A forest garden provides a beautiful, bountiful edible landscape at any scale—whether only a few dozen square feet or if you have over an acre to spare.
Ready to embark on your own forest garden adventure? Check out these articles for inspiration to get started.
While creating a garden can take a lot of work, sometimes nature will take the hard part off your hands. In the second chapter of her book, author Dani Baker examines how vertical space in forest gardens can organically overlap to keep multiple layers of plants growing beautifully.
There are a lot of things to take into consideration when starting a garden: When to plant, where to plant, how to plant, and so on. In order to answer these questions, you first have to answer a much broader one: “How can I work with nature to make this garden regenerative and sustainable.” If we let go of the power we have (or think we have) over nature and instead work with it, our gardens turn out so much better.
The first step in this process? Asking questions about your environment to properly design your garden.
When market gardener Dani Baker attended a permaculture workshop, she was inspired by its message of working with nature to create a thriving edible garden ecosystem. She immediately launched a new experiment she dubbed the “Enchanted Edible Forest.” Read on for her approach to making the most out of your garden plan and plant groupings.
Technically speaking, a plant guild is “a beneficial grouping of plants that support one another in all their many functions,” and “support animals and humans for all their food, medicine, and utility needs.” But what exactly does that mean, and how do you create a guild that is right for your food forest or permaculture project?
Garden strawberries are excellent for both covering the ground and for growing fruit. If you’re planning out a forest garden, or are just looking for a plant to use as ground cover, strawberries are a great option. As Dani Baker says “Whether they produce a bountiful crop or just a few berries, they usually provide a decent ground cover to protect the soil and deter weeds.”
If you’re new to caring for trees, are you wondering “How do I prune this thing?” or “Is transplanting this tree an option?” If you have any questions about planting, transplanting, or pruning your new trees, keep reading! Dani Baker has some tips from her own foray into forest gardening, including tips and tricks for planting, transplanting, and pruning your trees.
Permaculture is most frequently applied in gardening and homestead-planning, and one of the essential designs is a forest garden. Food forests, or edible forest gardens, are life-filled places that not only provide food for people, but habitat for wildlife, carbon sequestering, biodiversity, natural soil building, beauty and tranquility, and a host of other benefits — you just need to take a page from Mother Nature’s book.
The following excerpt is from Grow a New Garden: Plan, design and transform any outdoor space by Becky Searle. It has been adapted for the web. If you’re not a gardener yet, and you have never unashamedly added horse manure to your Christmas list, you might be tempted to skip this chapter. But even if…
Living in a colder climate doesn’t mean you need to give up on more fragile plants. By preparing plants for the winter, you’ll set them up to survive and thrive.
The leaves are falling, which means it’s time start figuring out what to do with them. This year, try turning your fallen leaves into mulch for your garden!
Proper storage is crucial to ensuring that your produce stays fresh & retains nutritional value. Use these tips to prepare your harvest for long-term storage.
