BRIEFING
Forest Gardens
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My first experience of a forest garden was at the offices of the Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC), the charity which runs Food4Families. On the roof of their building, in just 30cm of soil and two floors above a busy Reading street, there is a tranquil garden that provides fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs. Created in 2001, the 200m² garden is home to over 185 species, including lemon, fig, liquorice and mulberry. Forest gardens use a layered system, with groundcover, shrubs, small and large trees, root crops and climbers. The system is based on the structure of young woodland, and is a designed ecosystem. Many of the plants used are perennials, with multiple uses such as medicine, fuel, dye and scent, as well as food. In a forest garden system, soil is rarely left uncovered, with nitrogen fixing plants used to reduce the need for fertilisers. There are no blocks of one species, reducing the impact of disease or predators, and the diversity of species helps attract pollinators.
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Food4Families2 Food4Families is an educational and development project that works with residents, helping them manage land in their local neighbourhood to grow food for their own consumption. Taking areas of unused land in Reading, Berkshire, residents work with professional horticulturalists to: • Equip participants with the skills to grow food crops in a sustainable way • Help participants reconnect food consumption with the process of food production • Encourage healthier eating and lifestyle habits • Facilitate learning about sustainable food production and resource use • Develop participants’ understanding of the broader cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions of growing food crops • Build a local network of communitybased food growing projects, and a broader community interest in healthy and sustainable food production and consumption Regular sessions are held in the community gardens, and produce harvested is shared out amongst those who have helped that day. The core team are supported by volunteers, including students from the local horticultural college. During the pandemic, Food4Familes has created
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the Veg4Reading3 project to provide fresh fruit and vegetables from community allotments and private gardens across the town to supplement food parcels. Volunteers have worked within the COVID restrictions to safely grow, collect and distribute produce. This model of community growing helps even out many of the challenges of growing in private gardens – gluts are balanced as crops are shared, the larger scale allows for more diversity, the shared maintenance reduces the time needed per person, and there is professional expertise on hand.
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2. Produce grown in community gardens © Food for Families
3. Erleigh Road Community Garden © Claire Thirlwall
4. RISC roof garden, Reading, June 2017 © Claire Thirlwall
