#Edible Forest Gardening 101: Keeping organised
Since the food forest I am currently building is on another person’s property, I have to arrange for some sort of accessible knowledge transfer, in order to make sure the people who are using the space can get the most out of it. There should be no guesswork as to what can be eaten or used.
As such, I keep a simple running google doc where I can add “cards” every time I plant a new edible item on the property. These cards consist of:
the name of the plant in English, and Danish, as well as the botanical name;
a summary of the edible or useful parts;
harvest time in the local climate;
care/pruning instructions;
and a visual reference of [at least two of] flowers, foliage, and/or fruit.
These “cards” are updated as the trees and shrubs grow in order to document how well they grow under the local conditions over the years, but can also easily be printed out to form a hard-copy, alphabetised reference book. Keeping accessible, localised records helps others who may want to do a permaculture project in your biome get a head start.
If designing a food forest on public or park land, consider investing in signage and placards and making them as accessible as possible, so even those completely new to plant identification can make use of forest garden spaces.
#bioregionalism #permaculture #edible landscaping #garden science
amandla
theartofmadeline
germansingergirl
