So my thinking about the polytunnel when I put it in the garden in the first place was that I would grow crops that needed the extra heat and that were annuals. That is definitely how the majority of plants grow in there but it takes more work starting plants off from seed, growing them on and planting them out. There is the heartache when they get slugged and snailed too. So the idea of growing plants as productive perennials in there is really attractive.
I've had four chard plants that have been in the tunnel for a long time and they have finally gone to seed. They have been really productive and produce much more than we can eat. I'm always giving it away to friends and family. I needed to make some more room for other plants but I was interested to see if the plants could be reduced in size and become productive again. They have very thick rigid stems that are slightly woody so I have tried cutting the foliage back to the stem to see if they will regrow. On first cutting them back there was a lot of sap coming out and it didn't look very promising, but sure enough after a week or so there were new shoots going out all over. The picture below shows a view from above. I'm hopeful that with the strong stem and roots it won't be long before I can pick these again. I wonder how long it will keep going for?
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This coming Sunday 8th May the forest garden is going to be open to visitors from 2 - 5 pm as part of an event for Salisbury Transition City. If you live in the Salisbury area and are interested in seeing what a domestic edible forest garden looks like and how you can grow a variety of food with little effort in a wildlife friendly garden then why not come along? As well as a chance to look around the garden and see how multilayer planting works on a small scale there will be information on productivity, books and ideas on how to get started with planting a forest garden.
The garden was planted 7 years ago and is starting to mature. Productivity has been rising as the garden develops with last year producing 166 kg of food. Because the majority of the garden is designed around perennial plants it is much less work than growing using traditional methods. The garden is full of blossom at this time of year, with pears in full bloom, cherries and quince coming out and the first apple blossom appearing. If you are interested in coming along send me an email on: mailto:[email protected] for more details. One of the things that is difficult to appreciate about an edible domestic forest garden is the variety of produce that it provides. In an effort to try to capture that I used my record of produce from 2015 to create this image with Tagxedo. I quite liked the result.
I never seem to have enough mint when I need it. Well that's not strictly true. I often have lots of peppermint, which is great for tea but not so good for cooking. The garden mint seems to die off earlier and come back slower than the other varieties. Last year I put a pot in the polytunnel and it stayed green throughout the winter, although didn't put on much growth. I picked a few leaves every week or so but it was never enough to grab a good handful. This year I'm determined things will be different! I've been propagating it like mad. I've been cutting small sections of the fleshy rhizomes from the polytunnel plant which have small roots coming off them. I have probably potted up a dozen or so. Any I don't use I can hopefully put towards the Salisbury Transition City stall at the forthcoming Fisherton Festival. I'm not sure how small a section they will grow from. I suspect it only needs a node with roots on but I've tried a few different lengths to be on the safe side. With lots of things to be potted up I've been starting to run short of plant pots. I have been collecting lots of different shaped plastic pots from the kitchen to make use of which is helping. I've also been experimenting with repurposing and reshaping plastic milk bottles using a heat gun and a metal plant pot to act as a former. It worked out quite well and I can get a couple of pots from a 1 litre bottle. I had been trying to find an instruction video online but couldn't so I had a go at making one. It was a bit of a novelty talking to the camera but hopefully it's clear enough:. See what you think: There are lots of signs of life in the garden now. Buds are breaking on the jostaberry, redcurrants and raspberry and the wild garlic has been awake for a while now. The quince, one of the prettiest trees in the garden, has its leaves starting to emerge. The longer days are heating up the polytunnel and the contents are thriving. I've been replacing the two raised beds at the southern edge of the garden as the old ones had fallen apart. I salvaged the wild rocket plants that had overwintered in the beds when I noticed some had green shoots. I repotted them and put them in the polytunnel and they have responded well.
