Would you grow a "pocket forest"?

It is an interesting term I read just now from this article. It sounds an awful lot like a permaculture concept. Instead of a single tree, plant several, with shrubs, for wildlife and plant diversity. Sounds like things you would hear on Permies... but from a more mainstream news site. Cool to hear.

Anyone else like the term "pocket forest"?

Great article, thanks for sharing!

I have not heard of the term until you have brought it up. I find their definition interesting as a pocket forest is described as "densely planted mini-forest that’s made up of multiple native species of trees."

I appreciate their tips involving compost and compost tea.

Now the trick is... how to get people to do it!? The comments on the website seem hesitant against it. If only more people deleted their lawns and grew a diversity of things.

This sounds like a clone for a Miyaki forest. There are specific requirements to qualify as a "Miyaki" forest, and one of those is "native plants", but the other is the minimum size, which many people would find impractical on a typical suburban lot.

The concept originated from the protected native plant areas around many temples in Japan. There's some good research suggesting the benefits to both humans and other creatures from this approach, even if you have to do it too small.

I'm growing a "forest of spite" in a strip of land between me and the neighbor to my south.
So far the species include black locust, willow, catalpa, raspberry, grapes, comfrey, onions, rose of Sharon potatoes,  j-chokes, and mugwort.
The bed is about 2 feet deep, contained between cut down pallets and a privacy fence  and made up of leaves, logs and clay subsoil.
The plants have ben transplant from elsewhere, grown from found seed, or grown from dumpster food.

I've seen Mark Shepherd talk about this. He had 50 plants in something like a 6x8 area or something like that.

There's also this program designing them for ecological restoration and forest bathing, SugiProject.com

I live on a narrow long lot, around 50' wide by 240' long. It butts up against a narrow woodland that has Oak, Poplar, Catalpa, Elm, Ash, Maple, Mulberry, Honeysuckle, Wild Rose, Jewelweed, Blackberry, Geum, Avens, etc. I am in Southwest Ohio. The native and non-natives in the wooded area are dense and abundant. When I moved here, I stopped mowing the yard from the woodland up to around 75 feet toward the house. This is the "meadow". I have started a lot of native and non-native wildflowers from seed collected in the local regional parks. I have also protected several of the "volunteer" trees that have shown up since the area isn't getting mown any longer. I have tons of oak, maple, and poplar seedlings that come up every where. If not protected, the deer enjoy them very much. I potted up three maples out of my veg garden and once they were a couple feet tall, I planted them out in the meadow. They have protection and may grow up over deer browse level this year. I did some winter sowing with Honey Locust, Kentucky Coffee Tree, and Black Walnut. I had a volunteer Tulip Poplar join the ranks last fall. When it is bigger, I will decide a good spot to plant it out. I have planted hybrid Willow and Curly Willow on the boundaries of the meadow. I planted a hardy Pecan.

I have always considered this process "rewilding" in my mind. I had not heard of the term "pocket forest" prior to seeing the article. The biggest factor in transformation in the meadow was just keeping a lawn mower away from it. The wild flora is eager to show up, and since there is a source of seed in the nearby woods, Lots of locals have spread into the meadow. The other thing I noticed is that there are perennial plants out there that just waited until there was no more mowing. They shot up and return every year. I still have some stretches of "lawn" that I mow when it gets a little out of control. I think of it as harvesting mulch.

So, yes, I am growing a "pocket forest" or something like it. I think everyone should have as much wild space in their back and front yard as possible. As long as the neighbors and the city don't have a problem, go as far as you can.

The short video below shows a comparison in Britain, of planting an area with the Miyawaki method vs the way urban tree planting has been done for about the last 50 years. (there's an ad that you can skip about 1/3 of the way in.)  I think what's beneficial here is to see the difference in the two plots side by side.

Yes, permaculture food forests use the same concept, and I like food too! However, we're seeing a dramatic drop in insects world-wide, and research I've seen recently suggest that small pockets of native forests planted like this, could help our insects enormously. It's not a "this or that" situation. Yes, I would love to see more food bearing trees in parks and on boulevards in our urban and city areas. However, if we aren't planting food trees in a spot, let's make more of an effort to plant native polycultures, rather than non-native "ornamentals" which aren't necessarily that much prettier than native equivalents.