So what is a forest garden? It means growing many different types of plants together such that they benefit each other and eliminate the need for pesticides, fungicides and artificial fertilisers.

Almost all plants and trees in a forest garden will have some use for humans. They are chosen because they give us food, flowers or herbs, or even basketry materials and natural dyes – and often more than one of the above.

We can look at how nature works and work in harmony with it, aiming for minimal extra inputs and low ongoing maintenance.

Forest gardens are designed with a mixture of light and shade, and layered like a natural woodland’s edge, with taller canopy trees, understory shrubs and ground cover with very little bare earth.

Some plants act as natural fertilisers – they fix nitrogen and improve the soil for others. Others might be chosen to attract pollinators. A forest garden provides rich natural habitat for hedgehogs, slow worms, birds, bats and carnivorous insects, all of which help in pest control.

You can already see some of these principles at work in the green spaces around Wellington, planted and looked after by TTW’s volunteer gardeners. You’ll notice there are mixed orchards of fruit and nut trees, with fruit bushes and wildflower meadows as the understory layer.

But how can you do this if you have limited space in your back garden? You may have a fruit tree, for example, which requires potash and nitrogen to continually produce a good crop.

Rather than buying artificial fertilisers, sow dwarf comfrey and clover around the base to provide those nutrients naturally. Not only will this help suppress other weeds, their flowers attract bees – which will, in turn, pollinate the tree.

You could add a fruit bush on the south side to make full use of the sunlight and extend the cropping season and, before you know it, you will have created your own mini-forest garden!

If you’d like to find out more about forest gardens, see Martin Crawford’s introduction on YouTube- https://youtube/fLGlNjv

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HELEN GILLINGHAM & ANITA ROY