Google can answer most things, but so far it hasn't been able to tell me how to cook Babington's leeks (Allium ampeloprasum babingtonii or Allium babingtonii). There are some recipes out there, but when I have tried them the leeks have always ended up a bit tough, particularly the outer green parts. The plants do amazingly well in my garden so I wanted to persevere and see if I could find a good way of cooking them. As the leeks are in season at the moment I thought I would give it another try. They turned out much better so I thought I would share therecipe. First off I picked them, cutting them with a sharp pair of scissors a couple of cm above ground level. I've seen people suggest going below the surface but I didn't bother. I picked some parsley (from the polytunnel) and some rosemary (from outside) while I was at it. I picked about 400 g of leeks, 45 g of parsley and 20 g of rosemary. It was enough for two or three. I washed the leeks, discarding the first one or two leaves, mainly to get rid of any soil caught where the leaf leaves the stem. I sliced into 1-2 cm lengths then fried in a little olive oil and butter for about 10 min. That was just the first step. I then put then into a slow cooker with about 250 ml of vegetable stock and the parsley and a couple of fresh bay leaves. I left it cooking for about 60 - 90 min on high. In the meantime I made some roast potatoes with the rosemary and some potatoes harvested from bags in the garden the week before. I had used a little too much water with the leeks so I strained some off. I could have taken the lid off and let the water evaporate a little earlier. I will do that next time. So how were the leeks? They were perfect! There was no toughness that I have always had with previous Babington's leeks. There was also very little garlic taste. The flavour of the bay and parsley worked well with their flavour and it was a much more delicate taste. It would be difficult to tell them apart from ordinary leeks and the crispy roast spuds went really nicely. I would definitely cook them again.
So in summary, here is the recipe I used: Serves 2-3 Ingredients
Preparation
This should scale up for different quantities
So if you've been reading this blog for a while you will know that I am keen on recording the output from my forest garden. Forest gardening is really starting to become popular and rightly so. It promises high outputs from limited amount of effort. The downside is that a forest garden takes some time and effort to establish. When I started out I really wanted to know how much I might expect such a garden to produce and I couldn't find good numbers at the time.
My motivation in trying to record the outputs from my small forest garden is to try and show what a small back garden scale plot can produce and how this develops year on year. In previous posts I've plotted up lots of numbers on the yields so far, but it is easy to get lost in the detail. I thought it would be useful to great an interactive visualisation of the produce for 2015. The interactive graphic below shows the produce from 2015 from the forest garden, excluding what was grown in the polytunnel. I've categorised the produce into: fruit, nuts, vegetables, stems, herbs and leaves. The image shows the total produce for the calendar year in kg. If you click on one of the circles it zooms in and shows the detail of the produce within it. I hope this shows the real variety of different produce a forest garden can yield. There is clearly a heavy weighting towards fruit and nuts compared to a traditional allotment or vegetable garden because of the high proportion of perennial plants. It is certainly possible to produce more vegetables with this kind of gardening using potatoes and other tubers etc. I'm experimenting with using a polytunnel to complement and extend the season, but in terms of effort required the forest garden wins hands down. For reference the area of the garden (including some paths and hard standing is about 230 m2 and the first trees were planted at the beginning of 2009.
The visualisation was created using Mike Bostock's excellent D3.js library and is based heavily on the Circle Packing and Zoomable Pack Layout examples.
An image with a quote from Bill Mollison from the Permaculture Magazine website. Reminds me of my motivation for growing a forest garden.
