Inspiring of establishment- and maintenance technicians

"I'm not working with nature, I'm working against nature. ", says Ove me after breakfast. It is roughly the opposite of what we forest horticulturists believe about ourselves, so I ask him develop and he explains: "Nature strives course in a different direction than I. I would not have removed all trees and many birch trees coming into the garden had evolved in a completely different direction. So therefore, I'm working against nature. "I can agree with that reasoning. At the beginning of the creation of a forest garden requires a lot of commitment and many procedures to bring nature to another court. But then, we want to let the reins more and more and let the natural processes proceed in the direction we wish. The countless seedlings hazel, I, ash and maple at Ove's land (and many of his neighbors' land) testify that nature now want the same as Ove. So first we're working against nature, and then work with the.

Unaffected by what is written in books about timber gardening Ove has developed a set of custom of establishment- and management techniques that can be an inspiration to us the second forest horticulturists. The annual mowing is probably the most important of these techniques. It is still relatively sparsely among the trees of Ove's garden and there is a rich örtflora. Ove strikes almost 2 have with scythes and hay period extends over two months, Until October. Ove continues to plant every year, and he lay piles of hay in the places where he would plant the next year. Thus quenched örtskiktet, worms attracted to the surface and it is easy to see where the new plants will be planted. Moreover, he believes that the vole does not thrive under large mounds of hay, which facilitates the establishment further.

The hay will also be useful when Ove build enclosures and cabins, available everywhere in trädgråden. He would not have to haul the hay more than necessary and therefore builds huts of logs, branches and twigs which he then covers with hay. In the huts dryers he then firewood, he makes of mainly gray alder. He is also building enclosure of branches which he then hangs hay in order to create different rooms in the garden and to control flows of people and animals of the land.

Since the entire Oves property slopes, he has set in the system to always rake the hay up a little. Thus moved nutritional- and humus upward and fertility is increasing every year, instead of chips depleted as it would have been if he had raked the hay down. Ove sees its goal of continuously improving site productivity (which is a measure of fertility skogsmarkers) as an additional way to work against nature. At the same time, it is a good example of how to use land in a resource-building way, which is one of the foundations of permaculture.

In a previous post I wrote about the thoughts around construction of forest gardens in forests. Parts of Ove hardwood emerged in an existing forest. Instead of thinning dramatically and remove trees that I proposed in post, he decided to ring-bark the trees would not grow further. In such a way there windshields while ring-barked trees very slowly emit their nutrients and thus help the new trees to establish themselves firmly. "It is not so tidy, but very efficiently, "says Ove.

Over teams engaged Ove ate quite a bit microclimate manipulation. Instead, he tries to see the microclimates that exist and then he selects the right plant for the right place. The most sensitive plants are all located next to large boulders and it shows that grapes hanging closest stones have come much further in their development than those which hangs freely in the air. Mulberry tree growing in a pile of rubble and even chestnut we find large stones.

Another technique that I've taken a lot of inspiration from that Ove do not limit their efforts to their own land. Besides that he has plantations in Sundsvall Ornskoldsvik (where he worked as a city gardener for many years), he has developed a unique ability to find the best growing places for especially hazelnuts and wine, everywhere in the landscape. In all walks of autumn with him hazelnuts, he put down in the earth where he thinks it would suit, For example, when a large spruce has turned over or clear cuts.

And he is not afraid to wear earth bags up steep rock walls, just to be able to plant a vine in an exceptional microclimate. When we go on Indalsleden inland, we see traces Ove interventions everywhere: A handsome hazel bush at a rest stop, vines on the rocks. Through this guerrilla grower begins to dream of the edible landscape become reality.