Gardening in the forest

[slowworm]

Those of you who own or have permission to use some woodland, have you planted anything useful to make the woodland more productive?

I'm mainly thinking food plants and trees but interested in anything that you've done.

I own a bit of recently planted woodland, so anything I add is not likely to impact on anything rare, and I've added some common garden fruit trees and bushes over the years with fairly interesting results. So far my main conclusion is the wildlife has eaten most of the fruits before they're ready for me to pick, but some things are providing some useful nibbles when I'm in the woods working.

 

[dwardo]

I would gorilla garden my favorites. So it would be mints, balms, garlics, pignuts, rasps, blacks. All native strains. Then just the lovely to look at stuff bluebells, primrose, orchids celandine, etc.

 

[Insel Affen]

Coriander might go well (Self seeding too) but might may spread. Sating that the pigeons had my outside shoots this year.

 

[TeeDee]

Hi , as I see you are in Devon ( so a local ) you may want to visit the Agroforestry site at Dartington Hall

There are a few guided tours there per year and by the look of the website its sharpened up since I've been there.

I also have the book if you need to borrow it.

https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

HTH

 

[Nomad64]

http://theforestgarden.co.uk/about-the-forest-garden/

 

[moocher]

What about runner beans? Or google veg that likes shade like chard ? etc

 

[slowworm]

I'm hoping to do a fair bit of forest gardening around the house, and have several agroforesty books. However, I was more interested it what people may have added to an existing woodland. What I've found is something like a humble apple tree will produce a good crop next to a house but in the middle of a woodland there just seems to be too many hungry critters the apples never stay long enough to ripen.

Raspberries are another good example, I've occasionally found feral raspberries whilst out and about but in my bit of woodland the deer quickly eat all the plants so they need to be fenced.

I have added ramsons and they've settled in well, are very useful and they don't seem to be eaten by much else.

 

[Billy-o]

This is a popular guerrilla practice here, and probably still will be long after legalization at the end of this summer

 

[bigboned]

Watching this thread as I’ve meant to ask the same question for ages, got a bit of a spruce forest and have always thought it would be handy if there were edibles, I have a semi permanent camp set up

 

[Robson Valley]

Edibles are almost always seasonal. Harvest in bulk and mess with preservation (drying?)

Spruce forest. I look below my 40' spruce trees and there's not much alive on the ground from the acidic needle fall over the years.
Maybe blueberries (Vaccinium sp) if the local deer didn't eat everything.

Out the back, it's obvious that the deer like some apple trees (leaves) but not others.
My neighbors have no fences and the deer won't eat their apple trees.
My fence was in repairs, the deer got in and stripped one of my apple trees to a skeleton!

I think your best bets are with perennials, things which might grow tall enough before the deer destroy them.
Start things in large pots (Rowan, Hawthorn, Hazel nut, walnut, apple).
Grow them tall enough that you aren't planting little twigs (for deer browse!)
More isn't better = the deer just stay longer.

 

[Broch]

My woodland is classified as Ancient Semi Natural so I have a very strict 'no introductions' philosophy (unfortunately that includes things like ransoms that I'd love to have). But, there is a lot of 'forageable' stuff here including masses of pignut and even wild gooseberry! We've just eaten a very tasty oyster mushroom risotto