It's pruning time in the garden now. I'm a little bit late this year and I'm getting a bit twitchy that with the mild weather the trees might start growing before I'm done. I managed to lose my folding pruning saw so finally took the plunge and bought a Silky Fox Gomtaro. It arrived yesterday so I set about pruning the apple trees and a few others. The saw is great; very quick to cut through branches and leaves a very clean cut. Would definitely recommend it. One dilemma was what to do with trees close to the polytunnel. The polytunnel wasn't in the original plan for the garden. It seemed like a good solution to replace the old shed and was much cheaper than a greenhouse, but it was always going to be a compromise in a small forest garden. It has been a real success but I'm not sure that I want to alter the final design too much. In particular there is a hazel tree and a mulberry tree to the south of the polytunnel. The hazel is unlikely to get much taller than about 2 m and only shades the tunnel when the sun is low. The mulberry though has the potential to get really large and shade the tunnel. However, it is late into leaf so it doesn't shade the tunnel all year long. So on the one hand the tunnel can provide lots of produce but needs more input and on the other the mulberry provides some tasty fruit late in the season and is very attractive and will be a real feature when larger. Well I couldn't quite decide and for this year I pruned just some of the lower branches very close to the polytunnel surface and raised the canopy a little. I was pleased with the result although the wounds weeped a whte milky sap. Hopefully the tree will be ok. It left a sticky mess on my new pruning saw too! I also pruned the apple trees in the garden. The standard apples are getting pretty big now and I only pruned them lightly. I cut back some of the lower branches of the Tydeman's Late Orange which tends to droop down quite low. I am hoping that it will encourage more vigour into the higher branches. One of my cats decided to help me out too. It's been a while, but last month I planted two new trees in the garden. When I replaced the shed with a polytunnel I opened up some space at the back of the garden. I replaced the south facing fence last year and realised that the strip behind the tunnel, about 1 m wide and 3-4 m long, would be ideal for some trained fruit trees. The hard thing was choosing what to place there.
Because the fence is south facing I chose a dessert pear cordon for one of the trees. I went for a Nouveau Poiteau pear on Quince C rootstock. The description is as follows: Dessert pear. Pick October. Use November. Flower Group E. Fruit russetted, flesh sweet, very melting, rich flavour. It should be fine for pollination as there are two other group E pears in the garden and a group D (althouth that one is a triploid). Hopefully it will enjoy the sheltered spot. The other tree I chose was a quince cordon. This form for a quince doesn't seem very common but I am hoping it will be fine. I have another larger quince tree (Agvambari) at the other end of the garden which has been disappointing so far. The Agvambari is supposed to be self-fertile, but I am hoping the new cordon will help with pollination. I chose Serbian Gold for the cordon on Quince A rootstock. The description is: early ripening,, very productive, healthy tree. Sounds good. Both trees were from bought from Agroforestry Research Trust which has a really good selection of trees that are well suited to UK forest gardens. Worth a look if you haven't already. |
AboutA blog following the development of a small edible forest garden in Salisbury, Wiltshire, first planted in winter 2008.
AuthorA forest gardening enthusiast with an interest in growing food sustainably, locally and with minimal effort. More blogsAnni's Perennial Veggies
Bangor Forest Garden Project Forest Garden Plants Fruit Forum Graham Burnett Have Some Pi Help Save Bees Il Giardino Foresta Maddy Harland Moulsecoomb Forest Garden Mortal Tree Oak House Permaculture Project Of Plums And Pignuts Otter Farm PermaculturePower PermieHomestead Plants for a Future Plant Trees, It's Self Defence Really Useful Gardens SelfSufficientish Southwoods Forest Gardens Sustainable Forest Garden Farm Project The Cultural Wilderness The Field The Unconventional Gardener Transition Culture Two Go Forest Gardening Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Food Champions Ynysmon's Blog Other links
Check out the resources page for lots more forest gardening websites, books and videos.
