Bramble attack..

Spent about 3 hours this afternoon down at the forest garden attacking the brambles- the third (or is it fourth??) such session over the last few weeks. basically the whole plot had been over whelmed over the last year due a lack of attention, and the brambles had certainly gotten the upper hand, engulfing many of the fruit trees, and making the paths totally inpenetrable. I'd previously slashed back alot of the bramble growth with the Chillington grass slasher, but as I hadn't actually tackled the roots it had simply returned with a vengeance while I'd been away.

But I have a new tool in the armoury now, a proper 'fuck off' mattock that I recently obtained from the BTCV catalogue. I'd checked out a few local garden centres for such an item with no luck, then made a request on Westcliff Freecycle in case anybody had one kicking about they didn't want any more. The only response was from good old Keith Baxter of the Famous Potatoes who offered to lend me one, but by now I had it in my head that I wanted to OWN one... I was chatting to my friend Adrian, a ex Southend lad, fellow Naturewise permaculture teacher and green woodsman who runs Wholewoods about this, again he offered a loan, but this would have meant carting the thing from, then back, to London on the train which didn't appeal, he did however loan me his BTCV catalogue which had exactly the thing I wanted. Unfortunately (or not..) the catalogue also has a really excelent plants section, so also ended up ordering quite a few trees and bushes for the forest garden, mainly wild cherrys, wild plums, bullaces, Sea Buckthorne, hazel, some wild roses, etc, etc. unfortunately I'm a sucker for a plant catalogue... AND I ordered a couple of the BTCV handbooks, the one on Woodlands and the one on Urban projects, which I have to say are excelent. the woodlands one is extremely comprehensive.

So anyway, the new trees are all bundled up and heeled in, ready to plant out just as soon as the bramble clearance is completed and provided the soil isn't too frozen solid, and the mattock has been brilliant for grubbing out the bramble roots, which has been really satisfying and hopefully a more permanent solution than just slashing back the top growth.

The only down side was having that bloody awful '9 to 5' song by Sheena Easton running through my head while I was working, due to a discussion I'd been involved in on the Idler message board earlier in the day; "He works all day, to earn his pay, so we can play, at night..."- so what is "his" job he "Takes the morning train" to??? Arms trader? Vivisectionist? Stockbroker? Sad little office clerk??? These I'm afraid were the thoughts that swam through my sad brain whilst the bramble roots were disapperaing 10 to the dozen! actually another downside was that i took my camera down to the plot hoping to get a few snow shots, but the batteries were flat- but if we get the promised/threatened snowstorms over the next few days maybe I'll be able to stuggle down and get a few 'Narnia' style pics...

At the moment I feel really on top of the project, its like I'm entering 'phase 2' now, especially once all the new wild fruit stock is in.

I also got this blog up and running as well, something I've been meaning to do for a long time, and it was quite interesting to retrieve the old Yahoo groups post below to see my 'summer attitudes'...

June 2002- from the archives!

This is a post on the forest garden that I made to a Yahoo! group back in June 2002 that I've just been able to recover from the archives;

Forest Garden News June 23rd

I visited the forest garden at Manchester Drive, Leigh On Sea today for the first time in a few weeks. Alot of grass had grown up but the thick mulches of cut grass and weeds I'd put around the bases of the trees I'd planted during winter & spring have been effective in holding moisture and keeping down weed regrowth so these were fairly clear. Most of my time I spent re-defining the paths, which were just starting to become indistinct, and pulling up and cutting grass which I used to top up the mulches. I also slashed back a fair bit of bramble which had also been re-encroaching using my Chillington grass slasher which I recently obtained from the Permaculture Magazine. On the plus side, it looks like there will be another good crop of wild blackberries this year- last year's got made into wine, I made a couple of gallons which went in a very short period of time- in fact it never even made it to the bottling stage- delicious and highly potent- some of my more 'left-field' postings at Eco-Vegans & elsewhere have no doubt been fueled by this brew :-)

Of the willows I planted in winter, 5 have survived and seem to be doing well, although 4 have died. These I will replace in autumn or winter with fresh cuttings. I'm not sure if the willows have produced enough growth this year for me to have a go at creating some living willow sculptures or furniture, but you never know...

The dwarf family apple tree (unsure which varieties!) that I obtained from my mother's garden where it has never done very well was for the first time ever laden with fruit, as was the Own rootstock Katy apple that I obtained from Phil Corbett's 'Cool Temperate Nursery', and it broke my heart to have to remove it all! Still, tempting as it was to leave it all, my logical right brain managed to convince me that the trees need to put their energies into getting established in this first year after planting if I'm to reap the full benefits in later years...

I also noticed that the ORS Katy has a little damage around the base, looks like strimmer damage but since that isn't possible maybe it's rabbits? Anyway, I've created a protective barrier using cuttings from the slashed back brambles which I hope will be effective, and also has turned a 'problem' into a 'resource'...

I was surprised to see that a peach which I grew from a stone several years ago and has ever since sat in a pot looking miserable that I decided to plant at the forest garden is actually growing away healthily, although I seriously doubt that it will ever fruit... On the downside though I do seem to have lost a 'Stella' cherry on a 'Colt' rootstock which is a shame. it has no leaves and looks very forlorn, although still has green wood just below the bark so you never know.

I noticed that Ron's plum on his neighbouring plot (also a forest garden) is fruiting abundantly, so I guess a couple of plums will go in next autumn as well- there's still plenty of space.

The rowans & hazels that I planted are also looking good...

Still havn't done any grafting yet, but the rootstocks that Ron & I obtained from Phil Corbett this winter are looking good and healthy...

The week after next ron & i will be doing an 'alternative tour' of Manchester Drive allotment site, including our plots, and some of the wilder areas, such as the Northern area of the site which has ben 'neglected', but is in fact re-establishing as ash and oak woodland, and from whence we have been harvesting ash poles for green woodworking projects. This is as a part
of the Manchester Drive Allotment Society Open Day, and is at the invitation of Leigh Town Council & 'The Committee'- a sign that attitudes are at last changing to accept 'other' ways of allotment gardening than straight rows of veggies???

Still havn't got a website with photo's of the forest garden together yet, watch this space...

I also fitted in a visit to my 'Zone 2' veggie production allotments today, dug up the first of this years new potatoes, and some nice young beetroots- you know summer's arrived when you have beetroots for tea and your first pee of the following morning is bright pink! It scared me the first time happened but I'm used to it now...

Cheers for now, Graham Burnett

Why this Forest Garden blog?

The purpose of this blog is to document the development of the forest garden project that I have been setting up at Manchester Drive allotment site in Leigh on Sea, Essex, as well as any other random permacultural (or not) rambling thoughts that might happen to stray from my brain. This is both for my own benefit, as well as something that might be of general interest particularly to others who have, or are thinking, of setting up forest garden projects.

The forest garden blog is something I've been meaning to get off the ground for a long time, and its now about 4 years down the line from when I began the forest garden project, so apart from a few sketchy pages in my paper notebooks, and a few posts that I've made to a couple of Yahoo! groups over the years, documentation is a bit vague up until now. I shall endeavour to retrieve what there is and add it here as and when I get the time and/or inclination. There are also a number of photos that I've taken since the project began which I'l also post up, or will maybe put on a seperate webpage somewhere...