Forested Home Garden in Cold Climate - Part 1 The Design

The cold climate forested home garden seems chaotic.

But only at first sight, because there is an intelligent orchestration behind it. In cold climates the biggest challenge is frost, low temperatures, and the short growing season. You want to capture as much sunlight as possible when there is enough heat for plants to grow. For that reason, it is desirable to use not only the horizontal plane for growing plants, but also the vertical one. So, we plant many layers, from the underground layer (root crops), to the tree canopy.

Moreover, each layer has its best moment depending on the stage of the growing season. Don't limit yourself to straight rows only in the herbaceous layer just to make the garden look tidy.

If you do that, you run the risk of wasting the potential of a multi-layered (forested) "wild" home garden to capture the sun full potential.

In this edition, in 5 minutes or less:

#1 What the cold climate forested home garden looks like

#2 What are the possible layers to be populated by useful plants

What the cold climate forested home garden looks like

It is a multi-layered, densely populated space by different kinds of plants performing different functions.

Some plants help create a windbreak, preventing cold winds from entering. Others help create a sun trap, reducing the risk of frost and creating a warmer microclimate. Others are planted to increase soil fertility, provide mulch and material for composting. Only then do we add the plants that we grow for food.

In this situation, though, the plants that we grow for food have a better chance to thrive and can become nutrient dense and delicious without having to be nurtured each day by us through weeding, applying fertilizers, and using pesticides. That is the same principle that we have been applying to all of our sustainable permaculture home garden designs.

In this particular case, the garden looks very similar to a tropical garden, and many of the tropic climate's strategies have a direct correspondence here, such as creating pits and mounds in the ground so that the soil is either more humid or better drained, for example. Of course, the plants and animals must be selected in accordance with the climate and we must make appropriate adaptations, such as preventing excessive shade.

Figure 12.5 shows a House and Garden layout created by Bill Mollison:

• Notice the keyhole garden beds - that we already covered and explained how to assemble in the tropical garden newsletter series. They serve as the main garden beds. (The next newsletter in this series will be a dedicated IKEA-like assembly manual. Each keyhole bed is, in itself, a forested garden bed.)
• Notice also the multifunctional windbreak of mixed legumes on the edge of the property that also produces mulch, animal fodder, and compost material.
• Notice how the orchard is placed in relation to the main crop area, creating a sun trap for the main crop.
• What Bill Mollison refers to as the "main crop" is a staple crop such as rice, wheat, or barley—crops that provide the bulk of our calories, for example.
• Notice how the design includes trellises that function both as a temperature-control mechanism for the house and as structures that yield food. What is not evident here is how trellises can be included in the garden to take advantage of the vertical space to grow even more food, while also being used as windbreaks and to create warmer microclimates. (This will also be the subject of a dedicated newsletter in this series.)
• Another noticeable characteristic is that almost half of the space is dedicated to trees, with the left part of the property completely dedicated to them, forming a food forest.
• The greenhouse in this project is not explicitly shown here but is probably inside the veranda attached to the house, which is a great place to locate one because you can use the heat from the house to warm it. You could also include a greenhouse separate from the house and use animals or compost to heat it, as we already covered in a previous newsletter. As already mentioned, a greenhouse in a cold climate is extremely important not only for starting seedlings (which is essential) but also for growing plants throughout the season (if desired).
• Another important aspect is how the keyhole garden beds and the herb spiral are placed closest to the house for easy access because they are the beds that require the most attention and are harvested most frequently. If they are placed too far from the house, they could become a chore and end up neglected.
• In this plan, not all design possibilities are presented, such as cage culture, free-range systems (including pastures and bees), and aquaculture. (These will be covered in future newsletters in this series.)

The possible layers to be populated by useful plants are:

1. High trees that require full light (canopy)
2. Low trees (shade-tolerant)
3. Shrubs
4. Herbaceous layer — the traditional garden of garden beds consists of only this layer
5. Ground cover
6. Root layer
7. Climbers (grown on trellises)
8. Roamers, Grazers, and "Tenants" – Many traditional cultures considered animals and insects to be the mobile part of the forest.

Figure 6.2 depicts an apple tree guild. This means that the apple tree is the main focus of this assembly (or team - called a guild in agriculture) of plants and animals.

Although this is a state-of-the-art planting example, it includes the following layers:

• 1 – Trees receiving full sunlight: apple tree, acacia, and tagasaste
• 4 – Herbaceous layer: comfrey, nasturtium, dill, fennel, and globe artichoke
• 5 – Ground cover - clover, nasturtium (also considered a ground cover)
• 6 – Root layer: spring bulbs
• 8 – Roamers, grazers, and tenants: pigs, ducks, and wild birds

This multilayered setup goes beyond maximizing the capture of available sunlight, as discussed previously. It also creates a team of plants and animals that support one another's growth, provide protection from harsh weather, and help manage pests.

For cold-climate home gardens, it is a matter of increasing yield within the same area by taking advantage of the sun and warmth while they are available and, thus, extending the growing season while protecting the plants from frost and cold winds.

In Part 2, we will dive into the practical execution: planting schedules, storage techniques, and the single most important structure you need to succeed, because it is the cornerstone for extending the growing season.

See you next Tuesday!

Alexandre and Marina

Sources: Mollison, Bill, Remi M. Slay, Jeeves, Andrew. Permaculture: A Designers' Manual. Tagari Publications, 1988, pages 417-420, figure 12.5

Mollison, Bill, Remi M. Slay. Introduction to Permaculture, Tagari Publication, 1991, pages 112-116, 126, figures 6.2.