Forest gardening?

[Abbe Osram]

Hi guys,
I need some advice from our farming people here at BCUK.
I wonder if there is a teaching of enviormental friendly gardening in a forest.
My question is if its possible to grow potatos and other vegetables in the forest without cutting trees. Is it possible to grow stuff over the ground and around the trees? I dont know if I made myself clear as I am new to the whole thing of gardening. I only dont want to chop down the forest and build a garden by cultivating it. Is there a wilder way of gardening maybe called: Forest gardening?

thanks
Abbe

 

[torjusg]

If you have a small bog or shallow nearby, maybe you can introduce cattails. About the same yield as potataoes I think. From what I have read (here: http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Typha+latifolia ) it can produce 8 tons of rootstock flour per hectar!

I am planning to introduce it where come from. Given a few thousand years to spread it probably would have come eitherway.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Abbe Osram]

Looks very intersting mate, but is it ok to introduce new plants into our countries? I heard that this can cause big problems in the enviorment if done wrong? But I love the plant. Lets see what I can do with it.
How high are you up in the north? I am 150 km over the arctic circle do you think that plant will survive here?

PS Ahh, just checkt out the plant. We got it in sweden but it doesnt grow so high up. I could try out an experiement and see if I get it in my little lake to grow but dont know if it will work.

do you know anything about growing stuff in the ground around trees?
I know that one can grow potatos in barrels over the ground. One can get quite a big harvest. What about other roots, is that working with carrots too?


cheers
Abbe

 

[leon-1]

Interesting idea Abbe, I don't honestly know.

I would say that the type of forest would definitely have an affect on what you can grow (spruce and pine can cause high acididty levels in the earth) making it suitable only for plants that can handle this type of soil.

In the end it will come down to light and how much of it breaks through the canopy, a suggestion is to plant on the edges of the forest where the plants will be able to receive more light and it will be easier for you to work. This will also give a measure of protection from the elements for what you have planted depending on the direction of prevailing weather conditions.

 

[JimH]

I know that one can grow potatos in barrels over the ground. One can get quite a big harvest. What about other roots, is that working with carrots too?

Yes. Or something similar.

My late grandfather grew carrots in individual PVC plumbing pipes filled with compost and sand.

This was to enter competitions, to give the roots a clear stone-free environment so they grow long and straight.

It would work fine with veg for eating. Planting and harvesting small, seperate batches also helps prevent carrot root fly (dunno if you get them in Scandinavia...)

"Raised bed" and "container" gardening are the generic English terms for this sort of approach. They are compact and efficient, and very popular with organic gardeners.

Your main problem is likely to be light levels, if there's a lot of tree cover.

This site looks OK:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/raisedbed/index.html

Best of luck.

Jim.

 

[Abbe Osram]

Thanks Jim,

that was good info. I really want to try to have as little impact as possible on the enviorment. Reading the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond gave me a real schock. I believe that we have to experiement and find better ways to produce food. If that would work with the raised beds I will not have to destreu the forest ground. I should find easily a tree free patch. Light is here in the summer 24 hours that acctually should help some.

cheers
Abbe

 

[jdlenton]

As Jim has said you can grow all the veg you require in a container from potatoes leaks carrots cabbage beans anything really asparagus didn't work for me though. my next door neighbour is also a show grower and he grows his potatoes in straw so no digging!!!! He disturbs the soil that will be under the seed potato and adds a little compost or well rotted manure he places the seed potato on the disturbed ground and then putts straw over the top to a depth of about 150mm all the straw is kept in place buy a recycled wood wall 30 to 40cm high and is about 1 m by 1,5 m you can grow 3 plants in this size container.
The only other advice I have to about container gardening is that you will need access to a lot of water as the containers are above the ground they will drain like plant pots and go dry very quickly so they will need watering every day and sometimes twice a day in summer when the weather is warm

gardening is hard work i love it its very rewarding when you get to eat what you grow and it taste like proper vegis not the stuff pushed at us in plastic bags with no dirt on it by the super markets
go for it abe

oh and cabbages last well when coverd with snow

James

 

[Abbe Osram]

Hi
thanks for all the info. I really want to try it out and hope that I can start already this summer. I have two lakes in the area I am going to lease, water should not be a problem.

thanks
Abbe

 

[torjusg]

Have you thought about cultivating native plants? Burdock (http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Arctium+lappa), nettles etc..

Or you can always mix ground inner bark of spruce, birch or pine with your flour.

And lichens? Some of them are full of carbs.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[C_Claycomb]

I know its a little off topic, but have you ever heard of Square Food Gardening? It was something my mum was into back in the 80s in the US.
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Not natural in some ways, but it always seemed an efficient method.

