Forest Garden & Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture
Forest Garden
Purpose
To reclaim a one-acre hillside forest plot, adjacent to the gardens and greenhouses and accessible from the new Forest Evolution Trail. Encourage the creation of landscapes, gardens and backyards that attract wildlife and pollinators while reducing pollutants and contributing to the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay. Gardeners can create a vibrant, Eco-friendly landscape with native plants!
Background
This one-acre plot was an active garden until the 1920s when it was abandoned and reclaimed by other vegetation, plagued by invasive species, and severe climate change storms. This area will be a prominent feature for the Forest Evolution Trail.
Results
The Forest Garden serves as an educational tool and a heritage tourism attraction for visitors & users of the Great Allegheny Passage while yielding much-needed edible and non-edible farm goods, showing best practices in sustainable agriculture and forestry under the forest canopy.
Features
- Recreational trail
- Play space
- Native meadow
- Medicinal plants
- Hugelkultur plots
- Fruit trees & shrubs