To fight against climate change, plant a forest garden!
Written by Aline Ouvrard from CELL ASBL
The first forest garden in Luxembourg planted by citizens was recently created in the community garden of Mersch. But what is the purpose of planting forest gardens? Why is this system one of the keys to fighting against climate change? In this guest post Aline Ouvrard from CELL talks about the features and benefits of this natural garden concept.
In fall 2022, around thirty trees and shrubs were planted on a 300 m² area in the community garden of Mersch to create the very first forest garden planted by citizens in Luxembourg! Managed by CTF Mersch, the project is supported by CELL and the municipality of Mersch.
What is a forest garden? It simply creates an ‘imitation’ of a forest in a garden, with trees and plants of different heights including edible species. A variety of plants of different heights are planted in the same area to create the different levels of the forest:
Trees in the upper level (apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, etc.)
Shrubs on the middle level (thorny currant, raspberry, juneberry, etc.)
Low plants on the lower level (wild strawberry, yarrow, comfrey, etc.)
Plan of the forest garden of Mersch drawn by Nadira, a gardener
The forest garden thus forms a stable ecosystem by tending toward the climax community (a theoretical natural state of ecological equilibrium toward which the soil, vegetation and fauna tend at a given point) specific to Luxembourg, which is mainly based on beech forest.
A KEY ELEMENT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
The forest garden offers many benefits, especially in relation to climate change, including:
The storage of CO2 in the soil and in the biomass
Improving the infiltration and storage of water in the soil
Protecting the soil from erosion caused by wind, sun and rain
Creating habitat for flora, fauna and micro-fauna
Recycling nutrients and providing organic matter
Resistance to extreme weather events
Deforestation occurs not only in the Amazon or in the Congo basin but also here in Luxembourg, like in Bobësch. If each Luxembourg citizen planted two trees, we would have more than one million young trees on the territory. Although this does cannot replace the ecosystem services provided by an old-growth forest, the ecological benefits of such an action would be significant. A community forest garden is therefore a key element in the fight against deforestation and climate change.
BENEFITS OF GROWING A FOREST GARDEN
The edible forest allows you to work in a natural way and obtain produce. Also, once planted, it requires little effort and maintenance.
1. Working in a natural way
This concept is strongly inspired by the way of life of the first peoples who lived in harmony with the forest. Fourteen thousand years ago in Southeast Asia, we were gatherers who lived in the forest.
Wildlife is integrated into the design of the forest garden. The wilderness is not just a place at the bottom of the garden. It is part of the garden. It is therefore a way of sharing the Earth with living organisms and encouraging the diversity of ecological niches.
2. Obtaining your own produce
The produce of the forest garden is mainly composed of fruits, nuts and leafy vegetables such as nettles, wild cabbage or wild garlic.
The plants found in a classic vegetable garden are rarely adapted to the forest garden because most of them need a lot of light, like zucchini or beans. But no need to panic! While two-thirds of the world's food supply is now based on nine foods, humans have consumed up to 6,000 species of plants in the past. It is not too late to fight the loss of cultivated biodiversity and to adopt a more varied and richer diet. In fact, wild and perennial plants are, on average, richer in proteins, vitamins and minerals because they have not been subject to selective breeding like annual plants.
3. Careful design of the forest garden
A well thought-out forest garden design allows for varied production throughout the year. Before maintaining and harvesting, the key steps in creating an forest garden are, as in permaculture, observation and design.
Land on which the forest garden of Mersch was planted
The analysis of the environment (soil, temperature, wind, sunshine, water, flora, fauna, etc.) allows you to identify the plants adapted to the site. Then, the choice and arrangement of plants takes into account several parameters such as space management, evolution in time, staggering of harvests or light management.
Once the design is done, all that is left to do is plant! But be careful to do it at the right time. For trees, the ideal time is to plant them at the end of November, as the saying goes: "On Saint Catherine's Day, all wood takes root".
4. The forest garden requires little effort and maintenance
In keeping with the natural agriculture of non-doing and non-action of Masanobu Fukuoka, the precursor of permaculture, the forest garden invites as little action as possible:
No more seeding because most of the plants are perennials
No need to mow (and how many times a year do you mow the lawn?😉)
No need to weed
No need to work the soil (in permaculture this work is already greatly reduced)
Less need to add compost
Less need to control crop pests because natural enemies are present
A forest garden of 100 m² only requires on average one to three hours of maintenance per... month! Depending on your desires and the time you have available, it is possible to create a forest garden adapted to your abilities and the time you can devote to it, which will require more or less maintenance.
CELL, CITIZENS AND FUTURE PROJECTS
As part of the Polynatur project, CELL will offer workshops to support the creation of new forest gardens. We hope to see a dozen forest gardens, large or small, flourish in Luxembourg over the next three years!
Workshops are already underway in partnership with the Silva Edulis association in Godrange (Junglinster), which has been running a forest garden project for several years on a one hectare plot. This year, we also hope to plant a forest garden in partnership with CTF Hesperange along the Alzette river.
To be notified about upcoming workshops subscribe to the CELL newsletter or visit www.eisegaart.lu
Bibliography and references:
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La Forêt-jardin. Créer une forêt comestible en permaculture pour retrouver autonomie et abondance, Martin Crawford. Ed. Ulmer, 2017.
Vivre avec la Terre. Manuel des Jardiniers-Maraîchers. Tome II Cultures vivrières et forêts-jardins, Perrine et Charles Hervé-Gruyer. Ed. Actes Sud / Ferme du Bec Hellouin, 2019.
Forest Gardening, Robert Hart, Ed. Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, 1996.
L’appel gourmand de la forêt, Linda Louis. Ed. La Plage 2011.
Edible Forest Gardens. Vol. I Ecological vision and theory for temperate climate Permaculture. Vol. II Ecological Design and Practice for temperate climate permaculture, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier. Ed. Chelsea Green Publishing, 1999.
Cuisiner pour le plaisir, le sautres et la planète. La cuisine végétale, zéro déchet et éthique, Tom Hunt. Ed. Ulmer, 2020.
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Film La Jungle étroite, Benjamin Hennot - Jardin de Mouscron
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Cours en ligne Les Alvéoles, Concevoir un jardin agroforestier. De la haie fruitière au Jardin-Forêt
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