The natural forest can be divided into distinct layers or ‘storeys’.
Prizes and awards … new and established projects.
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Some ten years ago, the VGS went on a visit to the forest garden at Dartington:
Research Site Tours – The Agroforestry Research Trust
Courses, talks and tours are still very much in the offing by Martin Crawford:
Forest Gardens and Edible Ecosystems 2019 | Schumacher College
And here he is being interviewed earlier this summer:
Forest gardener Martin Crawford on how he created his forest garden – Gardens Illustrated
His ways are being studied from afar, including India, where large-scale experiments are happening:
Martin’s mentor set up his project decades ago in Shropshire, where, based on the observation that the natural forest can be divided into distinct layers or ‘storeys’, he developed an existing small orchard of apples and pears into an edible landscape consisting of seven dimensions:
Robert Hart (horticulturist) – Wikipedia
picture: Forest gardening – Wikipedia
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Meanwhile, down the road in Somerset, we find out about some unusual uses of plants from a gardener who has developed his own forest garden:
Rob Handy’s garden was shortlisted for a prize earlier this year:
AJ Small Projects shortlist 2020
It’s “an oasis of biodiversity and abundance”:
Take a virtual tour:
Rob’s Forest Garden | Facebook
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It’s happening everywhere, as with this piece from the weekend:
“Many practices such as forest ‘gardening,’ using fire, and other cultural practices to work with seasonal flow of the sun are critical to current and future forest regeneration,” says Katie Kamelamela, who studies the relationship between Hawaii’s Indigenous communities and their environment as a postdoctoral fellow at the Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests in Hawaii.
How to build forests to combat climate change – Axios
And here’s an extraordinary project happening in the States, reported on earlier this month:
AKRON, Ohio — A food forest is taking root in one of Akron’s most impoverished neighborhoods: The Cascade Valley food forest in Elizabeth Park is designed using permaculture to address a food desert in one of the city’s most neglected neighborhoods.
Akron’s First ‘Food Forest’ Takes Root in Cascade Valley
Finally, earlier this month, back in the West Country, another project is recognised:
Eden horticulture apprentice Patricie Zeleznikova has won The Prince of Wales Award for Sustainable Horticulture for her outstanding work on a forest garden at the project.
Eden Project Cornwall apprentice wins Prince of Wales award | South West Farmer