Its Blossom Time plus a few surprises.



Damson with Forsythia

 For several years I had a forsythia growing away happily(inherited from the previous owner as this is not a FG shrub) almost without noticing a sucker from a near bye Damson tree hid within the shrub until it was too late for me to stop it. What an interesting result and what a super crop of Damsons (I hope ) will follow this September.This is a warning though to anyone planting a Damson as they do tend to sucker and need attention each winter. The suckers can be lifted and will turn into viable trees if planted elsewhere.

















Elaeagnus ebbegnei  fruit ing in March!!!! This pic taken last week 29th March

Who would believe it semi ripe fruit in March from my Elaeagnus wind break. Its evergreen, it fixes nitrogen for surrounding plants and the fruit is delicious when ripe (the whole fruit juiced makes a sublime drink).



This is a close up of The Golden Rain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) foliage as it started to emerge last week.This tree looks fantastic as the foliage breaks out in spring and again in the autumn with its browns and rusty reds, eventually it will give us showy yellow flowers followed by seed pods containing a shiny black seeds which when roasted are a coffee substitute.

So there you have it a delightful selection of blossom, fruit and foliage very unusual for late March in the UK.

Anyone reading this can contact me for a visit please just email me first at bslark@aol.com to make an appointment.

What is Forest Gardening

It is a form of perennial Agroforestry that uses every layer of the growing environment (there are 7 of these) to produce food, materials for shelter, medicinal and other useful properties such as dyes, detergent and string. In fact everything that is needed to sustain human life.

Furthermore the idea is to grow perennial plants that form relationships with each other so that there is less manual work required in maintaining the efficiency and abundance of various crops. The forest garden is planned to ensure that there is as much variety as possible so that the production of food in particular is spread over as long a period as possible.

To this end many species are planted that are from other parts of the world so that additional diversity is introduced. This also gives us many clues as to how climate change is affecting growing conditions here in West Wales. This makes my forest garden somewhat experimental., the results over the last 10 years have been mixed but last year I had a record crop of Japanese plums (Prunus salicina) where 3 trees averaged over 60 Kg each and 7 Kg of sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) .

I will be updating this blog througout the season with pics of blossom/fruit and autumn colour together with comments on

plants that have thrived and those that have not.

primroses are abundant right now so why not pick a flower or two and eat as you go or even collect a few to scatter over your salad delicious!!

Waking up to Spring

Flowering in the Forest Garden right now:

Cornus mas--Cornelian Cherry. Large shrub with yellow flowers that come out before the foliage, we had a bumper year last time with a heavy crop from both the bushes, but there is a new boy on the block so there are 3  in flower this year, ever tried Cornelain Cherry Jam? its really good.

Prunus tomentosa -Nankin cherry this failed last year due to a late frost so lets hope it gets through the next few weeks without damage. Small bush 1 x1 mt, delightful pink/carmine flowers Produces small red tart cherries great raw or cooked.

Just around the corner are cherry plum,japanese plum,almond and apricot.There will be a riot of blossom from now on.