Vines on Support Species

Our 7 year old forest garden is at the stage where many different layers are developing. I’m starting to incorporate more vining plants together with other plants (as opposed to on trellises or fences), particularly pioneering support species. One of our most successful experiments are the hops growing on black locust, but I’m hoping to repeat that with other species like kiwi, grapes, etc. I made a quick video documenting the garden and my thoughts, hope you enjoy! Any ideas or criticisms are welcome. https://youtu.be/PFH5XfnbqPw?si=NNUDS69YlkCytQyJ

Let me know what you think!

Hi Jay,

Looks great! Love the idea of tossing old seeds into the garden, either to break down for more organic matter or perhaps to bless you with a volunteer.

This is from a foraging perspective but I have always valued Smilax vines. The shoot tips are what is commonly foraged, but the young roots of select species are edible and a few species even have edible fruit. That being said, the fruit is certainly not choice. They are quite vigorous and thorny species often considered weedy, so they might well as a pioneer species in your forest garden.

Hope this helps,
Eric S.

Thanks Eric, I’ll have to keep an eye out for those. Looks like several different species are found in my region. I have seen a really cool species of Smilax that is endemic to Hawaii, and I’ve been interested in them ever since. Thanks for the suggestion!