The EPIC garden will incorporate an edible food forest, children’s garden, vegetable garden, propagation areas, and other food growth and recreational areas. This garden will provide opportunities for education and encourage participants to utilise the skills and knowledge in a practical manner in their own environment. Using permaculture principles there will be a strong emphasis on the natural environment and alternative technologies.
The food forest began with the planting of a lime and lemon tree at the official opening of the EPIC Garden on May 1, 2016. Further trees have been planted since then with the assistance of a grant from Permaculture Australia.
WHAT IS AN EDIBLE FOREST GARDEN?
“The
ultimate goals of forest gardening are the growing of an abundant diversity of
tasty, nutritious, and healthy foods and the cultivation and perfection of an
ecological way of seeing, thinking, being, and acting in the world”
(David Jacke and Eric Toensmeier Edible Forest Gardens, 2005)
The Vision:
An ecological food producing system which is structured and functions like a
forest. It is low maintenance and largely self-supporting once
established. The structure mimics the forest with layers of
vegetation – trees, shrubs, climbing vines, herbs and ground covers and root
crops/tubers – and functions like a forest with plants and fungi working
together to cycle nutrients and control pests and diseases .
Minerals accumulated by some plants are released back to the soil when the
leaves break down; nitrogen fixing plants add additional nutrients from the air
which are made available through bacteria living in nodules on their roots;
nectary plants attract and feed beneficial insects to control pests; ground
covers protect the soil, fungi in the soil support the system and transport
nutrients through an underground matrix from one plant to another.
Overall the use of trees, shrubs and perennial plants dramatically reduces the
labour required to produce food as they do not need to be replanted every year
and their roots penetrate more deeply, thereby requiring less water and
fertiliser to be added.
An edible forest garden is consciously designed; the choice and location of
species which will produce a good yield when grown together, make full use of
the available space and resources without requiring excessive inputs in the
form of labour or materials, support the functions and structure of the
forest system, allow access for harvest whilst reducing weed growth and
maintenance (e.g. mowing) and still meet the aesthetic requirements of the site
requires the major inputs of energy and expertise in the design and early
implementation stages. Ongoing maintenance will be required to fine tune the
system but will be far less burdensome than a conventional orchard or vegetable
system producing comparable overall yields.
What does it look like? An edible forest garden can look like a suburban garden
(although with more plants than most), a wild forest, an informal garden, a
natural woodland, a tropical garden….whatever will suit the site, the location,
the intended use of the garden and the clients wishes (the owners of the land
or the local community in the case of a public forest garden). The forest
garden can support multiple uses such as demonstration gardens for education in
horticulture/permaculture, social and public spaces, providing food for people
and wildlife and habitat for birds and other creatures.
John Ferris
Edible Forest Gardens Wonga Park