Early stages of a small forest garden
There is a small veg patch area of my garden that I’ve tinkered with but never really put much work into. Last year I decided I want to make it a more useful area of the garden. The term useful can have many meanings: food for us, habitat for wildlife, food for wildlife, nurture the soil. All of these can be combined in a garden using forest garden principles.
The idea behind forest gardening is to replicate the way a natural forest ecosystem functions on a small scale. By planting in layers, you can create a diverse and productive garden that uses the space efficiently.
The first layer is the canopy layer in which I have a rowan tree (Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’). I also have some cuttings of perennial kale ‘Taunton Deane’ which can be trained to be the size of a small tree. These two plants will be planted alongside each other to create a canopy layer.
The second layer is the shrub layer. Currently I have Kalettes, an annual brassica that produces little florets that are a cross between a brussel sprout and kale. It had an infestation of white fly and woolly aphid recently, but I was able to control it with jets of water from the hose. Sun flowers bring in the pollinators and provide seeds for birds. I have planted blackberries along the fence - one is a vigorous grower that I’m planning to train in a spiral along the wall.
The third layer is the herbaceous layer. I have a perennial kale cutting from a gardening friend, parsley, calendula, wallflowers and dianthus for a bit of spring colour. Two small strips of bare ground either side of the Kalette are planted with garlic, one right at the front in full sun and one to the side which may get shaded by the plants either side. It will be interesting to see how they do and if there will be any difference in yield.
Finally, the ground cover layer. I have underplanted with spinach, alpine strawberries (from my mum’s garden, self propagated ones I dug out of the gravel on her drive) self-seeded forget-me-not. The forget-me-not I leave as ground cover and early spring colour then after flowering pull out some to make space for other emerging plants and leave others to set seed.
It’s a work in progress. I have lots of ideas for more things I want to add and it will evolve and grow as I observe and tinker. I’m excited to see what plant combinations arise and how the plants grow and thrive together.
Early stages of a mini forest garden.
