Photos: Charleston Food Forest Part 1 Right Front
My partner Doug spotted this place recently, and today we explored the Charleston Food Forest and its plants. (See Part 2 Right Back, Part 3: Left Back, Part 4 Left Front, and What I'm Growing.) It's a skinny rectangle, and not all that big. If you cut it in half and lined the halves up as a square, then it would fit in a typical town yard around here. It has a LOT of plants in it, thoughtfully chosen and arranged. I wouldn't call it a food forest myself, because while it has multiple layers, it is really short. I doubt anything is more than about 10-12 feet tall. That's sensible in a garden this small. But when I think of a forest, I'm thinking one that at least has a canopy layer. Mine has emergents, the main canopy, the subcanopy, and then all the shorter stuff as shown here (understory trees, shrubs, herbs, groundcovers, roots, fungi, vines, etc.). So I'd probably call this one a permaculture garden. (See the layers of a food forest and permaculture design principles.) I didn't spot actual guilds, but everything is arranged in logical order. Someone has done an amazing job setting this up in the space available.
The really subversive thing: it's not a garden to be looked at, it's a garden to be used, for free, by everyone. A little slice of Terramagne, or Turtle-Island-That-Was, especially since it's located right next to a government building with several human service offices. So I helped myself to some seeds. Sure, I might come back later for things to eat. But what I am really interested in is gathering things from here that I can grow at home.
I could only think of two things I'd really add to make this even better:
1) A Little Free Seed / Plant Library so folks could swap things.
2) A community bulletin board, chiefly for people to post their Have / Want lists for trading, but could also be used to announce things like plant swaps or sales, garden open houses, etc. There is an Events section on the back side of the welcome sign, but it's under glass.
The entrance to the Charleston Food Forest has a big sign.
This is the view looking to the right along the front of the food forest. Best I can tell, the front faces roughly south and the back north, making this east-ish. You can see how short the garden is in comparison to the yard trees in the background, likely some combination of hackberry, black walnut, maple, and mulberry. The wooden arches of the arbor hold hardy kiwi vines. Very short yellow marigolds line part of the front edge.
This is the view looking left (west-ish) along the front of the food forest. Some evergreens are visible along with more deciduous trees.
This sign declares the garden to be pollinator-friendly without using weed killers. Though to be genuinely safe for pollinators, you also have to avoid using insecticides and must take care to buy plants (or preferably seeds) that have not been treated. I don't broadcast anything in my yard, but I do spot-treat noxious weeds (e.g. poison ivy) and obtrusive insects (e.g. wasps nesting on the house).
Here is a medium view of the welcome sign. It is a very well-build structure with two sides under a little roof. On the left is a box for free produce bags (currently empty). On the right is a box full of free flyers about the food forest.
Here is a closer view of the top half of the welcome sign. See how subversive this is? It boldly proclaims that it's free and invites people to come in and do stuff. Imagine if every town had a permaculture garden -- or several -- where people could just come get fresh, whole foods to eat. :D Plus if you don't have a yard, you can putter around in this one. Same if you can't commit to the kind of community garden that basically just rents you a bed. Come here on a good day, pull a few weeds (that are inedible and otherwise useless, because I suspect some folks are picking the dandelions) and pick whatever's ripe.
This is a closeup of the food forest map on the welcome sign. If you copy the link and expand the picture, you can just barely read the labels of the plants on there.
This is a closeup of the lower half of the welcome sign, which defines the food forest and describes its benefits. There is also a picture showing several layers of plants.
This hazelnut bush still has mostly green leaves. Mine is mostly bare by now.
Crimson clover is blooming way out of season. Mine blooms in summer -- it's part of my favorite Monarch Butterfly Wildflower Seed Mix. The flowers look like tiny flames rising up from the green leaves! Like other clovers, it fixes nitrogen. I'm not fussed about wedging a nitro plant into every mini-guild because my yard has several types of clover all over it that I assume gets the job done.
