The Triangle Forest Garden
Project Aims
It aims to be... A Community Engagement Environmental Project.
To... Increase biodiversity, and wildlife-encouraging habitat: specifically birds, insects and small mammals.
Using... Permaculture / Forest Garden principles.
Favouring... Productive species: nuts; fruit; flower nectar; leaf crop; visual benefit; managed coppice timber.
Resulting in... A beautiful amenity: a village focus, accessible, and less hardcore wilderness than the heath.
A Bit Of History
The triangle area was purchased by the Parish Council in 1982 for the princely sum of £300, prior to which it was in the ownership of the Sandford Estate. In the past it was, like much of the surrounding area, used as a source of raw materials and subsequently as a convenient place to dump materials!
The maintenance of the whole triangle area remains the responsibility of the Parish Council and since the original purchase, with much effort by various groups of parishioners and Parish Councillors, was cleared up and landscaped to create the great amenity that is the useable playing field that we have today.
Whilst the grassed playing field is cut by the Somerset West & Taunton Council staff & bracken on the wooded edge cleared each spring to expose the bluebells, the Northern acre of land has been largely left to nature as a 'wildlife area', with the inevitable brambles, dog-roses and ivy growth greedily taking as much sun light as makes it through the tree canopy.
The Trees
Some sizeable stumps can be found, and there are a few reasonably mature trees, mostly Oak and Ash, and indeed on the mid 1800 maps the area was known as “Three Ashes”. Mostly the tree canopy is made up of younger trees which may well have self seeded: mainly ash, willow, birch and blackthorn with a scattered number of other varieties. Some intentional individual plantings include the towering 'Wellingtonia' sequoia on the field.
The recent spread from Europe of ash die-back fungus has unfortunately reached our parish and last year the PC in cooperation with the local Tree Officer engaged some contractors to take down many affected ash trees,most notably several large specimens adjoining the playing field. The by-product of this is that there are a few areas of the wildlife area that are seeing much more sun-light than previously. The felling is not over, as several more ashes are showing the tell-tale signs, and so will quickly become unstable. It's not all bad news though, in fact it can be viewed as an opportunity!
Seeds Of An Idea
The power line that runs above the North boundary has lead to successive contractors clearing trees in a random fashion to maintain electrical safety and for access to their poles. The desire by the Parish Council to lay the Northern boundary hedge for ease of future maintenance was investigated and deemed impractical this season just gone (autumn 2020) due firstly to the need to clear out the jungle of brambles, and secondly to the lack of suitable healthy trees to lay. Several tiring sessions over the winter by David and Tim resulted in a 'clear page', and then a team effort planted ~200 saplings that David had sourced from the SW&T Council along with a good mix that Rob had donated as left-overs from a job he had done. During the clearance work the idea of increasing the diversity of plants in the 'wildlife area' had arisen with a view to attracting birds and insects. In discussion David had only given a positive response to the idea and so it was decided to put a clear proposal to the Parish Council for a Community Forest Garden Project, who also responded positively.
What Is A Forest Garden?
A Forest Garden is a designed agronomic system based on trees, shrubs and perennial plants. These are mixed in such a way as to mimic the structure of a natural forest – the most stable and sustainable type of ecosystem in this climate.
The primary aims of the system are:
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To be biologically sustainable, able to cope with disturbances such as Climate Change
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To be productive, yielding a varied harvest
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To require low maintenance
If you are interested to read further, check out Martin Crawford's excellent website and book: www.agroforestry.co.uk
Tim Dyer
Image Credit: Graham Burnett, Spiralseed Permaculture
The Journey Ahead
The initial work will clear the bramble and ivy carpet that has established itself and then introduce as many beneficial species as we can. Then a design challenge will use Forest Garden Principles as guidance, and harvest the best ideas from the community, and hopefully also the village school.
It is envisaged that a rating system will be used to choose whether a particular plant is appropriate to adopt, using favourable features such as benefits to birds, insects, humans and non-favourable features such as shade intolerance and predisposition to spreading!
The ongoing selective clearance of diseased and unstable trees will allow a structured replacement by a good selection of other varieties.
Informal 'baseline' surveys of both Flora and Fauna have been started, which everyone is welcome to join in with, and we hope to see the numbers and types of Fauna increase as the project develops.
Future plans will include clearing the affected ash from, and then laying the North hedge once the saplings have grown sufficiently. Saplings will be introduced to the South-Eastern boundary line with a view to laying some sections of this some years from now.
The area should not only become a great educational space, but somewhere for peaceful contemplation, and a bountiful oasis for birds and insects.
Get Involved
Although primarily a Parish Community project, all enthusiastic people are welcome to join in. Many skills can be made use of to cover the variety of tasks that will arise during the journey, and those with a strong arm and thick gloves are especially welcome for the initial phases!
Email your interest to lb_triangle@outlook.com and we'll put you on our contact list.
Currently there is just a vision - no formal group structure or anything else but these will develop in due course.