Details of my young forest garden are here and photos here. Produce 20161 Jan - 31 Mar
0.640kg Babington leek 0.417kg Cabbage 0.742kg Celeriac 0.005kg Coriander 0.343kg Daikon 0.003kg Fennel 0.091kg Garlic shoots 0.005kg Goji berry leaves 0.259kg Lettuce 0.002kg Mint 0.020kg Pak choi 0.233kg Parsley 2.100kg Potatoes 0.041kg Radish 0.006kg Red veined sorrel 2.069kg Rosemary 0.888kg Ruby chard 0.002kg Thyme 0.065kg Winter purslane 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.008kg Alpine strawberries 0.555kg Babington leeks 0.003kg Basil 0.989kg Beetroot 1.987kg Celeriac 0.019kg Chillis 0.076kg Chives 0.466kg Cleavers 0.227kg Coriander 0.075kg Courgettes 0.034kg Fennel 0.045kg Garlic shoots 0.004kg Gooseberries 0.048kg Holly leaves 0.006kg Lemon balm 0.541kg Lettuce 0.005kg Lime leaves 0.012kg Mint 0.108kg Nettles 0.440kg Oca 0.295kg Parsley 0.003kg Radish 0.241kg Raspberries 2.570kg Rhubarb 0.052kg Rocket 0.001kg Rosemary 2.338kg Ruby chard 0.022kg Sage 0.099kg Spring onions 0.464kg Strawberries 0.001kg Sweet violet 0.064kg Wild garlic 0.001kg Winter purslane 1 Jul - 30 Sep 0.030kg Alpine strawberries 22.360kg Apples 0.003kg Basil 0.317kg Blackberries 0.706kg Blackcurrants 0.595kg Blueberries 0.085kg Chillis 0.002kg Chives 8.255kg Courgettes 0.003kg Fennel 0.205kg Gooseberries 2.674kg Hazelnuts 0.429kg Japanese wineberries 2.404kg Jostaberries 0.209kg Loganberries 0.025kg Mint 0.167kg Mulberries 0.006kg Nasturtium 0.004kg Parsley 4.068kg Pears 4.097kg Rapsberries 3.988kg Redcurrants 0.016kg Rocket 0.522kg Rosemary 0.026kg Spring onions 0.837kg Sweet cherries 0.234kg Tayberries 2.142kg Tomatoes 1.229kg Whitecurrants 1 Oct - 31 Dec 2.263kg Apples 0.317kg Chillis 2.697kg Courgettes 0.060kg Mashua 0.030kg Mint 0.250kg Oca 0.080kg Parsley 0.581kg Pears 1.360kg Potatoes 0.011kg Rocket 0.056kg Rosemary 0.050kg Sage 0.651kg Tomatoes Produce 20151 Jan - 31 Mar
0.187kg Babington's leek 0.031kg garlic shoots 0.005kg mint 0.560kg salad 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.021kg alpine strawberries 2.074kg Babington's leeks 0.017kg basil 0.975kg blackcurrants 0.434kg cabbage 0.016kg chives 0.095kg coriander 0.009kg dill 0.156kg garlic shoots 0.443kg gooseberries 1.801kg kohlrabi 0.297kg lettuce 0.015kg lime leaves 0.035kg mint 0.033kg mustard leaves 0.231kg nettles 0.089kg onion 0.470kg oregano 0.013kg pak choi 0.013kg parsley 0.626kg peas 0.107kg peppermint 0.871kg purple sprouting broccoli 4.219kg raspberries 1.406kg red onion 0.048kg red-veined sorrel 1.751kg rhubarb 1.618kg ruby chard 0.324kg spring onion 1.157kg strawberries 0.577kg sweet cherries 0.242kg tayberried 0.001kg thyme 0.160kg wild garlic 0004kg winter purslane 1 Jul - 30 Sep 0.003kg alpine strawberries 0.002kg apple mint 37.964kg apples 0.033kg basil 0.753kg blackberries 7.207kg blackcurrants 2.441kg blueberries 0.073kg cabbage 0.039kg celeriac 0.019kg coriander 6.329kg courgettes 15.960kg cucumber 0.012kg dill 0.466kg french beans 0.312kg garlic 1.447kg gooseberries 