Earlier this month I posted a summary of the output from the garden for 2015. It struck me that this information could be useful for any prospective forest gardeners in a similar climate or even anyone studying this way of growing. I've put a fixed page here so that it's a little easier to find. I've also included a spreadsheet of output from the garden too from 2010 through 2015.
Hope it is of use to someone.
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Exciting news. Maddy Harland from Permaculture magazine is coming to give a talk in Salisbury this summer - 22nd July 2016. The talk is being organised by Becky Twigg who has masterminded the Secret Garden project in Salisbury and the great Bees Knees community.
More details here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153509673954527&set=o.443303845833090&type=3&theater I've been keeping track of the produce from the garden and like to sum it up at the end of the year to see how the garden is doing. First up is a plot of how the total amount of produce for the year has changed with time. I like this graph, it shows a few different things. The produce gets off to a slow start and start to pick up in spring but really accelerates around midsummer. Things slow down around October once the apples are picked. Comparing this year to previous years it is clear that 2015 has been the most productive so far. There has been about three times as much produce as past years, with the exception of 2011 which had a major potato crop (I planted the whole front garden with potatoes to clear it). The bar plot above shows the change in total amount of produce which reinforces the point. But what difference has the polytunnel made? Is the increase just down to the extra vegetables from there? The next plot shows the total produce without the vegetables. This plot makes it pretty clear that it's not all down to the polytunnel. The rest of the garden has had a really good year too. This one shows the monthly productivity over the last six years. It has definitely been a good year for fruit. This next one shows the break down by type of produce. There are some vegetables in April and May, some from outside and some from the polytunnel. The soft fruit picks up in June then peaks in July. The tree fruit starts in July with early apples from the Redsleeves tree, some through August then a peak in September. Vegetables really take off in August, September and October with tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. Details up to the end of September are in the bar on the right (more coming later). I'm pleased to see how this has spread out more compared to last year. The maturing trees and the polytunnel are extending the season. I'm sure I could up the productivity earlier in the year with some more effort, but not sure if the time required fits in with a low maintenance approach. Last graph. This one shows how the soft fruit and tree fruit has done. The soft fruit has really taken off since 2013. 2015 was a good year with a great raspberry crop, more currants, jostaberries and gooseberries amongst others. The top fruit from the trees is starting to develop. One of the apple trees (Tydeman's Late Orange) tends to be biennial, but I think the weather has quite a lot to do with it. Of course the standard trees are still growing so are getting more productive. The grafted apple tree is starting to bear fruit now too. I'm not sure what the final amount will be but I can imagine it will be two or three times the total mass when the trees are fully grown in a good year.
Interested in how productive the garden is per unit area I came up with a figure of 7.24 ton/ha. I've found it hard to come up with good numbers to compare this with, but I've seen 31 - 40 ton/ha quoted for high intensity allotment growing so the garden is less productive than an allotment, but then it is much lower maintenance too. I've also got some numbers for agricultural production at around 3.7 - 7.8 ton/ha so it's near the top end of that. As AnniKelsey pointed out in her blog recently, it's not just how productive you are per unit area, but how productive you are per person. On that basis I'm very pleased with the garden this year. Thinking a little more broadly about the role for forest gardens and the type of produce they can yield, I'm starting to think that they make a lot of sense as a low-maintenance use for back gardens and public spaces. They can complement higher intensity allotment and other forms of growing to provide a diverse range of local food as well as their myriad of other benefits, not least the aesthetic ones. Hopefully these productivity figures add a little weight to that argument. I'm going to keep on recording and see what next year brings. Happy New Year.
Just a quick post to say I've been toying with keeping track of temperatures in the garden and polytunnel. I recently found a neat way of following these with a data dashboard and something called dweets - like tweets for the Internet of Things. I've blogged about some of the polytunnel temperatures before but had previously done all of the analysis offline. I've managed to got a simple dashboard set up very quickly and have hooked it into the website under the Notes section as Forest Garden Weather Dashboard or you can go straight to it here. The local sensors only update every 5 min so you have to wait a while for some of the graphs to develop but it also combines a local weather feed too so there is some much quicker information. It uses the excellent Freeboard, which is free as the name suggests. It opens a new browser tab as the dashboard gets more informative the longer it is open. If anyone is interested in the details of getting the sensors set up and everything talking together let me know and I'll post more information. In the meantime here is a snapshot, enough to know that it's cold outside! Edit - I've updated the image and the link after Andy's comment. Thanks Andy. he weather has been shocking this week. Wet, wet, wet and now very windy. Inside the polytunnel things are calmer and warmer of course. One thing that has struck me this season is the difference that temperature makes to the rate of growth, comparing how things grow in the polytunnel and outdoors. Sunlight is obviously important, but plants grow so much more quickly when the temperature is higher. So far I've been considering the polytunnel as a place to grow annual crops to complement the mostly perennial produce from the forest garden and to extend the productive season. In that vein I've been following the progress of a fellow blogger's new polytunnel development with interest too. But I came across an interesting article about growing a forest garden under cover from David the Good. His video here has a really nice discussion about growing a coconut palm under cover. I had toyed with the idea of a polytunnel or greenhouse over a sunken space. The chalk geology here would make it feasible to excavate a space to give a much higher growing space. Not sure it's something I'm going to do anytime soon, but something to consider. Serendipitously, I saw that there is a new book out by Jerome Osentowski from the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute called The Forest Garden Greenhouse - How to Design and Manage an Indoor Permaculture Oasis by Chelsea Green. I think that is going to be on my Christmas present list.