 

[Toddy]

It's the light levels that will make the difference to what you can grow Abbe. Small pockets of warm, sunlit ground can be successfully cleared and systematically enriched to provide good raised beds. In Scotland we call these Lazy beds, though they are d*mned hard work to establish.
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/kestrel3d/cultivation/cultivation1b.html

Traditionally the old foot plough , the cas-chrom was used
http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/results.php?id_proj=0936&searchdb=scran

to open up small patches of land for crops between rocky or boggy areas. I don't see why it shouldn't work between or at the edges of trees provided there is sufficient light and water for growth. The thing with farming is to remember to feed the soil as much as it feeds you , bone meal is good, slow release and long lasting; blood fish and bone or even chicken manure are very good and lightweight to transport, though crops like comfrey and nettles provide excellent nutrients too. Seaweed is another traditional improver. In much of the world nightsoil is still used effectively as fertilizer......and compost heaps help improve the texture of the soil as well as feeding it.
Do you have hardwood trees? or nut bearing ones like Hazelnut up there?
These can all be pollarded which allows light in but also provided good new growth for hurdles, basketry and charcoal too.

Best of luck with it all, if we can help with seeds, let us know?

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Pappa]

Make room for the mushrooms!

They're nutritious, delicious and can be grown on newly dead wood. Fungi Perfecti (http://www.fungi.com/) sell all sorts of edible and medicinal varieties. You might find Oyster and Shiitake varieties sold elsewhere too (I've seen them in the garden centre). Or search for Oyster or Shiitake plug spawn.

Pappa

 

[moocher]

i remember reading a article with the above title in 80s/90s in survival weaponry technique magazine.the author had grown maize and raspberries and i think some sort of bean/pea.in a wood clearing.but if i remember rightly some one robbed their crop.if anyone has/finds these rare mags hang on their like gold on ebay and i always regret selling mine at a carboot.

 

[JimH]

i remember reading a article with the above title in 80s/90s in survival weaponry technique magazine.the author had grown maize and raspberries and i think some sort of bean/pea.in a wood clearing.but if i remember rightly some one robbed their crop.

Raid a SWAT reader's garden? More than your life's worth, surely. ISTR that the issues I bought looked more like "Combat Weaponry And Techniques"... (or am I thinking of the sister magazine "Terrifying Weaponry And Techniques"

(I bought it too... ) I had some pals in the OTC at the time it came out.

Shame it's a valued collectable, as I slung it years back, along with all my old 2000ADs, also now worth a mint :sadwavey:

Jim.

 

[JimH]

If that would work with the raised beds I will not have to destreu the forest ground. I should find easily a tree free patch. Light is here in the summer 24 hours that acctually should help some.

It means you can tailor the soil composition too...

24 hour light, indeed hours of light, are less an issue than intensity in my (limited)experience. I'd grow on the south facing margins and clear the scrub or prune a tree or two to let light in if necessary

Jim.

 

[moocher]

Raid a SWAT reader's garden? More than your life's worth, surely. ISTR that the issues I bought looked more like "Combat Weaponry And Techniques"... (or am I thinking of the sister magazine "Terrifying Weaponry And Techniques"

(I bought it too... ) I had some pals in the OTC at the time it came out.

Shame it's a valued collectable, as I slung it years back, along with all my old 2000ADs, also now worth a mint :sadwavey:

Jim.

yeah i sold my rogue trooper comics at the same time.lol

 

[Ketchup]

Hi guys,
I need some advice from our farming people here at BCUK.
I wonder if there is a teaching of enviormental friendly gardening in a forest.
My question is if its possible to grow potatos and other vegetables in the forest without cutting trees. Is it possible to grow stuff over the ground and around the trees? I dont know if I made myself clear as I am new to the whole thing of gardening. I only dont want to chop down the forest and build a garden by cultivating it. Is there a wilder way of gardening maybe called: Forest gardening?

thanks
Abbe

Dear Abbe,

I suggest you google under "no till" or "permaculture", there are thousands of hints there

 

[Abbe Osram]

Thank you all for the great help.
I never heard about no-till farming, its quite interesting what they write there.
Acctually its exactly what I had in mind.

all the best to you all
Abbe

 

[pierre girard]

Hi guys,
I need some advice from our farming people here at BCUK.
I wonder if there is a teaching of enviormental friendly gardening in a forest.
My question is if its possible to grow potatos and other vegetables in the forest without cutting trees. Is it possible to grow stuff over the ground and around the trees? I dont know if I made myself clear as I am new to the whole thing of gardening. I only dont want to chop down the forest and build a garden by cultivating it. Is there a wilder way of gardening maybe called: Forest gardening?

thanks
Abbe

Problem with most garden vegetables is lack of sunlight. If you can find a clearing - it might be done. Native Americans were big on "hills" rather than cultivated fields. It the right climate (more temperate than where you are) they would plant the "three sisters" in a hill. The three sisters are corn, beans, and squash. The beans would introduce nitrogen to fertilize, the corn would provide a climbing pole for the beans, and the squash would cover the ground and keep down weeds.

PG

 

[Nemisis]

What about using wooden scrap pallets bolting four together to form a box shape placed in clearings, then filling them with leaf litter etc from the forrest floor and leaving them for a year to rot down into compost. Then the following year plant them up with your veggies etc as raised beds.
Dave.