The Woodland Edge Garden

One of the main forms of gardening proposed by PFAF is the woodland garden, since it is potentially the most productive system for growing food, it requires far less work to maintain and also provides habitats for our native wildlife. However, many people do not see this as a suitable system for their garden, voicing a number of objections such as "My garden is much too small or "I need a lawn for the children to play on or "It would make my garden much too shady . This is part one of a two part article looking at a way of having a woodland garden that overcomes all these objections. 

It is a well-established fact that the most productive areas of a woodland are along its edges where higher light levels allow a greater diversity of plant growth. Indeed there is often very little growth at ground level in the depths of the woodland, where the canopy of tall trees prevents much of the light from penetrating to the lower levels. Since it is possible to grow a wide range of food plants on a woodland edge, where space is restricted why not only have the edge? There is absolutely no reason not to do this and, if you site it correctly, it will cast very little, if any, shade into the rest of the garden.

At a squeeze, it is possible to set up this woodland edge in a bed just 1 metre wide, though it would be better to make it at least 1.5 metres wide and if more space was available then the range of plants could be increased significantly. The ideal position would be a strip along the northern edge of the garden since it would then face towards the south and gain the maximum amount of sunshine. Such a position would also cast virtually no shade into the garden - only in the early mornings and evenings during the summer months would there be any shade at all. The next best position would be the easterly to north-easterly side of the garden. Whilst this would cast shade into the garden in the morning, it would also benefit from the warmer sun of the afternoon whilst also providing some extra frost protection from the early morning sun for the more tender plants. The western side of the garden is not so useful, since it will cast shade into the garden in the afternoon and will miss out on the sunshine in the warmer part of the day. The southern side of the garden is the least useful since it will receive very little direct sunlight and will cast its shade into the garden for much of the day. When siting your garden, do not forget that it might be casting its shade into the neighbouring garden, so either choose plants that do not cast an excessive shade or discuss your plants with any affected neighbours.

It is best if the boundary at the back of the bed is made up of a wall or a fence. This will have an added advantage of providing a support for some of the climbing plants. If, instead, the boundary is made up of a hedge, then there are a number of factors to take into account. Firstly, if the hedge is not shade tolerant, then it will deteriorate rapidly as the woodland edge garden matures. Secondly, if the hedge is shade tolerant, then space will be needed between the hedge and the bed to allow access for trimming since, if left untrimmed, the hedge will grow into the bed and possibly cause problems.

When planning out a woodland edge garden, it is important to arrange the planting so that there is a general increase in height from the front to the back of the border. This will allow the maximum of sunlight to reach all the plants - do not be too purist about this however since it is possible to site some of the smaller more shade-loving plants amongst the taller sun-worshippers. Also, since this is a woodland edge garden, you can follow the basic rule of layers in order to gain maximum food production. These layers are as follows:

The Canopy

In the narrow border that we are looking at, you could plant one canopy tree for about every 5 metres of the border. Since this is a woodland edge, you would not generally choose the taller canopy trees, restricting yourself to the sun-loving smaller woodland trees. It is not absolutely essential to plant these trees towards the back of the border, especially if you prune them to ensure that there is a clear trunk of 1.5 metres or more, since there will be plenty of side light for the plants growing beneath them. Indeed, the nearer to the back of the border these trees are, then the more of their crop you are likely to lose to your neighbour's garden (unless you can come to an agreement with them to allow you to harvest from their garden).

There are a number of well-known food plants that we would strongly recommend for use in this layer. These include PEARS, APPLES, PLUMS, CHERRIES and MULBERRIES. There is already plenty of literature available on these plants so we will not deal with them in any more detail here - but do make sure that you do not use plants that have been grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks since they will not grow large enough to become your canopy. In addition to these well-known plants, you might consider including some of the following species.

Cornus kousa. The JAPANESE DOGWOOD, is a deciduous tree that can grow up to 10 metres tall. It ripens its fruit in late summer, these are the size of very large strawberries and have a succulent flesh with an exquisite flavour. The skin is fairly soft and can be eaten with the fruit, but it does have a decidedly bitter flavour. What I do is to bite a small hole in the skin and then suck out the flesh. It is really like a luscious tropical fruit. The form most often found in gardens is C. kousa chinensis, this is said to grow and fruit better than the species, though I have not really noticed much difference.

Crataegus species. A strangely neglected fruiting genus, with several species producing delicious cherry-sized fruits in the autumn. I will not go into details here because we have a leaflet that deals exclusively with these plants. Ask us for Crataegus species - the Hawthorns' if you want more comprehensive information. The following species are some of the most productive and tasty:

• C. arnoldiana. A tree to 7 metres tall, the fruit is juicy and sweet.

• C. douglasii. Growing up to 9 metres tall, the fruit is similar to C. arnoldiana.

• C. ellwangeriana. Up to 6 metres tall, with very similar fruit to C. arnoldiana. 

• C. festiva. Growing 3 -4 metres tall, the fruit is one of the best in the genus.

• C. pedicellata. Growing up to 7 metres tall, this is one of the latest to ripen - we have eaten its fruits as late as November.

• C. pensylvanica. A tall and wide shrub to 9 metres tall, it has the largest and tastiest fruits that I have yet seen in the genus. It generally produces very heavy crops.

• C. schraderiana. A tree to 6 metres tall, this is one of my favourite fruits. When fully ripe it almost literally melts in the mouth.

• C. tanacetjfolia. Growing up to 10 metres tall, the fruit is yellow in colour and rather like an apple in flavour.

Diospyros lotus and D. virginiana. These two trees produce some of the most delicious fruits we have ever eaten from plants growing in Britain. They are related to the PERSIMMON or SHARON FRUIT (Diospyros kaki) that is sometimes seen in greengrocers and are very similar in shape but smaller, ranging in size from a large cherry to a small crab apple. Only eat the fruit when it is absolutely ripe and squidgy soft, otherwise it will be astringent and have a rather unpleasant effect on your mouth. Fully ripe they taste like a rich apricot jelly. Plants do require a good summer in order to ripen the fruit properly so they grow better in the southeast. The fruit is also nicer after a frost, allow the fruit to fall naturally from the tree and leave it on the ground (if the birds etc. don't start eating it) until there is a frost or two. Then harvest the fruit and store it in a cool place until it is really soft, in fact almost at the point of going rotten. D. lotus is sometimes called the DATE PLUM and can grow to about 9 metres tall, D. virginiana is the AMERICAN PERSIMMON and can be much taller, it has also been the best cropper in my experience and is possibly the best flavoured. Named forms of this plant are available in America.

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