12.822kg hazelnuts 0.967kg Japanese wineberries 2.390kg jostaberries 0.205kg lettuce 0.001kg lime basil 0.848kg loganberries 0.018kg mint 0.203kg mulberries 0.005kg oregano 0.041kg pak choi 0.004kg parsley 2.010kg pears 0.006kg peppermint 8.529kg raspberries 6.138kg redcurrants 0.005kg rocambole 2.198kg ruby chard 0.024kg sage 1.605kg sour cherries 0.191kg strawberries 0.843kg strawberries 0.651kg tayberries 0.001kg thyme 15.138kg tomatoes 0.977kg whitecurrants 1 Oct - 31 Dec 0.117kg chilli peppers 0.018kg coriander 0.022kg courgettes 6.716kg cucumbers 0.008kg dill 0.223kg french beans 0.115kg hazelnuts 0.025kg lettuce 0.002kg mint 0.065kg parsley 0.524kg pears 1.412kg ruby chard 0.072kg spring onion 6.489kg tomatoes Produce 2014
1 Jan - 31 Mar
0.308kg Babington leeks 0.034kg garlic shoots 0.001kg parsley 0.004kg red veined sorrel 0.011kg rosemary 0.025kg sage 0.016kg thyme 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.010kg alpine strawberries 1.350kg Babington leeks 0.104kg blackcurrants 0.012kg chives 0.210kg garlic shoots 0.092kg gooseberries 0.006kg lemon balm 0.529kg loganberries 0.015kg oregano 0.006kg parsley 0.035kg peppermint 5.655kg raspberries 0.177kg redcurrants 0.051kg red veined sorrel 7.180kg rhubarb 0.120kg salad 0.006kg salad burnet 0.896kg strawberries 0.509kg tayberries 0.084kg wild garlic 1 Jul - 30 Sep 5.121kg apples 0.008kg alpine strawberries 0.857kg blackberries 1.190kg blackcurrants 0.904kg blueberries 1.840kg garlic 6.102kg hazelnuts 0.467kg Japanese wineberries 0.716kg loganberries 0.313kg mulberries 3.742kg pears 2.752kg raspberries 2.349kg redcurrants 0.054kg rocambole 0.050kg sage 1.655kg sour cherries 0.021kg sweet cherries 0.298kg tayberries 0.242kg whitecurrants 0.078kg worcesterberries 1 Oct - 31 Dec 0.113kg salad 0.382kg oca 0.200kg potatoes Produce 2013
1 Jan - 31 Mar
0.024kg garlic shoots 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.326kg Babbington leeks 0.222kg blackcurrants 0.363kg garlic shoots 0.147kg gooseberries 0.002kg lemon balm 0.121kg lettuce 0.004kg lime leaves 0.058kg mizuna 0.121kg oregano 0.010kg pea shoots 0.015kg peppermint 0.223kg raspberries 0.020kg red veined sorrel 3.900kg rhubarb 0.400kg salad 0.005kg salad burnet 0.008kg shitake mushrooms 0.076kg strawberries 0.013kg thyme 0.136kg wild garlic 1 Jul - 30 Sep 0.101kg alpine strawberries 13.653kg apples 0.276kg blackberries 2.816kg blackcurrants 1.380kg blueberries 0.159kg broad beans 0.965kg courgettes 1.340kg garlic 1.808kg hazelnuts 0.118kg Japanese wineberries 0.493kg loganberries 0.008kg mulberries 4.368kg pears 0.036kg peppermint 1.143kg potatoes 0.063kg quince 9.226kg raspberries 0.699kg redcurrants 0.223kg rocambole 0.150kg salad 1.448kg sour cherries 0.064kg spearmint 0.660kg spring onions 0.863kg strawberries 1.622kg sweet cherries 0.156kg tayberries 0.721kg whitecurrants 0.010kg worcesterberries 1 Oct - 31 Dec 0.938kg pears 0.095kg quince 0.091kg oca 0.242kg mashua Produce 2012
1 Jan - 31 Mar
