Brendon Taylor

Hopefully this isn't double posting but it signed me out last time I hit submit.

Hi Jen,

It's good to hear that there are a couple more like-minded people in the area. If you're in Ottawa, I'd be happy to show you our nascent food forest and garden. Like I said, it's a regular suburban lot but we're trying to make the most of it.

Most of our fruit trees and bushes came bare-rooted, either from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery (Quebec) or Whiffletree (Guelph area, I think). All of their products arrived in good health for me: Pears, Mulberry and Peach trees as well as shrub cherries, currants, gooseberries, serviceberries, raspberries, haskaps, and blueberries. There are lots of options for zone 4 and 5. We were starting with a bare lawn so lots of space to fill initially. I'm starting to try to propagate more now that they're a couple years old. Since it's a bit of a financial investment, I've tried to start as many smaller plants as I could from seed. It's a cheap option if you're willing to wait for herbs, asparagus, strawberries, perennial flowers.

Not sure if you use Facebook but I have seen that there's an Ottawa food forest group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1752328581683167/). It looks like it's somewhat active and people exchange plants and cuttings.

Brendon

Hi Ottawa people, I'm doing a similar thing in the suburbs of Ottawa. We have a decent sized city lot and a small house so we have been gradually converting our grass to a food forest (front yard) and raised garden beds (back yard). We started on it a couple years ago but like Chris, the lockdown accelerated things. So far it's been reasonably successful but struggling a bit to find resources and like-minded people in the area. Although my neighbours are supportive, it's pretty much just lawns and flower beds around here.

I just thought I would introduce myself and maybe we can help each other out as our gardens/farms progress. Some of my fruit bushes are starting to get mature enough to try to propagate more. If that's successful, I'm happy to share as much as I can in the future. I'm also happy to share lists of what plants have worked well for me here. I'm trying to add more perennial varieties every year on top of the typical annual veg gardens. I'd love to hear what's working well and if you come across any great resources in the area.