We said goodbye to Malcolm this week - (thanks for joining us, Malcolm!) and welcomed Elise to the project.
The Gardens
Misty morning in the market garden. After the rains is a great time to chop and drop the vegetation building up a nice layer of water retentive organic matter before the long dry summers we usually have here.
Below the walnut tree on the southern boundary we have a good shrub layer establishing including Prunus insititia - Damson and Sambucus nigra - Elderberry. It's common knowledge that walnuts produce a alleopathic chemical called juglone but in my experience there are few plants that seem to be negatively impacted by this. I started a list of plants that we or other growers have seen growing well with walnuts. You can find that list here
Over at the volunteer house the Diospyros kaki - Japanese Persimmon is in flower. It looks like we will have a bumper crop of Persimmon this year.
The Orchard
We made our first visit to the orchard this year to catch the early cherries.
Angela and Victoria picking the early season cherries
We have not been mowing or grazing the orchard the last 3 years and native shrubs such as this Rosa canina - Dog Rose are starting to establish among the grasses. I prefer to mow or graze and move these types of plants into the hedgerows, as we see more diversity of flowering plants and insects in the orchard after cutting.
Cydonia oblonga - Quince fruits forming
The nuts are forming nicely on the young walnut trees in the orchard.
The Coppice
We went back to the coppice last week and it was great to see the regrowth doing so well and the emergence of many more flowering plants and insects taking advantage of the extra light now available.
Victoria cutting back the growth around the stools and thinning some of the smaller and bent regrowth in order to promote faster growth of the straight stems. We're planning on using the coppice sticks next year for tomato stakes.
Here you can see the regrowth 3 weeks after the first cut last year and the regrowth approx 1 year later. The tallest regrowth stems were over 2m tall and approx 4- 5 cm diameter
The Cornus sanguinea - Common Dogwood that grows in the understory of the woodland along with Hawthorn - Crateagus spp. are making the most of the light and flowering prolifically.
The herb layer is also a lot more active and colorful
Irrigation Channels
Victoria and Elise reshaping the irrigation channels for the perennial polyculture trial garden.
We divert some flow away from the main river into hand dug channels that pass through various plots of land before draining into our pond.
The final stretch before entering the garden. This stream fills our pond but we also use a passive irrigation system diverting the water into contour paths that fill with water. We raise the water level in the paths by blocking the low points with sacks of sawdust. The sitting water is then drawn throughout the soil via capillary action.
Upcoming Courses
If you would like to create a forest garden and gain some practical hands on experience come and join us in the Spring. We'll be covering site surveying, landscape design software, installing access, beds, irrigation channels, planting tree, shrub, herb and ground layers and wildlife ponds. All in 3 days! And plenty of follow up material to take away with you to digest slowly.

Design and Build - Forest Garden Course - Regenerative Landscape Design Course
Registration for our April 2020 course is now open with 15% discount on accommodation and food fees when you register as a group (2 or more).
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
- Consider joining us on for one our Courses or Webinars
- Donate directly to our Polyculture Project crowdfunding campaign.
- Comment, like and share our content on social media.
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Design and Build - Forest Garden Course - Regenerative Landscape Design Course |
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
- Consider joining us on for one our Courses or Webinars
- Donate directly to our Polyculture Project crowdfunding campaign.
- Comment, like and share our content on social media.
Polyculture - Forest Gardens - Permaculture - Regenerative Design Webinars
Want to join us for one of our live webinars? Forthcoming webinars include ;
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Polyculture - Forest Gardens - Permaculture - Regenerative Design Webinars |
Would you like to be involved in the project? We are currently offering 1 - 6 month positions on our polyculture study.
Permaculture and Regenerative Design Internships
We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture and forest gardens including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March.
We also offer a range of products all year round from our Online Store
Give a happy plant a happy home :)
We also offer a range of products all year round from our Online Store
Give a happy plant a happy home :)