Wild indigo, also called false indigo, comes in various colors including blue and yellow. It is among the rare nitrogen-fixing plants and thus popular in permaculture guilds. I have a few of these sprouted that I need to get planted.
This nectarine tree is mostly bare.
Inside the cage is an Asian persimmon tree. Somewhere in the streetside yard I've got at least one American persimmon.
This bush is scarlet goumi.
Giant marigolds grow in several places. By giant I mean they averaged between knee and hip height, while the tallest nearly reached my tits. I gleefully picked seedheads to add to my Shithouse Marigolds. The ones along the front of the food forest are the more typical ankle size.
Purple echinacea is still blooming by the path. It typically blooms in mid-to-late summer, sometimes into early fall.
The cage holds a Nanking cherry bush.
This sign marks the kiwi patch. Kiwi berries, aka hardy kiwis, have smooth green skin and are about thumbtip size.
The kiwi vines grow up and over a wooden arbor with two arches connected by a flat stretch overhead. They get quite heavy, so they need a strong support. Also you need male and female vines to get fruit.
Chives are blooming late. Look for the pink pompom. Both flowers and leaves are edible with an oniony flavor.
Asparagus grows behind the metal fence. It's among the most popular perennial vegetables today. Some of it has little red berries on it. Hmm, I should pick some of those if I go back, these look like vigorous plants.
Calendula flowers are blooming late in several places. The orange to yellow flowers have multiple uses.
This sign marks the grape vines.
The grape vines are trained up a set of posts and wires that make sort of a fence.
The raspberry patch seems to include at least red and yellow ones. A few of the yellows were actually still going -- I got to taste one. :D The same berry patch has blackberries at the far end, which is not a great idea because they'll crowd each other.
Black-eyed Susans are blooming late.
This sign marks a plum tree.
The plum tree still has most of its leaves, even still green. Almost everything else is either brown or has dropped theirs, but this garden is still going.
Good King Henry is a classic old-garden perennial vegetable, usable similar to spinach.
These zinnias are still blooming. I am seriously thinking about going back to the food forest later this month to harvest more things, and zinnia heads would be on that list, since I'm saving seed from mine this year. I don't know if they'll grow -- seed saving is a bit hit or miss for me -- but I think it's worth a try. I like the huge, old-garden zinnias with flat or pompom heads. They seem to attract the most pollinators. I've had the best luck with the ones in the Monarch Butterfly Wildflower Seed Mix, which grow almost as tall as I am.
The really subversive thing: it's not a garden to be looked at, it's a garden to be used, for free, by everyone. A little slice of Terramagne, or Turtle-Island-That-Was, especially since it's located right next to a government building with several human service offices. So I helped myself to some seeds. Sure, I might come back later for things to eat. But what I am really interested in is gathering things from here that I can grow at home.
I could only think of two things I'd really add to make this even better:
1) A Little Free Seed / Plant Library so folks could swap things.
2) A community bulletin board, chiefly for people to post their Have / Want lists for trading, but could also be used to announce things like plant swaps or sales, garden open houses, etc. There is an Events section on the back side of the welcome sign, but it's under glass.
The entrance to the Charleston Food Forest has a big sign.
This is the view looking to the right along the front of the food forest. Best I can tell, the front faces roughly south and the back north, making this east-ish. You can see how short the garden is in comparison to the yard trees in the background, likely some combination of hackberry, black walnut, maple, and mulberry. The wooden arches of the arbor hold hardy kiwi vines. Very short yellow marigolds line part of the front edge.
This is the view looking left (west-ish) along the front of the food forest. Some evergreens are visible along with more deciduous trees.
This sign declares the garden to be pollinator-friendly without using weed killers. Though to be genuinely safe for pollinators, you also have to avoid using insecticides and must take care to buy plants (or preferably seeds) that have not been treated. I don't broadcast anything in my yard, but I do spot-treat noxious weeds (e.g. poison ivy) and obtrusive insects (e.g. wasps nesting on the house).
