If you follow through on the link to The Real Food Summit (the post before this one), you'll find links to a great green blog by NYU students called The Wild Green Yonder. They work on such things as local food initiatives in New York City. Their post, "Three Shades of Green," caught my eye, as did Edible Forest Gardening, another blog. This fascinating approach is gardening like the forest, as described on the About page:
...Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield garden. If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining....
...Forest gardeners use the forest as a design metaphor, a model of structure and function, while adapting the design to focus on meeting human needs in a small space. While you can forest garden if you have a shady site, it is best if your garden site has good sun if you want the highest yields of fruits, nuts, berries, and most other products. Edible forest gardening is about expanding the horizons of our food gardening across the full range of the successional sequence, from field to forest, and everything in between.
I must read up on this! I think it would really suit me with its emphasis on perennials. Personally, I prefer my gardens to require as little intervention from me as possible. I'm still spending a lot of time out there refereeing the reseeding and spreading plants that compete with each other for room. This year, although we are (still!) in a drought, I watered as little as possible ~ I'd just as soon have plants that survive and thrive without needing life-support systems. As far as the lawn goes, well, it goes as far as it will grow well. If there are too many problems with a section of lawn, I make it into another garden. I'd rather have plants that can survive dry spells than be out watering every day or install an irrigation system.
Forest gardening sounds like the way to go. Have you ever heard of Forest Gardening, and do you know anyone in Rhode Island with a "forest garden?"
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