new horizons

Almost twenty one years ago in July 2005 I fell in love with an idea I’d just happened to stumble across – forest gardening.

I was utterly bowled over by the vision of edible abundance bursting forth from a beautiful garden – and moreover – a garden that needed less work than I usually had to put in!  I enthusiastically read the few books that were available at the time, and made the decision to experiment in my own garden to see if this promising concept would live up to my hopes and expectations.  Well, it did and it’s been a beautiful journey, filled with all sorts of plants and trees and with eating things I’d never heard of before!

Forest gardening has held me to account in relinquishing the gardener’s usual position of dominance over nature; and from this decision a new story of radical co-operation and co-creation emerged as I learned to let go and to garden at nature’s pace.  And totally unexpectedly it has also been a journey of profound personal change, mirroring the changes in the actual physical garden.

Over time I have used the concepts and principles of forest gardening in two home gardens, one woodland and more recently in some ‘spare’ ground.  To share these experiences with the wider world I wrote a blog from 2011 until 2023 and also two books (‘Edible Perennial Gardening’ in 2014 and ‘the garden of equal delights’ in 2020).

However in 2023 life intervened and although I continued to learn from nature and garden at her pace I wasn’t able to keep up with writing.  However, with spring on the horizon now feels like a time for new beginnings and the impulse to write has returned.  I feel that I have a long perspective on the story to date and more insights to explore and to share.

Only now this will be on the Substack programme rather than here in WordPress where my writing appears as @gardeningatnaturespace. I hope to see you there!