Forest Garden

An edible ecosystem on our doorsteps

Forest gardens, by careful design, are a way of growing a whole range of food types with minimum work.They are multi-purpose spaces that can transform our understanding of food systems.

Photo: Dave Richards, Director of the Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC)

Concept & Vision

Forest Gardening is a low-maintenance sustainable plant-based food production & agroforestry system mimicking woodland ecosystems, including fruit & nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Forest Garden design includes beneficial plant interactions and is more integrated than in conventional growing systems.

Our Chelsea 2020 Forest Garden offers a vision of using small & large gardens as well as open spaces to provide intergenerational access to local food that nourishes us physically and mentally as well as supporting more climate-adaptable ecosystems.

Photo: Martin Crawford, www.agroforestry.co.uk

Our Forest Garden will:

✓ Integrate the growing of nutrient dense plants with practical food preparation and storage, pioneered by eco-nutritionist Daphne Lambert.

✓ Nudge our mindsets from food ‘consumers’ to food ‘citizens’.

✓ Provide ideas that will be easy to replicate and share.

✓ Highlight the multiple benefits of local Forest Gardening.

✓ Act as an introduction to the emerging global agroforestry movement.

✓ Be designed by Juliet Sargeant who won Gold and the People’s Choice at the 2016 Chelsea Flower Show.

This Vision Is Important Because:

✓ Prevailing monocultures are vulnerable to climate change and are threatening a global food supply crisis.

✓ Intensive agriculture depletes essential minerals and causes a dramatic collapse of biodiversity – from micro-organisms in the soil to insects and birds.

✓ The decline of biodiversity and food quality is a major cause of physical and mental ill health.

✓ There is limited public awareness of the ecological benefits of Forest Gardening and alternative ways to grow nutrient-dense food.Photo: Nic Wilson, Triangle Community Garden

Help seed the growth of edible eco-systems on our doorsteps.

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We have bought £1,000 worth of plants which are being grown on under organic conditions over the next two years for the show as it will be impossible to buy mature organic plants. We also want to start working with students from Oasis Community Learning from Autumn 2018.

‘Oasis Community Learning is excited at the possibility of some of its students having the opportunity of playing such a significant role at the Chelsea Flower Show of 2020. We are

impressed at the forward planning involved, the potential legacy for our students both in terms of art and forest gardens on campus as well as the hands-on prospect of our students understanding

the significance of nutritionally dense food.’ Joy Madeiros, Group CEO, Oasis Charitable Trust.

Photo: Deborah Smith, Our Forest Garden ‘nursery’

Moving Forward

We have set our sights on the Chelsea flower show because it is a hugely opinion-shaping event. Here’s why:

✓ Over 166,500 visitors every year✓ Attendance by 1,000 journalists, photographers and

programme makers✓ A combined audience of 1.9 billion✓ An average audience of 2.11 million on BBC TV

programmes and printed press combined circulation of 263 million

✓ 112,000 followers on Facebook and over 10,000 uses a day during the show on # RHSChelsea

Why Chelsea?

The 2020 Forest Garden group have secured the talent of Juliet Sargeant whose Modern Slavery Garden won Gold in 2016.

The Modern Slavery Garden was declared the people’s choice, had an 8 minute feature on BBC Gardeners’ World, received 200 million PR ‘clicks’ and led to a hugely increased profile of the scourge of modern slavery.

We want to do the same for the massive food, wildlife and well-being benefits of forest gardens for the individual, communities and the environment.

Photo: Juliet Sargeant

One or two significant donations will allow us to focus on our planned legacy of the Chelsea 2020 Forest Garden which includes:

✓ Broader understanding that Forest Gardening is not gardening IN a forest but LIKE a forest.

✓ Greater public awareness of the vital role Forest Gardens can play in our communities.

✓ Raising the profile of the potential of urban gardening for town planners.

✓ On-going support for individuals, communities and organisations growing a Forest Garden.

✓ Online resource to enable anyone with a patch of land to grow a Forest Garden.

✓ On-going engagement with energy & water efficient methods of growing & eating.

✓ An educational home for the garden after Chelsea where it will become integrated in the community.

✓ Teaching programmes on the benefits of growing & preparing nutrient dense food.

Legacy

‘Forest Gardens are one of the solutions for regenerating climate friendly farming practices that are rich in biodiversity. I endorse this Forest Garden project which offers practical

solutions to food poverty in rural and urban areas.’Professor Michel Pimbert, Director CAWR Coventry University (UK).

‘Food production and its quality will become as significant as sea level rise and this enterprising project will open eyes to the potential of forest gardens that I hope leaders of

many institutions, including higher education, will note.’ Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice Chancellor, Buckingham University.

‘This excellent project has the potential to raise significantly the profile of forest gardens, which can sustainably supply highly nutritious food whilst benefiting the environment.

Martin Crawford, Director of the Agroforestry Research Trust.

‘The Chelsea 2020 Forest Garden will appeal to a wide audience. One of the team, Daphne Lambert, is a natural teacher and will use this platform to spread the word about good soil,

rich biodiversity & nutrient dense foods. I am very excited to think of the world famous Chelsea hosting such ideas.’

Alys Fowler, Urban Gardener, Author and Journalist.

Local food in household & community gardens plays a vital role in ensuring food supplies among millions in the world's poorest countries. The Chelsea 2020 Forest Garden has

potential to influence ideas & practice globally wIth a positive impact on livelihoods’. Professor Tony Binns, Ron Lister Geography Prof., University of Otago, NZ.

President of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau, 2008-2016.

‘A Forest Garden for Chelsea 2020 is a wonderful idea and raising such awareness is so important to us all – it is a very exciting project and I wish you huge success with it.’

Dame Judi Dench

‘Community forest gardens, backed by knowledge of how to store and get the most nutrition from their produce, offer a significant contribution to the fight against obesity and the pressure on food banks and I wish this enterprising project all the success it deserves.’

Peter Kindersley, Founder of the Sheepdrove Trust.

‘In marketing as in horticulture ‘Waiting for the right moment’ is one of the most important factors determining success. This project could not be more timely, coming at a moment

when so many people are starting to question the quality of their food and how it is produced. The potential for a ‘butterfly effect’ to arise from this idea is immense’.

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy.

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Endorsements

We need £200kCan you support us?

If you are interested in making a donation and discussing the project with the team and designer Juliet Sargeant, please contact the team leader Dr John Parry jmparry@btinternet.com 01273 471223Another significant way of helping us would be to give this beautiful piece of sculpture representing our Forest Garden a new home, kindly donated by Nafisi Studio.

2020 Chelsea Forest Garden Group Dr John Parry MBE, Sharifin Gardiner, Daphne Lambert,

Margaret J Tyzack More, Abdollah Nafisi, Kate Pincott, Deborah Smith & Tony Whitbreadhttp://www.greencuisinetrust.org/projects/4593532028