Shade in the garden: It works with trees, bushes and wild berries
Created: 06/29/2022, 11:30 am
By: Mattias Nemeth
Who hasn't toyed with the idea of having their own little forest?
A forest garden is the perfect solution.
Munich – Who doesn't love to roam through the forest and enjoy nature?
But on some days there are almost more walkers on the forest paths than there are trees.
It's not always easy to get a sense of the tranquility of the forest.
But how would it be if the forest didn't grow on your doorstep, but even in your own garden?
Forest Garden: How to create your own little piece of forest
A forest garden provides plenty of shade in summer.
(Iconic image) © iperl/Imago
As with almost anything, soil is an important consideration when creating a woodland garden.
So it should be humus.
For this purpose, it can be enriched with bark humus, plant soil and compost soil.
Leaf litter and chopped tree bark can be used as a mulch layer.
Of course there is no forest without trees.
Oak, beech, pine or, if you want something edible, an apple tree is best.
Should it be a fast-growing tree, then perhaps the Kiri tree would be an idea.
This can reach a height of one and a half meters within a year.
But moss should not be missing in a forest garden either.
Silbermoos, Sparriges Kranzmoos and Brunnenlebermoos are particularly easy to care for.
If you want to preserve endangered varieties, field horn moss or white moss are suitable.
However, moss should not simply be picked in the forest, because the latter type of moss in particular is a nature reserve and tearing it off is prohibited.
Different ferns are also a nice addition to the forest garden.
If the different shades of green of the different ferns are not enough for you, you can alternate them with colorful ornamental ferns.
You can find even more exciting gardening topics in our free newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
Forest garden: create living space
A forest garden is, of course, a place teeming with life and animals.
However, a suitable living space must also be created for this.
Deadwood trunks, piles of stones, deadwood hedges and wild hedges such as the wild blackberry are a must here.
If you want to harvest something from your forest, you can use the following plants:
Climbing plants: forest raspberries, blackberries
Shrubs: hazelnut or elderberry, blueberry
Trees: apple, chestnut, quince
Ground cover: creeping thyme, wild strawberries, wild garlic, mint or woodruff
But of course we also have to think about the insects.
Here, lavender, evergreen shrubs, wildflowers, ivy, field maple, cowslip, lady's mantle, and unmown grasses can be a good place to start.
But even in a forest garden there is room for an insect hotel.
When creating a forest garden, one of the most important things is patience.
Because no forest has ever grown overnight and in the meantime you can already enjoy the tranquility of the private forest very well.