GARDENING
Rosemoor’s garden in a forest. Hard work and dedication are paying dividends... In 2012, the gardeners at RHS Garden Rosemoor began the process of creating a forest garden in the newly developed grounds of the Peter Buckley Learning Centre. The forest garden is not quite what the name suggests; trying to garden in a mature forest is somewhat challenging, with light crowded out and the demand for nutrients and water taken up by mature trees. A forest garden brings together a collection of plants that mimic the developing first stages of a forest, utilising the many layers you would see naturally, to produce a sustainable array of fruit, vegetables and other useful natural by-products. In the early stages, it takes hard work and dedication to start a forest garden, requiring a lot of physical energy to clear ground, plant and weed. However, very quickly over the first few years, the system begins to take over and eventually results in a low input system with high yields of both edible produce and useful by-products. Many plants will
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Prunus avium ‘Hannaford’ (Mazzard cherry) ©RHS/Sheila Dearing
have multiple uses. For example, hazel and sweet chestnut can be coppiced to provide firewood, hurdles and stakes as well as producing nuts. Bamboo will provide canes for plant supports and edible shoots. The ground where our forest garden is sited lies heavy and wet, not ideal for creating a garden. To help combat this, the initial planting was of robust trees and shrubs capable of surviving the tough soil conditions while also providing crops of fruit and nuts. The plan here was that when established, the root systems would begin to open up the soil structure, helping to improve drainage, and in turn make a better growing environment for the smaller herbaceous plants to establish in the future. Now we fast-forward nearly ten years to where we are today. Overall, most things have taken well and established quickly. The odd plant has struggled to find its feet, but there has still been
Hemerocallis ‘Luxury Lace’ ©RHS/Carol Sheppard
a marked improvement in the soil conditions; although still not ideal, they are far better than they previously were. This has enabled us to get busy introducing new species and focusing on establishing the understory planting of herbaceous fruit and vegetable crops. Japanese butter burr, wild strawberries and edible day lily flowers are just a few we have planted. We have included several Devon fruit trees and heritage varieties in the planting to display local varieties, including apples, plums and Mazzard Cherries (Prunus avium) which, historically, were a speciality of North Devon. These trees put on a lovely display of spring blossom in April and May. Over the last couple of years, we have expanded the Forest Garden further. We have been able to plant larger trees and shrub species that we did not have room for originally, but will be beneficial to the forest garden system as a whole. These
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