| | Share | | | Forward | | By hello@growdigital.org (Jake Rayson) on Jan 16, 2020 10:58 am | Modular design can make designed meadow planting easier but can it do the same for a forest garden? | I’m fascinated by Benjamin Vogt’s idea of using modular design for a native garden meadow. The idea is alluringly simple: create a grid 15x15 foot, design a dense mix of clumping & spreading native flowering plants, fill in the gaps with short grasses seed. And then, repeat the design. It’s easier to install and it provides visual repetition for the onlooker. | Modular garden design isn’t a new idea and indeed, the National Forest Gardening Scheme has created a prototype Forest Garden in a Box, with a range of pre-selected forest garden plants depending on your check-box circumstance (Home, School, City Park etc). | I’m not convinced a Forest Garden in a Box will work because everybody’s space is so different. I do like the idea though. Ideas are like seeds, they are lightweight and easily transportable, whilst implementations are like trees, heavyweight and localised. | After studying Benjamin’s plant choices, I’ll be adapting it for European species, because I really want to use it on a forest garden design I’m finishing for a client in Poland. There’s a space designated as Wildflower Garden, which needs to be kept low for safety views down to the pond. An adapted modular design, with plug plants brought in from a local wildflower nursery, would be much nicer than a general sowing, plus much easier to install. The beauty is, by creating it in a CAD package I can repeat the module easily and include it as part of the design for the client. | The other avenue I’d like to explore is a “Modular Forest Garden”. Rather like the Forest Garden in a Box, but just a list of plants, with links to suppliers, bundled with instructions. I’m not sure how useful this would be, essentially creating a template of plants for different sized plots. But I’ll give it a go, it might be far easier to sell the idea of an all-inclusive bundle of a forest garden rather than just the idea. | Read in browser » | | | Recent Articles: | Wild Orchids of Wales | My take on Planting in a Post-wild World | Hoverfly & wild pollinators research at Botanic Garden Wales | The Japanese Forest Garden | This is a local garden, for local species | | | |
|
