I finally got around to totting up the produce from last year. As in the last few years I've produced some graphs that summarise the different elements. Details of produce by quarter can be see in the sidebar on the right. First up is the total produce. 2015 was a real bumper year and 2016 didn't live up to that. Produce was almost exactly half the output of the year before. However, looking at the longer term trend there is a gentle rise with a couple of outstanding years. The early peak in 2011 was down to a big crop of potatoes when clearing the front garden. So the next plots shows everything apart from the vegetable output. That gets rid of the big potato peak in 2011 but there is still a big peak in 2015 and a drop to 2016. The next plot breaks the produce down by month. This makes it clear that there was a lot of produce from June onwards in 2015. By comparison 2015 looks strong after June compared to previous years. The early months look a little better than in 2015. That is probably due to more overwintering crops in the polytunnel. That point comes across more clearly in the next plot which shows the cumulative produce throughout the year. The first half of 2016 does better than the previous years. The summer and autumn crops (mostly soft fruit and then vegetables and tree fruit respectively) then did better in 2015. The next plot breaks down the 2016 output by type. The highest category is soft fruit in July followed by tree fruit and vegetables. Vegetables were definitely down this year. Cucumbers failed in the polytunnel thanks to slugs and snails and they contributed a good deal to the total weight in 2015. The last graph below shows the fruit production broken down into soft fruit and tree fruit. What is striking is that the fruit production is variable year on year. The garden has quite a variety of different fruit plants and that does even out some of the variability. For example, the Tydeman's Late Orange apple tree tends to be a biennial bearer whereas the others don't. Having said that, as a standard it is one of the bigger trees and so no crop has an impact on the total yield. The soft fruit was lower than the last three years. There may be a few reasons for this. The season started a little later in 2016 and I was a little lazier with picking than usual. I could probably have pushed the total up by another 5-10 kg if I was more conscientious. Some of the plants like the blackcurrants would have benefited from more active pruning too. I've certainly got expectations that the tree fruit will continue to rise as the larger trees mature, including the grafted apple tree which is covered in blossom on the side grafted first but less so on the more recently worked side. The sweet cherry fan continues to develop as do the apple standards and the mulberry. The sour cherry is unfortunately dying off, although it has some blossom still this year. The total weight is a useful guide to how productive the garden is. In terms of output per unit area it works out about 0.36 kg/m2 or 3.64 ton/ha. That's lower than a high intensity allotment but about in line with agricultural production.
A couple of other measures are worth a mention. Days on which I have harvested produce from the garden = 109. This was down on last year (144) maybe suggesting that I wasn't as active in the garden last year. That's still about one day in three when I get something from the garden though. The other number is how many different products did the garden produce? Last year was 58, down slightly from 63 in 2015, but the number has been gradually rising from 28 in 2010. It is definitely a diverse range of products. It's too soon to say how 2017 is going to look. I've been focusing on salad production from the polytunnel this year so I'm expecting the early part of the year to be reasonably productive. The total weight will probably depend on how well the summer polytunnel crops do as well as the apple and pear crop. If the apple blossom is anything to go by it might be a good one.
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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.
