My forest garden
AnnKH
6 years ago
Hi gang! Last week I described the shady back of my yard, which I am gradually transforming into a huge shade garden. It started 3 years ago, when my Mom sold her house, and I transplanted a bunch of hostas from her yard to mine.
The latest phase of the project has been to put edging between the lawn and the forest; we are in the process of killing off the grass in the garden, and needed to define the space. The stepping stones went in last summer.
I have purchased very few plants - virtually everything here has been transplanted from either my Mom's yard, or other places in my yard. There isn't really any rhyme or reason - I see an empty spot, and plop something in it!
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AnnKH
6 years agoIt's not all hostas - I have had lamium in the back for years, and it is very happy, spreading like mad. I've transplanted a bunch of it around the yard.
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Comments (5)Deer also damaged my IE and I put a 4' welded wire circle around it. Then they reached branches above the circle and snapped and stripped them. I had to add an extension to 6' to stop the damage. Grrr. I have wire cages and fences all over my yard, and around all my vegetable beds now. So far my cheap fences are working, just 4-5 strands of wire run between posts, a foot or less apart. I leave lower branches on trees so they can't get close to the trunks to scratch the velvet off their antlers and destroy the bark. Also they strip the lower branches but can't reach the upper ones. This year they're even eating my geraniums and totally stripped some roses that had been OK before, and ate part of some blueberry plants. Repellants can work but need to be reapplied all the time so I go for barriers....See MoreHelp! My edible forest garden is getting the better of me.
Comments (6)most weeds are and medicinal, if you start a foodforest there is not way around it - you will get dandelions and other weeds. the only way around is is heavy mulching with mulch made from bark ( large particles ) like pine bark mulch. OR you can plant groundcovers that supresses weed..MOST groundcovers are invasive. when you choose a groundcover choose one that is really good looking and reliable, do not get groundcovers that become very high or bushy. Alot of groundcovers have medicinal properties and alot of them are edible. pachysandra terminalis looks natural and is easy to pull Ajuga reptans lysimachia nummelaria ''aurea'' ( less invasive cultivar ) some bergenia cordifolia cultivars do not get too large and are evergreen, will grow in any type of condition. Fragaria 'Lipstick' for example is edible one ( doesn't taste like normal strawberry tho). you also have creeping chamomille which has edible foliage ( for herbal tea), Creeping thyme, Creeping prostrate rosemary ( just layer all branches, rinse and repeat ). if your zone isn't too cold you may consider growing gotu kola. Cornus canadensisis a edible creeping groundcover, there are 2 cultivars that stay smaller than one foot. you also have small shrubs like Gaultheria procumbens, certain edible dwarf mahonia species, Certain grass species like acorus gramineus '' licorice'' has sweet tasting foliage that is edible , its low creeping evergreen species that can be easily propagated. 2 links : http://www.pfaf.org/user/cmspage.aspx?pageid=81 http://www.pfaf.org/user/DatabaseSearhResult.aspx just check the edible rating and medicinal rating and what parts are edible from each plant. Just make sure that you get the right plant for proper locations, in edible / foodforest gardens it's often shade tolerant species. This post was edited by Lodewijkp on Mon, Aug 25, 14 at 16:13...See MoreLove some feedback on my residential forest garden plan
Comments (3)Good idea to plan before you plant! I realize that you have some north/south sunlight issues, but those trees are going to shed a LOT of leaves all around your house, with the associated clean-up. It would be nice if you could place them where the leaves could drop to be self-mulching. The trees will only be producing a crop about once a year, if that, so they generally need less attention. Your more-attention crops would be better nearer the house, if you could work out the sunlight issues. Just keep in mind that when the annual crops are actually growing, the sun is more or less overhead, so don't worry too much about how low the sun is in winter, early spring and late fall. High-maintenance crops (and chickens, etc) get more attention if they're near the house. And then there's the winter issue of tromping out through snow, ice and mud every day or so. I'm not an expert on bees, but I really don't think they need their own yard -- that's probably wasting space that could be used better. Maybe putting them near the tree edges would be better? And I think you could scatter them around a bit, just tucking them in where they wouldn't form a barrier (as in a line). Do you really need so many standard-sized fruit trees? They take up a lot of room on a residential lot, and it appears they would block the solar access to your home and and some of the surrounding vegetation. There's no indication of how large your salad garden area is, but it looks like you're going to have to walk on some plants to harvest the others. Tempting, but not practical. Perhaps you could redesign it using keyhole walkways, thus having the most access with the most veggies? By the way, it's usually easier to read a map if the N is on the top side. ;-) Sue...See MoreAdvice on a JM for a Forest Garden
Comments (9)I would expect it to be close to its full, mature spread in 20 years - JM's seem to grow larger and faster here in the PNW than most other locations in the country :-) If you intend to underplant this tree with smaller shrubs or perennials, do so at the time of the tree planting. And pick something that will not require a lot of division or the need for digging/moving down the road. JM's have extremely sensitive root systems and dislike any disturbance in their root zone. In fact, root disturbance can lead to some quite serious disease issues....See More
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
6 years agostephanie_h12
6 years agoAnnKH
6 years agocearbhaill, I agree, that would have been the right way to do it - had I anticipated that the project would get this big. And the grass wasn't there two years ago. We have a lawn service that aerates and overseeds our yard, and last year, for some reason, they seeded under the trees. The year before, they carefully sprayed for weeds around the plants, so baby grass was a complete shock. Of course I water regularly, so the grass took off.
These three photos show what it looked like two years ago. They are taken from the same spot (with my back to the house), panning from left to right. There were weeds, but mostly a nice layer of pine needles; the weeds could have been dealt with pretty easily.
A few more, in the same order, closer in:
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popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)