A FOREST GARDEN YEAR Perennial crops for a changing climate by Martin Crawford

Forest gardener Martin Crawford, who recently appeared on BBC 2s Natural World programme A Farm for the Future, gives a taster of his DVD A Year in a Forest Garden, which will be out in April. Martin created a forest garden 15 years ago that is full of unusual edible plants trees, shrubs and ground cover plants which yield an abundant crop of food with minimum effort. His book Creating a Forest Garden: perennial crops for a changing climate comes out in Spring 2010. www.greenbooks.co.uk

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• Perennial
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• Climate
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• Edible
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[yoodooright1968]

If ever there was someone who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, it is Martin. A genius....

[goingtothedogs]

Great video. Will be buying the DVD and putting it into practice.

[MrAnthonyRizzo]

This is what needs to be done on farmland that is being lost to desertification. Soil needs the water retaining power of trees and a forest garden would provide the necessary biodiversity to prevent soil erosion and the effects of monoculture agriculture. What is even more amazing is that it can be done in such a short span of time. China could so benefit from this as could the American west coast which is quickly running out of water.

[hananokuni2580]

@yoodooright1968 True. Permaculture deals with a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from gardening to housing design to even human society. In short, it is a science dealing with how humanity relates to the natural world for the benefit of all. Forest gardening, even though by itself contains a very rich body of knowledge, can be considered a subset of permaculture.

[hananokuni2580]

@MrHendo100 Finally, forest gardening has been practiced in many regions of the world, in many different eras of history. One example are the Kerala forest gardens and the Hawaiian ahupua'a system.

I encourage you to read "Introduction to Permaculture". This book will help you gain insight into permaculture's basic tenets and see why it has gained adherents in different parts of the world. Through permaculture I am discovering things about the natural world that I have not known before.

[hananokuni2580]

@MrHendo100 It is clear that not everyone will have enough land for a forest garden, but it is possible to raise food plants on very small plots of land - ¼ acre or less. For those living in apartments, growing plants on the balcony is an option. Rooftop gardening is yet another option.

Permaculture will not mean the end of the market economy - even as we know it. It just means that food production will become a bit more decentralized with its rise.

[MrHendo100]

@hananokuni2580 For permaculture to have a slight possibility of reducing world hunger it would mean the population would have to move from the citys to the countryside to produce their own food meaning more houses and more roads to be built! and therefore an astronomical amount of energy would be required to do so and finaly the coutryside would not be countryside anymore it would be an eyesore!!!

[hananokuni2580]

This is the epitome of efficiency in food production!

[hananokuni2580]

@MrHendo100 Any system that mimics natural processes as closely and thoroughly as possible, is a superb system. Unfortunately, not everyone is well educated on how to integrate ecology and agriculture. Until the majority of people possess the required knowledge, permaculture and similar systems will spread at snail's pace ^^;

Also, if each family were allowed to take responsibility for its own food supply, world hunger would decrease.

[MrHendo100]

Wot a load of rubbish! if people think permaculture is the future in farming and will feed the world then they are deluded!

[RobbieMac1983]

@2:40 he says bamPOO!