bushes and hope that will do the trick to get some berries.

sketch in my notebook on the little plum tree guild

The plants we added to create our little plum tree guild are:

- sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides, duindoorn, havtorn): nitrogen-fixing, edible berries, wind barrier, shrub layer, berries and shelter for birds, host plant for butterflies, medicinal, pioneer plant
- vetch (vicia lathyroides, lathyruswikke, vaar-vikke): ground cover, nutrient accumulator, nitrogen-fixing
- red clover (trifolium pratense, rode klaver, roed kloever): ground cover, nutrient accumulator, pollination insects, nitrogen-fixing
- wild strawberries (fragaria vesca, bosaardbei, skov-jordbær) : edible fruit, ground cover, nutrient accumulator
- borage (borago officinalis, berganie of komkommerkruid, hjulkrone): herbaceous layer, supporting the taste of strawberries, edible flower, pollination insects
- nasturtium (tropaeolum, Oost-Indische kers, tallerkensmækker) : vine layer, attracts aphids, pollination insects, edible flowers, mulch, barrier
- gooseberry (ribes uva-crispa, stekelbes, stikkelsbaer) "Invicta" and "Rolanda": shrub layer, pollination insects, edible fruit
- chives (allium schoenoprasum, bieslook, purloeg): herbaceous layer, edible, pollination insects,
- phacelia (phacelia tanacetifolia, bijenvoer, honningurt) : pollination insects, nutrition accumulator, ground cover, aeration of soil

 Or to list them by some of their functions:
- nutrient accumulator: sea buckthorn, vetch, phacelia, red clover, strawberries
- mulch: nasturtium, vetch, red clover
- edible fruit: strawberry, gooseberry, sea buckthorn
- edible flower: borage, nasturtium, chives
- edible leaf: chives
- attracting pollinating insects: phacelia, chives, berries, nasturtium, red clover
- ground cover: strawberries, phacelia, red clover, vetch

It sounds pretty impressive, but most of the plants mentioned here were planted as seeds. I have no idea which of these plants will ever reach the full grown size. In addition, other challenges might turn up, so we will need to monitor the guild and add or maybe remove plants as we go along. 

Victoria plum