Forest gardening 155496 224491115 2008-07-09T02:18:19Z Granitethighs 7025617 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. {{Clr}} [[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]]