The promise of an edible forest garden is the production of food with a small amount of effort from a self-sustaining system. There are other benefits like the beauty and the wide range of environments it provides for wildlife, but food production is my main motivation. I'm particularly interested in how well the idea works in an ordinary back garden and how the yields develop from first planting. Since I planted the garden I've been trying to record the different yields as best I can. I keep a note of all the produce day to day by writing down the type and weight when I can. Sometimes it isn't practical to weigh the produce so I make a note of how many items instead and estimate the weight. This year had a really warm start and it has brought on everything earlier than last year. Apart from the evergreen herbs like rosemary and sage and some small amounts of kindling wood, the first products from the garden this year were herbs like chives, lemon balm, salad burnet and spearmint. These are much more abundant than last year. The first crop in any quantity was rhubarb, which was harvested mostly in April this year compared to May and June in 2010. The strawberries were the first proper fruit and were earlier this year starting in May and going on into June. Late May also saw the first raspberries. I have a few different varieties in the garden, including an unknown yellow variety which has been prolific so far. June saw lots of fruit with tayberries, redcurrants, whitecurrants, alpine strawberries and sweet cherries. It was exciting to get some decent redcurrants this year. June also saw the first garlic harvest. In addition to the perennial crops I make some room for potatoes in bags and courgettes in pots. The first earlies were harvested in June as well as the first few courgettes. At this stage of development these annual crops make a big difference to the production of the garden. I've been updating the list of produce in the side bar of the blog. I went back and compared the produce from last year to this year. So far it's looking good. The graph below shows the total weight month by month. The higher yield in April was due to the rhubarb coming earlier this year. The drop in May was because most of it was harvested already. The large jump in June was due to the wide range of early fruit and the early potatoes and courgettes. As well as the increased weight of produce there has definitely been a greater variety of fruit this year as the soft fruit plants are maturing. The graph stops at June for this year so far, but already July has brought sour cherries, the first delicious blackcurrants and more garlic.
The outlook for the rest of the year is pretty good. However, the really warm weather in spring seems to have reduced the yields of some things like the sour cherry. The mature pear tree looks as though it may have gone biennial with a bumper crop last year and very little fruit this year. The mature apple tree also produced a lot of the top fruit last year and I have cut most of that back this year to graft it. However, some of the newly planted apples and pears are bearing some fruit this year. I suspect I'll get less in total this year, but spread out more usefully over a longer time. In the long run I expect the top fruit will start to become a more important part of the garden output and other trees like the quince, hawthorn and mulberry will start to bear. In the meantime the Redsleeves apple has already got full sized fruit on it. I can't wait to try them, but I'll bide my time ... It's about a year since I drew up the plans for the forest garden so it seems a good time to reflect on how the garden is progressing. A lot of the hard work has been done since then. The large non-edible trees have been cleared, the decking is gone, the main trees are planted and lots of soft fruit and herbs are in.
Pretty much all of the plants have survived the first year. Some of the trees have thrived from the outset like the Court of Wick apple, others like the Annie Elizabeth apple have struggled but have grown slowly. I've been surprised by the difference in vigour between all the trees. Even amongst the hazels, all three trees have grown to different extents with the Nottingham Cobnut putting on about 1.0m growth, whilst the Red Filbert has only grown about 0.15m and the Kentish Cob is somewhere in between. Some of the differences I'm sure are due to different degrees of soil fertility and I've been doing a lot to improve the soil around the garden. I'm hoping that now that they have their roots established the slower growing trees will do better next year. I wasn't expecting much in the way of produce in the first year. Most of the trees and the soft fruit will take at least a year to start producing. I thought it would be useful to make a note of what the garden has produced this year so that I can keep track of how this changes with years as the garden develops. So here's a list so far: Apples: about 20 from existing apple tree - it suffered this year from scab and lost most of its fruit and leaves early. Pears: about 10 fruit from poorly pollinated mature tree Acid cherries: about 4! Rhubarb: 10 stalks Gooseberries: About 3! Strawberries: About 2! Herbs: Sage, rosemary, thyme, spearmint, marjoram Salad: Nasturtium leaves for salad, a few sorrel leaves Vegetable beds: Beetroot, lettuce, spinach, courgettes, pak choi, shallots, French bean Growbags: Tomatoes - steady supply over about 6 weeks from 5 growbags. Lost quite a few to blight, but just kept cutting out the affected parts. Mini-greenhouse: Chillis - about 20 A pretty short list and it certainly doesn't make much of a contribution to the household food intake at the moment. I'm hoping that within the next few years that will change. It should be an easy baseline to improve on. However, the garden certainly looks pretty different now. Certain areas are really thriving where the plants are growing in combination like the herbs around the Tydeman's Late apple and also in the shady corner behind the garage where the rhubarb and Nottingham Cobnut is. I'll add some pictures soon. |
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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