Organic Cherry Farming

I have been asked to join the design team for a 11.9 hectare farming project here in Bulgaria. The project is most unusual in that it will be a fusion of three very different types of systems on one adjoined piece of land.  These are : a conventional cherry orchard, an organic cherry orchard designed by  The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)  and a forest garden with cherry featuring as the dominant upper anopy specie. My role is to design the forest garden area ,as well as looking into the rainwater harvesting potential of the site.

The Site - Looking South

This project presents a great opportunity to compare, yields, costs, labour requirements and the ecological impact of the different systems. 

I am very fortunate to have 1yr to make the essential observations on the site that will provide me with the necessary information to come up with a solid design.

Satellite image of the Site - Boundaries represented by Green Line

My design for the Forest Garden will include

• Site Survey - Existing vegetation, Land History, Water flow, Seasonal observations 
  
• Irrigation plan - Swale placement, pond placement (if required), irrigation schedule.
• Fertility plan - Compost, Biomass plants, fertility crops, vermicomposting, Humanure   
• Planting plan - Productive perennial guild designs, Productive annual guild designs, Plant list (species, cultivars and source of plants), Wildlife guild designs.  
  
• Yield forecast - Forecasts for yields Year 1, Year 5, Year 10, Year 25     
• Management plan - Maintenance schedule, Harvesting schedule,  Estimated labor (hrs per week)       
• Implementation plan - Order of works schedule. 
• Costs report - a breakdown of the estimated costs for implementation (land works, materials, plants, tools, labor)
• Base map.
• Design proposal map 

I will be recording the development of the design process on this blog. 

 

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

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We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)

Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture plants, seeds, bulbs and Polyculture multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy.  We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Yuu can also find our full list of trees. shrubs and herbs for forest gardens on our website here 

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Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes.

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If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery or Online Store 

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