Here is a medium view of the welcome sign. It is a very well-build structure with two sides under a little roof. On the left is a box for free produce bags (currently empty). On the right is a box full of free flyers about the food forest.
Here is a closer view of the top half of the welcome sign. See how subversive this is? It boldly proclaims that it's free and invites people to come in and do stuff. Imagine if every town had a permaculture garden -- or several -- where people could just come get fresh, whole foods to eat. :D Plus if you don't have a yard, you can putter around in this one. Same if you can't commit to the kind of community garden that basically just rents you a bed. Come here on a good day, pull a few weeds (that are inedible and otherwise useless, because I suspect some folks are picking the dandelions) and pick whatever's ripe.
This is a closeup of the food forest map on the welcome sign. If you copy the link and expand the picture, you can just barely read the labels of the plants on there.
This is a closeup of the lower half of the welcome sign, which defines the food forest and describes its benefits. There is also a picture showing several layers of plants.
This hazelnut bush still has mostly green leaves. Mine is mostly bare by now.
Crimson clover is blooming way out of season. Mine blooms in summer -- it's part of my favorite Monarch Butterfly Wildflower Seed Mix. The flowers look like tiny flames rising up from the green leaves! Like other clovers, it fixes nitrogen. I'm not fussed about wedging a nitro plant into every mini-guild because my yard has several types of clover all over it that I assume gets the job done.
Wild indigo, also called false indigo, comes in various colors including blue and yellow. It is among the rare nitrogen-fixing plants and thus popular in permaculture guilds. I have a few of these sprouted that I need to get planted.
This nectarine tree is mostly bare.
Inside the cage is an Asian persimmon tree. Somewhere in the streetside yard I've got at least one American persimmon.
This bush is scarlet goumi.
Giant marigolds grow in several places. By giant I mean they averaged between knee and hip height, while the tallest nearly reached my tits. I gleefully picked seedheads to add to my Shithouse Marigolds. The ones along the front of the food forest are the more typical ankle size.
Purple echinacea is still blooming by the path. It typically blooms in mid-to-late summer, sometimes into early fall.
The cage holds a Nanking cherry bush.
This sign marks the kiwi patch. Kiwi berries, aka hardy kiwis, have smooth green skin and are about thumbtip size.
The kiwi vines grow up and over a wooden arbor with two arches connected by a flat stretch overhead. They get quite heavy, so they need a strong support. Also you need male and female vines to get fruit.
Chives are blooming late. Look for the pink pompom. Both flowers and leaves are edible with an oniony flavor.
Asparagus grows behind the metal fence. It's among the most popular perennial vegetables today. Some of it has little red berries on it. Hmm, I should pick some of those if I go back, these look like vigorous plants.
Calendula flowers are blooming late in several places. The orange to yellow flowers have multiple uses.
This sign marks the grape vines.
The grape vines are trained up a set of posts and wires that make sort of a fence.
The raspberry patch seems to include at least red and yellow ones. A few of the yellows were actually still going -- I got to taste one. :D The same berry patch has blackberries at the far end, which is not a great idea because they'll crowd each other.
Black-eyed Susans are blooming late.
This sign marks a plum tree.
The plum tree still has most of its leaves, even still green. Almost everything else is either brown or has dropped theirs, but this garden is still going.
Good King Henry is a classic old-garden perennial vegetable, usable similar to spinach.
These zinnias are still blooming. I am seriously thinking about going back to the food forest later this month to harvest more things, and zinnia heads would be on that list, since I'm saving seed from mine this year. I don't know if they'll grow -- seed saving is a bit hit or miss for me -- but I think it's worth a try. I like the huge, old-garden zinnias with flat or pompom heads. They seem to attract the most pollinators. I've had the best luck with the ones in the Monarch Butterfly Wildflower Seed Mix, which grow almost as tall as I am.
