![foodforestwork.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/03hIQ6Hh-food-forest-work.jpg)

Are you planning to plant a bunch of new fruit trees, berry bushes, or other perennial plants next year? Right now is a great time to get your land ready with sheet-mulching for planting in the next fall, winter, or spring.

On my own homestead I have been gathering cardboard and wood chips to use for sheet-mulching. I also like to mix in some newspaper or other paper material to use around existing plants.

If you look at the above picture you can see an area that I was working on today. All the space between the logs and the hedgerow that is covered with wood chips was knee high grass. Some of my poor plants were disappearing in the grass!

I'm going to be putting sheet-mulch down every week now through early July and I may keep going through the summer.

I need a lot of cardboard...

## Why Now is the Right Time to Prepare Land
![cardboardsheetmulching.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/CkLU6t4K-cardboard-sheet-mulching.jpg)

That cherry was planted last winter into the existing grass. I had not prepared the land before hand so I had to dig out the grass and I just recently got the area around it mulched.

I wish I had prepared the land last year. If I had I would have been planting into nice, moist soil with no grass to deal with.

So this year I'm putting sheet-mulch down now. The grass and cardboard will breakdown over the summer. Then when fall comes around and I start planting my new perennial plants the soil will be ready to go.

It will be so much easier to plant in the prepared land than in grass. Basically, the more work I do now the less I need to do in the fall and the better my plants will do since they can get established without dealing with competition from grass.

## Other Perks of Mulching in Spring/Summer
![foodforestmulching.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/hO4IicEp-food-forest-mulching.jpg)

The other reason I want to mulch now is that this is my way of "watering" my plants. All the grass currently growing in my food forest will compete with my food forest plants for water and nutrients.

But if I sheet-mulch the grass it will die and then decompose which will release nutrients and the soil will actually become more moist than it is now.

This will help my plants deal with the summer drought and keep me from needing to water.

I'm also adding a bunch of logs and some rock piles which will create moist micro-climates and further help my plants deal with the drought.

## Moving Forward
![20190523_153328.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/wildhomesteading/oWZjnhx5-20190523_153328.jpg)

While all this open ground will be covered with wood chips it's going to look a bit bare. So my next step will be figuring out what to plant!

Most of the areas I'm sheet-mulching are fairly open so even with fruit trees and berry bushes I'm going to plant I will need to plant sun loving plants.

So I'm going to start researching perennial vegetables and sun loving native edible vegetables that can handle the sun. I love the idea of walking around harvesting berries and fruit with perennial vegetables growing in the open areas.

Eventually the trees and shrubs will create shady areas and I will need to add in some shade loving plants but that will take time.

So what about you? If you have areas that you want to plant in the fall then now is the time to get the area prepped for planting.

Check out the links below for more information on sheet-mulching, food forests, and perennial vegetables.

Thank you!

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![Wild-Homesteading-New-outlines-50-x-250.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcEDeAQeBBpG2CJ8L5uQoxNQjD2dD9Ae9peS83Qtrd2GJ/Wild-Homesteading-New-outlines-50-x-250.png)

**Weekly Blog Post**
- [19 Ways to Deal with Drought on the Homestead](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/deal-with-drought-on-the-homestead/)
- *Companion Post on Steemit -* [19 Ways to Make Your Homestead Resilient to Drought](https://steemit.com/homesteading/@wildhomesteading/19-ways-to-make-your-homestead-resilient-to-drought)

**Related Blog Posts**
- [How to Get Started with Sheet Mulching](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/sheet-mulching/)
- [What is a Food Forest? (And How to Get Started)](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/food-forest/)
- [Plant Once With Perennial Vegetables](https://www.wildhomesteading.com/perennial-vegetables-save-time-energy/)

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*Follow me for more posts all about homesteading, working with nature, and growing your own food: **@wildhomesteading***

*And check out my blog - **[www.wildhomesteading.com](https://www.wildhomesteading.com)** for weekly in-depth posts on working with nature to grow your own food and start/build your homestead.*