0.050kg fennel 0.009kg garlic shoots 0.030kg goji berries 0.050kg rocket 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.004kg alpine strawberries 0.480kg cabbage 0.323kg garlic shoots 0.050kg lemon balm 0.002kg loganberries 0.050kg mint 0.402kg mushrooms 0.360kg potatoes 0.730kg raspberries 0.030kg red veined sorrel 0.130kg redcurrants 4.000kg rhubarb 0.540kg rocket 0.020kg sorrel 0.134kg strawberries 0.007kg tayberries 01 Jul - 30 Sep 0.020kg alpine strawberries 0.180kg apples 0.552kg blackberries 0.178kg blackcurrants 0.711kg blueberries 1.020kg garlic 0.201kg gooseberries 0.263kg hazelnuts 0.051kg Japanese wineberries 0.028kg loganberries 3.354kg pears 1.610kg potatoes 0.910kg raspberries 0.353kg redcurrants 0.063kg sour cherries 0.049kg strawberries 0.014kg tayberries 0.192kg whitecurrants 1 Oct - 31 Dec 7.690kg Jerusalem artichokes 0.211kg oca 0.010kg peppermint 0.820kg potatoes 0.010kg thyme Produce 2011
1 Jan - 20 Mar
Firewood Rosemary Sage Chives Salad burnet 21 Mar - 31 May 0.035kg chives 0.070kg lemon balm 0.005kg nasturtium leaves 0.017kg raspberries 4.060kg rhubarb 0.060kg rocket 0.020kg rosemary 0.280kg sage 0.070kg salad burnet 0.050kg sorrel 0.065kg spearmint 0.429kg strawberries 0.012kg sweet fennel 0.003kg tayberries 0.010kg thyme 1 Jun - 31 Aug 35.2kg 29 different crops: 0.030kg alpine strawberries 8.884kg apples 0.492kg beetroot 0.258kg blackberries 0.377kg blackcurrants 0.337kg blueberries 0.010kg chives 7.095kg courgettes 0.001kg fennel 0.946kg garlic 1.481kg hazelnuts 0.001kg Japanese wineberry 0.007kg lemon balm 0.005kg mashua leaves 0.004kg nasturtiums 0.100kg pears 0.005kg peppermint 11.920kg potatoes 1.130kg raspberries 0.262kg redcurrants 0.005kg rocket 0.064kg salad burnet 0.460kg sour cherries 0.024kg spearmint 0.558kg strawberries 0.311kg sweet cherries 0.086kg tayberries 0.087kg whitecurrants 1 Sep - 31 Dec 11.633kg apples 0.040kg aronia berries 1.299kg beetroot 0.036kg blackberries 2.472kg courgettes 0.034kg hazelnuts 6.205kg Jerusalem artichokes 4.250kg mashua 1.801kg pears 37.135kg potatoes 0.371kg raspberries 0.024kg strawberries 0.044kg whitecurrants Produce 2010
A record of produce from the garden in 2010. I expect this list to get much longer in later years.
1 Jan - 20 Mar 2010: Firewood - kindling and small logs for wood burner Herbs - rosemary Vegetables - 5 leeks Greens - Handfull of sorrel, salad burnet and dandelions. 21 Mar - 4 Jun 2010 3.600kg rhubarb 0.250kg sorrel rosemary salad burnet mint chives rocket a few strawberries 5 Jun -> 1.120kg garlic 1.063kg raspberries 3.430kg rhubarb 0.165kg strawberries 0.104kg sweet cherries 0.065kg tayberries 0.130kg gooseberries 0.029kg alpine strawberries 0.100kg loganberries 1.710kg sour cherries 0.486kg blackberries 0.039kg blackcurrants 0.220kg blueberries 3.264kg courgettes 0.240kg lettuce 8.375kg pears 3.820kg potatoes 9.300kg apples 0.076kg hazelnuts See archives from October 2009 below for last year's produce. Archives
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