Forest gardening
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2008-07-09T02:18:19Z
Granitethighs
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added category:sustainability
[[Image:Forestgarden2.jpg|thumbnail|Robert Hart's forest garden in Shropshire, England]]'''Forest gardening''' (also known as 3-Dimensional Gardening) is a [[food]] production and [[land management]] system based on replicating [[woodland]] [[ecosystem]]s, substituting [[tree]]s (such as [[fruit]] or [[Nut (fruit)|nut]] trees), bushes, [[shrubs]], [[herb]]s and [[vegetable]]s which have [[ecological yield|yields]] directly useful to mankind. By exploiting the premise of [[companion planting]], these can be intermixed to grow on multiple levels in the same area, as do the plants in a forest.
In part based on the model of the [[Kerala]]n [[home gardens]], temperate-climate forest gardening was pioneered by the late [[Robert Hart (forest gardener)|Robert Hart]] on his one eighth of an acre (500 m²) plot at [[Wenlock Edge]] in [[Shropshire]].
Robert began the project over thirty years ago with the intention of providing a healthy and therapeutic environment for himself and his brother Lacon, born with severe [[Learning disability|learning disabilities]].
Starting as relatively conventional smallholders, Robert soon discovered that maintaining large annual [[vegetable]] beds, rearing [[livestock]] and taking care of an [[orchard]] were tasks beyond their strength. However, he also observed that a small bed of [[perennial plant|perennial]] vegetables and [[herb]]s they had planted up was looking after itself with little or no intervention. This led him to evolve the concept of the "Forest Garden": Based on the observation that the natural [[forest]] can be divided into distinct layers or "storeys", he used [[inter-cropping]] to develop an existing small orchard of apples and pears into an edible [[polyculture]] landscape consisting of seven levels.
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[[Image:Forgard2-003.gif|thumb|445px|The seven layers of the forest garden]]
==Woodland gardening==
[[Ken Fern]] and [[Plants for a Future]] adopted the name "Woodland Gardening".
A key critique of Hart's system was in the selection of plants used.
Most of the traditional crops grown today such as [[carrot]]s are sun loving plants
not well selected for the more shady forest garden system. Fern's idea was that
for a successful temperate forest garden a wider range of shade tolerant
plants would need to be used. To this end Plants For A Future compiled a [http://www.pfaf.org plant database] suitable for such a system.
The [http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/ Agroforestry Research Trust] has a 2 acre forest garden, next to the [[Schumacher College]] in [[Dartington]], [[Devon]]. It makes heavy use of [[ground cover]] plants to restrict the growth of weeds.
There has been some criticism as to whether the [[home gardens]] system developed in the [[tropics]] are a suitable design for use in a [[temperate]] climate.
==See also==
{{Portal|Sustainable development|Sustainable development.svg}}
* [[Agroecology]]
* [[Agroforestry]]
* [[Analog forestry]]
* [[Companion plants]]
* [[List of companion plants]]
* [[Multiple cropping]]
* [[Perennial vegetable]]
* [[Permaculture]]
* [[Polyculture]]
==External links==
*{{Citation
| last=Ussery
| first=Harvey
| publication-date=August/September 2007
| year=
| title=Plant an Edible Forest Garden
| periodical=[[Mother Earth News]]
| url=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Homesteading-and-Self-Reliance/2007-08-01/Plant-Edible-Forest-Garden-Permaculture.aspx
}}.
*{{Citation
| last=Tunstall
| first=Jill
| publication-date=December 6 2007
| year=
| title=The garden of the future?
| periodical=[[The Guardian]]
| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/06/ethicalliving.conservation
}}.
*{{Citation
| last=Jacke with Toensmeier
| publication-date=Spring 2002
| year=
| title=Edible Forest Gardens: an Invitation to Adventure
| periodical=[[The Natural Farmer]]
| url=http://www.nofa.org/tnf/sp02/supplement/edible.php
}}.
[[Category:Gardening]]
[[Category:Organic gardening]]
[[Category:Permaculture]]
[[Category:Sustainability]]
[[Category:Agricultural establishments]]