I’ve dabbled if forest gardening occasionally. It’s a great
way of utilising small neglected areas of the garden.
What is Forest
Gardening?
Forest gardening is a low-maintenance sustainable
plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland
ecosystems. The planting generally includes layers of fruit and nut trees,
shrubs, herbs, vines, perennial vegetables and ground cover plants which have
yields directly useful to humans. The system will require some annual
maintenance but not as much as a regular vegetable plot.
If even that seems a bit too high maintenance for you or you
don’t have the room then how about planting mini woodland? You don’t even need to plant any edibles and
you’ll still be helping the environment as the primary reason would be to promote
wildlife and reduce pollution. I think it’ll be the planting favourite of 2019
as we are going to see examples in most of this year’s flower shows.
Mini Woodlands
In the past, most horticultural show exhibits featured
gardens with painstakingly pruned bushes, flawless flowers, weed free beds and
manicured lawns. This has changed over the last few years with gardens
concentrating on using recyclables, renewable energy, minimalist planting and
after last year’s heat wave, drought tolerant planting.
This year we’ll see planting schemes hoping to cool the
gardens down with tree canopies, or at least give us somewhere to sit under in
the shade when the sun does come out in force. With that prediction for 2019
I’d also think we will see cooling water features being a popular addition to
the garden.
Trees though are the single most efficient way for gardeners
to improve our environment and help wildlife. Creating a miniature woodland
will encourage wildlife and help reduce pollution particularly in urban
areas. Well-chosen small trees, such as
ornamental and fruiting apples and cherries will be trouble free and for small
gardens, shrubs can be used to good effect.
Birch trees are noted for pollution catching properties and
also do surprisingly well in pots of soil-based potting media where space is
very tight on a patio or back yard.
This year at one large show there will be a Resilience
Garden for the Forestry Commission, which showcases the ‘forests of the future’
and the trees that are resilient to the impending impact of climate
change. I don’t have any more details at
present but have been told it will draw attention to the issues facing forests,
woods and horticulture today. Warmer
climate facilitates pests and diseases, which can wipe out forests that are
made up of only a few species. Because of this, the Forestry Commission is
working to plant a greater variety of trees to safeguard our forests and woods
for the future.
William Robinson
I think it’s fair to say that one person who was and is a
great influence on this new movement of wild gardening is a Laois born gardener
and journalist called William Robinson (5 July 1838 – 17 May 1935) His ideas
about wild gardening spurred the movement that led to the popularising of the
English cottage garden.
He radically changed Victorian gardening, with his rants
against bedding plants, his support of the wild garden, and his monumental book
The English Flower Garden, which went into 15 editions in his lifetime.
His most significant influence I think was the introduction
of the idea of wild gardening, which first appeared in The Wild Garden and was
further developed in The English Flower Garden.
The idea of introducing large drifts of hardy perennial
plants into meadow, woodland, and waterside is taken for granted today, but was
revolutionary in Robinson's time. In the first edition, he happily used any
plant that could be naturalised, including half-hardy perennials and natives
from other parts of the world, which meant the wild garden was not limited to
locally native species.
Robinson's own garden at Gravetye was planted on a large
scale, but his wild garden idea could be realised in small plots, where the
'garden' is designed to appear to merge into the surrounding woodland or
meadow. Robinson's ideas continue to influence gardeners and landscape
architects today—from home and cottage gardens to large estate and public
gardens.
This year I think we’ll be hearing a lot more of William
Robinson’s ideas in modern designs, with a few more trees thrown in for good
luck.
