During a powerful wind storm earlier in the year one of my oldest sallow / selje trees on the edge of the wild part of the garden was wind thrown and fell over the part of my garden most resembling a forest garden where my impressive 20-year old udo (Aralia cordata) is located. Luckily, it did no damage to my apple trees and the trunk is hanging horizontally over this area with part of the root still attached and what was the top of the tree now in full flower right next to the pathway down the garden. Salix caprea is dioecious with male and female flowers on separate trees. This one is female. I have over the years become more and more aware of the incredible importance of Salix caprea in providing food in early spring to a myriad of insects – wild bees, bumble bees, moths etc., all programmed to emerge at this time. In addition, it is host in Norway to 260 moth and butterfly species at the larval stage! This then leads to this tree being an important source of food to a range of birds and some like the chiffchaff (gransanger) are also programmed to return at sallow flowering time. During visits to my mum in Southern England in March / early April I visit other fallen sallows to look for interesting insects and I’ve noticed that they can continue flowering for several years after falling and resprout from the part of the root in the soil. So, although I was initially saddened bye the loss, this is just one of several large sallow trees in this part of the garden and now I have the top of a sallow at eye level right next to a path in the garden and can now study visiting insects closely. Just now, I saw an early bumblebee / markhumle (Bombus pratorum) feeding on the catkins. It’s also a perfect place to hang my moth trap (picture)! Hence “A blessing in disguise” (Norwegian: hell i uhell). See also https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=32035
A small tortoiseshell (neslesommerfugl) feeding on male catkins during a visit to my son and family on Nesodden last week)
The 5th Permaveggies / Forest Gardening course I’ve held in Malvik took place on Sunday 21st and Monday 22nd May with guest Jen McConachie who gave her forest gardening course at Presthus Farm on the Monday evening. On the Sunday we met at my garden (The Edible Garden) for a garden tour and lunch from the garden with focus this year on growing food while maintaining a high biodiversity. On Monday we visited The Væres Venner Community garden to see the World Garden and also the large collection of edible trees and bushes that have been planted there, followed by a visit to the Onion Garden at the Ringve Botanical Garden in Trondheim. Previous Permaveggies weekends were held in 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2019 whilst the 2020-weekend had to be cancelled because of Covid. More information on previous courses can be found here: Previous Permaveggies Courses. I didn’t take many pictures this year, so thanks to Meg Anderson, Jen McConachie and Mark Tacker who took the pictures below. Malvik:
With Jen McConachie
Talkijg about Hosta
Talking Hablitzia
The Hablitzia / Heracleum community that has evolved over the years – the Heracleum sowed itself here and the Hablitzia now uses it as a support
Talking about udo (Aralia cordata)
Lunch with many perennial vegetables
Meg tells us about lunch
In the Onion Garden Chicago at the Ringve Botanical Garden:
After Jen’s forest garden course, the participants split into groups to design a forest garden in a field next to the farm which it is planned to be developed as a forest garden (get in touch if you are interested!). Here is one of the groups presenting their plans:
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
