Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

tHe age of tHe eDible 125
A caveat: ecologists and earth
restoration specialists have a legitimate
concern that exotics i.e. nonnative
plants outcompete natives.
One salutary example is Japanese
Knotweed. This plant, introduced as
a garden ornamental exotic (though
it an edible) but has escaped the garden
and now colonises in the wild. It
is almost impossible to eradicate and
grows through tarmac and concrete.
Another example is European blackberry
released into the fragile ecologies
of Australia where it grows in
large impenetrable thickets, outcompeting
the native species. When experimenting,
we need to be sensitive
to where we release untested plants
and encourage a resurgence in growing
ancient native edibles. Because
“In nature there is no containment”,
we must experiment with caution,
especially in fragile ecologies.
It is in my garden I experiment
with informed caution. I do not
plant species that are invasive yet I
grow numerous unusual edibles and
I encourage others to expand their
repertoires. My favourite story is of
a rare variety of apple, a ‘Bardsey Island’, planted in the forest garden. How
I got hold of this unusual tree indicates the hidden potential of undiscovered
plants that are waiting to be found… For centuries pilgrims (Celts and later
Christians), followed the setting sun to visit and often die on the remote
island of Bardsey at the end of the Lleyn Peninsula, Wales. Indeed three
trips to Bardsey were considered the equivalent of a pilgrimage to Rome.
“These days most pilgrims to Bardsey are tourists; popping over for a
quick picnic and to take photos of the ruined medieval abbey, the seals and
mainly, of course, themselves,” wrote Ian Sturrock, a nurseryman who was
to rejuvenate this rare variety. “Our feathered friends also visit the island
and with the birds come the ‘twitchers’ and Bardsey has the oldest bird
observatory in the UK.”
Ian tells of how his friend Andy Clarke, a birdwatcher, found an old, old
tree growing up the side of one of the island’s houses. Both the fruit and the
tree were free from disease. A nibble revealed a delicious crisp apple with a
lemony flavour. To cut a long story short, Andy brought back two apples for
Ian, a nurseryman based in Bangor, who couldn’t identify the tree from his
Wineberry making
the most of the
vertical wall space
and underplanted
with Chinese greens.