A Forest Garden

I got really excited earlier this year as I was collecting nettles (see earlier blog).  Years ago I trained as an aromatherapist and the therapeutic properties of plants and flowers have always excited and inspired me. I love being able to forage not just for food but also for plants that have healing properties.  As I  did some research in the garden and read up on plants, I began to realise that we had the makings of an amazing site.

How wonderful it would be, I thought, to wander in my own garden with my grandchildren picking foods and plants to eat and to make tinctures, tonics and ointments. Talk about planning for the future!

A few days later I was reading an article in Permaculture Magazine on Forest Gardening and suddenly all my thoughts came together.  This is exactly what my garden should be!

It's a jungle

A Forest Garden is somewhere between a woodland and an orchard.  Perfect, this was an old orchard and before that, woodland, all it's got now are a few apple trees and a damson we planted plus wild cherry trees struggling in the jungle that is 'woodland'.  A Forest Garden is exactly what this garden wants to be.

So now I'm off.  I've got a couple of books, am going on a course, I'm learning about permaculture too and my focus is to create a vibrant, thriving, bio-diverse environment that not only feeds us but is a balanced, sustainable environment for all forms of nature.

This IS my Secret Garden Project and I feel like I have finally come home.  When first I saw this place I felt it was just waiting for someone to cut through the overgrowth and allow life to blossom again.  

What's in there?

Now I have a vision, it is time to break it down into something I can actually achieve!  Being a coach it's interesting to observe the intuitive process - the inspiration, the ideas, the willingness to learn and research - and see how, when the motivation is there, setting goals is very easy and a natural consequence of creative thought.  

The Moriarty of the Garden: Rampant Prunus laurocerasus

It's also very helpful to understand the process and the stages of relationship, even the relationship with my garden.  Right now I am in the Honeymoon stage of the project - I can see the potential of the garden, I'm full of enthusiasm, I feel like I have come home etc.


So I will eventually hit the Power Struggle.  This is an inevitable stage, the frustration, perfectionism, disappointment, where the demands (my own and that of the garden) can become overwhelming, a result of starting a new path of growth and evolution   It doesn't matter whether the power struggle is with nature (although I have already identified my arch enemy: Prunus), myself or others, I am going to hit it and it is where I get to choose whether I want to be right or be happy!  More on that at a later date!




Then there's the Dead Zone to look forward to:  roles, rules (OMG is that going to be the local council???) and many other layers of relationship - all the challenges here will be about surrender.  How willing will I be to surrender and allow the process to teach me what to do next rather than trying to dictate the pace?

Simply beautiful

My ultimate goal?  To create an Enchanted Realm where love in all its mystery will thrive.  


Big vision - baby steps.


•all photos by wpmmillar