I don't know how many of you are interested in perennial veg, specifically as part of a forest garden. This has been my goal for a long while - although somehow it seems to keep getting shunted down the list. We are collecting the plants in readiness, however, so we can spring into action when the time is right.
Jacks and Toesmeier, who have written extensively on the subject, identify 5 different types of plants to grow in a forest garden, according to their purpose. There's - food (for us humans), fodder (for our livestock or other animals), nectar (for insects), medicinal (self-explanatory) and fuel.
dnd's covered the first area in her thread, I don't, at this point have any livestock, although I'm still working on my OH re chickens (and I may have noticed a slight shift in him
) and I'm well up on medicinal plants, although again suggestions are always welcome.The areas where I've done least research are nectar-giving and fuel providing plants. So any and all ideas would be welcome. I'm sure a lot of the plants in the other sections will be insect feeding but it would be nice to give them a small area undisturbed by us.
We already have willow and I've heard Phormiums are being considered as a quick growing fuel plant - although I don't know how well they'd grow this far north. Certainly worth looking into further south though. Other trees are probably a no-go as our garden just isn't big enough and they grow so slowly here it's not worth it, but again ideas for folks down south would be useful. I'd be really interested in smaller plants or shrubs that might fit the bill.
