When we started the KIT
Community Garden, it was only a vegetable garden. But from this spring we are
going to start transforming our vegetable garden into a forest garden. A forest
garden is a garden that contains mostly perennial plants (多年草) that produce a variety of fruit, nuts, herbs, and
other useful crops. The design of a forest garden is important. Usually, forest
gardens have seven layers.
The first layer is the tall-tree layer. This layer has
the tallest trees in the forest garden. In our garden, the tall-tree layer has loquat
(びわ), apple, and pear trees.
Next is the low-tree layer. This layer has trees that are
a little shorter than the tall-tree layer. In our garden, the low-tree layer is
made up of gumi, juneberry, and mulberry trees.
The next layer is the shrub (低木) layer. Shrubs are plants that don’t grow very tall. In our shrub
layer we planted blueberry, bill berry, raspberry, and blackberry plants.
After the shrub layer comes the herb layer. You can plant
many useful plants in this layer that can be used for cooking, medicine, and attracting
(吸い寄せる) good insects like bees and butterflies. In our herb
layer we have mint, thyme, oregano, lemon balm, lavender, echinacea, and
bergamot.
The next layer is the ground-cover layer. Ground cover
plants do several important jobs. First, they can provide food for us. Second,
they can prevent weeds from growing. Finally, they are a safe place for insects
and other animals to live. We haven’t planted many ground cover plants in our
garden yet, but we do have lots of wild strawberry and white clover.
Next is the vine (つる) layer. Vines are climbing plants like kiwi fruit and grape. We
haven’t planted anything in the vine layer of our forest garden yet, but we
will in the future.
The final layer in a forest garden is the root (根菜) layer. Root plants are plants that grow underground
(地中). Some examples include potatoes, garlic, onions, and
ginger. We haven’t planted anything in out root layer yet either, but we will
soon.
Of course, we will
still grow lots of vegetables, but we’re excited about the future of our forest
garden.
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