I am building a 100x40ish style of this forest
gardening I learned years ago in Seattle. I was wondering if anyone knew what it was called? I remember the handouts being in French originally but maybe he was Canadian?
It involves mixing the existing soil with lots of
newspaper and adding it to the
compost pile in equal amounts. Existing soil is usually dig down and piled next to the compost bin before laying out the logs. Branches are kept on the trunks as this is where the magic happens.
In the first years you use a small variety of crops that are safe to grow in contaminated soil. Wet newspapers are spread across the branches and compost is piled on. More layers of branches, leaves and compost are added every year until you have beds, but you want to maintain air space like a rainforest floor. This is how it differs from
Hugelkultur.
Plants are started in pots and then gently placed into the bed, draping the
roots through the compost and making sure they hang into the air spaces, then shredded paper and compost are rained onto the draping roots until they are hidden from the sun.
If anyone remembers anything else like the crop list. I remember corn and tomatoes in year one (pretty sure). Builds biomass. I think the compost is put through a worm bin afterwords and the soil is piled so heavy metal run off would go away from the site into a
city water drain if possible. I think it takes 3 years in to rehab the original soil and is diluted 70% with leaves and newspaper.
I am using some brought in compost, peat and
wood chips because without a community garden it would take me 20 years to finish. I will post pictures of where I’m at (a giant pile of brush on a hill)