So compared to last week the leaves are starting to fall now. The sweet cherry is bare and the apples nearly so. The mulberry is a wonderful yellow colour.
I took the opportunity to clear some grass from around the Court of Wick apple tree. The Babington leeks were coming up already at the base of the tree and I wanted to make sure they didn't get overwhelmed. In pulling up the grass I was encouraged to see that the log mulch around the tree was covered in mycelium. Hopefully it extends well underneath the logs and won't be too disturbed by being uncovered at the top. I cleared some of the vegetation that had taken over a narrow strip behind the polytunnel. I repaired the fence there earlier this year and have been thinking that it would be a good spot for some trained fruit trees. It it south facing and it protected but not shaded by the polytunnel on the south. It is about 4-5m long and has a corner with a short length (~1.2m) of east facing fencing. I can't make my mind up what to plant. Some things I'm considering are pear or apple cordons to complement the other varieties, an apricot fan (but I don't think I have the height) or a quince fan or cordon (anyone know if you can successfully train them as cordons?). I need to get moving if I'm going to be able to order something before the nursery stock run out. The other job for yesterday was carving a pumpkin for Halloween. Of course it had to have a forest garden theme... I commented on the colour of the mulberry tree in my last post so thought it was worth a photo. Only a few of the leaves have fallen off so far. When they do they make a great mulch. See if you can spot the spider. In the polytunnel the chard is one of the most colourful plants. I've been really impressed with how long they last. I've been picking the leaves for months and they show no sign of dying back. New leaves keep growing in the middle.
The temperature has dropped and the leaves have been changing colour and starting to fall. Spiders abound. Inside the polytunnel things are warmer, at least in the day time. Tomatoes have gone but chilli pepper and cucumbers still hang about. Winter salads, daikon and celeriac look snug. Inside the house the woodburner is on most nights. The good apples are in store. The Tydeman's Late Orange are ready to eat now and taste great. The apples that didn't make it have been cooked, dried or are busy being turned into cider. Still bubbling away slowly after a month and keeping me waiting... I've been taking photos of the garden as it develops. I started a few years ago now and occasionally I turn some of the photos into timelapse movies that highlight the changes over time. I thought it would be nice to focus in on the apple and pear trees closest to the house. The video shows developments over four and a half years. On the left is a Tydeman's Late Orange apple being grown as a standard and on the right a Redsleeves apple grown as a bush. In the middle is an arch with an Onward pear growing as a single cordon on the left and a Blue Pearmain growing as a double cordon on the right. If you look out for it you can see the blossom in spring, the trees putting on new growth, apples growing and bending down branches, leaves falling and even pruning. I get really twitchy as the hazelnuts start to ripen on the trees at the end of August. I keep expecting to wake up and look out of the window to see the trees stripped of nuts by marauding squirrels. The nuts go brown as they ripen and apparently they are not as tasty when unripe. For the last few years I've been picking the nuts at the end of August, but of course the weather is different every year. I hung on as long as I dared and picked most of the nuts yesterday. It was a bumper harvest, more than double last year's at 12.6 kg. The Nottingham cobnut tree accounted for most of those at 9.9 kg. I love the shape of the nuts in their husks as a cluster. I tried to get some pictures below. Having such a big harvest is great but the nuts need drying before they will turn completely brown and are easy to separate from the husks ready for storage. I put most of them onto some mesh strung between two broom handles hanging in the garage. For drying apples I've been thinking about investing in a wooden drying rack. The apple harvest was disappointing last year so I settled for a collapsible hanging drier with up to six layers. I'm not sure that it will take the weight if fully loaded with apples, but it works pretty well with hazelnuts.
Only time will tell if the nuts will finish ripening as they dry and whether they will store well. I remembered that I still had lots of nuts in the cupboard from last year. I experimented with some rapid nut cracking using a hammer and the nuts on a wooden board. After a few minutes practice and with a helper we were getting through them at a fair rate and soon had a few hundred. Even though they had been stored for a year they were still really tasty, especially when roasted for about 10 mins at 180 oC. |
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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