Tiny Food Forest - enhancing the biodiversity and productivity of my garden
In February 2022 I have started to cultivate a tiny food forest following permaculture principles established by Robert Hart who transformed his existing small orchard into an edible polyculture landscape by intercropping and structuring what he called his “edible forest” into 7 layers (Figure 1).
Figure 1 7 layers of a food forest
Prompted by this imaginative idea I searched for and found several inspiring videos on YouTube featuring the pioneering work of several people who have set up their own temperate climate food forests including: Martin Crawford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_m_0UPOzuI ,
James Prigioni https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLTGjiYHHbI
and Maddy and Tim Harland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGdxU78wdEM&list=PLvzv9rsNAK9I3xV4jxJrundK-W3ul8Fyz
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- ‘Canopy layer’ consisting of mature fruit trees.
- ‘Low-tree layer’ of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root stocks.
- ‘Shrub layer’ of fruit bushes such as currants and berries.
- ‘Herbaceous layer’ of perennial vegetables and herbs.
- ‘Rhizosphere’ or ‘underground’ dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers.
- ‘Ground cover layer’ of edible plants that spread horizontally.
- ‘Vertical layer’ of vines and climbers.
Prompted by this imaginative idea I searched for and found several inspiring videos on YouTube featuring the pioneering work of several people who have set up their own temperate climate food forests including: Martin Crawford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_m_0UPOzuI ,
James Prigioni https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLTGjiYHHbI
and Maddy and Tim Harland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGdxU78wdEM&list=PLvzv9rsNAK9I3xV4jxJrundK-W3ul8Fyz
READ MORE
tiny_food_forest.pdf |