Plan a Backyard Forest mini-course

Using forest garden techniques, you transform your backyard into a lush food forest, working with nature to grow edible crops whilst creating a wildlife haven.

In this course, we cover:

1. Food forest garden definition

2. Reasons to plan

3. Free PDF plan checklist

4. How to create a map

5. Bonus design tips

In this short course, we will look at what a forest garden is and why it’s so important to work with nature when growing edible crops, both for your garden and the wider landscape. The key characteristics of a forest garden are:

1. Sustainable — self-contained yet connected to wider landscape

2. Productive — edible, useful crops

3. Wildlife friendly — working with nature, by design

4. Layers — efficient use of available space

5. Perennial — lower maintenance, higher nutrition

We cover the importance of planning, and the key things to consider when surveying your land. Inlcuded is a handy PDF checklist to download. The key areas are:

1. Position — orientation, elevation & slope

2. The elements — water, soil, wind, sun & climate

3. Features — existing ecosystems, structures, utilities & access

4. Situation — neighbours & privacy

Then we go through the process of creating a map, both a paper one and a CAD map based on a satellite photo, and different measuring techniques. We use QCAD software for the CAD map.

Finally, there are some bonus design tips.

Forest gardening is a sustainable, resilient and low-maintenance way of gardening. It emulates a woodland edge by using layers of perennial plants, with a permanent living ground cover.