A video where I visit a very special place where Joshua Sparkes and his team are combing natural farming and syntropic farming styles to create one of the most fascinating edible gardens in the northen hemisphere. I really hope you enjoy this! Location, North Devon, UK, Zone 8.
Watch my interview with Joshua: https://youtu.be/KR6rCm8PdXU?si=piou0lHXlZqzpEwx
Follow Joshua on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshua_sparkes
The Woolsery Collective: https://woolsery.com/thecollective/birch-farm/
#naturalfarming #syntropic
41 Comments
Polyculture is great! I do my best to stay as close as possible to the way of growing Joshua shows here … but inside the boundaries (rules, both written and unwritten) of the allotment plot
Are there any strawberries left to harvest if there is no netting against birds?
It looks and sounds very good. Can you tell me how to convert a grass field that has been sheep grazing to this kind of system?
❤
I can't grow in the ground so I planted up my metal planters filling them with logs and wood, wood chip and leaves before putting on the compost. Apart from being cheaper they have worked very well and the plants have thrived. At the moment the older ones have a leaf mulch. I don't waste anything. I'd love to visit this garden.
I've been trying this on my 3/8ths acres in Indiana in the US. It works.
I love the idea of permaculture. I currently garden traditionally by growing certain crops in their own beds, but 'm seriously going to try more of this inter planting in the future.
Love it!
The hard part is finding edible perennials you can grow, and then finding the plants themselves to get started.
What time of the year was this video filmed? I am curious as I as well are in Zone 8.
Great job Joshua! I'm doing something similar on an urban lot in a large US city. Amazing reduction in pest pressure when I grew to the point of having 20 different cultivars flowering at the same time.
Very interesting, especially the pest control aspects. Such dense planting must need quite a bit of irrigation. If I remember correctly Huw’s Allotmemt yield was 8kg /m2/year (very similar to another well know gardener). I’d expect a trade off in yield for the other benefits of this system, although costs per kg may be the same or better as not buying in materials or fertility. Is there any data on yield per m2 per year?
Looks beautiful!
Absolutely amazing Josh. Just great !!
I thought Sonchus oleraceus was pronounced “sow” as in a female pig, and not “sow” as to sow seed…. Sow thistle as far as I understood it was named such because pigs love to eat it….
Nice video, the biodiversity is very encouraging. Thanks
some truly different thinking…thank-you!
Any American PawPaw or keeping it all uk native…?…
No plastic! No weed barrier, no ground cloth, none of that junk. Very good. This style of gardening is way too wild for my taste though. The only weed I welcome is dandelion. And the ‘diversity’ has all already assimilated to the location. Diversity that belongs. Native diversity is already amazing. Good luck planting cactus, sugar cane, bananas, or coffee, lol.
Yes!! I've been trying to visualize his garden ever since you did that interview. Thank you!!
I think the reason people are hesitant to be on board with this kind of gardening is
1. The initial setup being hard work and/or expensive.
2. The work to maintain it, while easy, seems confusing to new people who don't know how easy and productive gardening can be.
3. Lack of understanding when it comes to tools. A lot of people think that you have to send someone out to hand-pick each weed in a garden like that and people also think that an expensive motorized tiller is a requirement.
Last year, I just threw some potatoes down in the back yard with a shovel and a hoe. I'm renting, so I can't be planting more fun stuff.
IMO, the best and most fun tool to use in a garden like this is a scythe.
A sweep from a scythe is probably the best way to chop and drop. And yes, you can get precise cuts with a scythe if you keep it sharp. They aren't hard to use and if you damage the blade, you can usually fix it.
I recommend a European scythe slightly less sharp than you would have it for grass. (To prevent cracking and bending of the blade.)
Avoid the heavier American scythes, unless you have a lot of thick brambles and saplings to cut.
love the video. the sound is very low though
А як уберегти все від зворотніх весняних заморозків?
Absolutely fabulous! That's what a yard and garden should be. So much food and much less work weeding. Thanks so much for sharing this!
This is so very inspiring! The more I have learned about how plants work together, the more I want my gardening to be like this.
I am loving these gardens you are visiting! The food forrest system is the way to go for the future. Keep up the. good work. My thanks . Hello from Kansas USA.
My mind is blown
Another great video thanks. Great to have the opportunity to see these gardens (and gardeners) and learn from them. Some great ideas!
I love it, so are the herbs/annuals etc chopped and dropped completely every year, or is it just selective throughout the year, depending on what’s dominating etc?
But it will be hard to find food from the jungle
This is crazy impressive. I'm interested to know more about how they harvest, and what kind of labor costs there are.
The more I learn, the more Syntropic seems the way forward. It has all the best attributes of David the Good's "Grocery Row Garden", Permaculture, and Regenerative Agriculture, especially if deployed with alley grazing silvopasture. 💯
If we all farmed like this we would have everything we need. A system that warrants research by our universities.
you need a better microphone as the sound was very low
Great video, Will not be aloud to to this on my allotment, 🥴
truly lovely and inspring stuff!
Enjoyed watching this video tremendously. The gentleman did more than say what he's doing, he explained the why's and how's. Thank you for sharing this. From north central Wisconsin, 90 minute drive south of Lake Superior, USA.
The most beautiful farm you've shown i think. Loved the long podcast too. Still your best one, from a very good selection. I'd love it if Joshua had time to write a book!
I love all the different gardens and gardeners featured on your channel. It’s such a good reminder that there is not one right way of gardening and it inspires me to garden more creatively!
Fabulous! Love it!!