Category Archives: Borderland Garden

About my garden high up on the Welsh – English border

sensitive co-creativity

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Anni Kelsey

Nature invigorates, sustains, rejuvenates the forest garden, the forest gardener is there to see and to experience and then to react in as sensitive a way as they can.  My partner and I don’t (unfortunately) live here in Wales all … Continue reading →

Posted in Borderland Garden, Doing the minimum, ecosystem, forest garden development, Forest Gardening, Polyculture learning, Principles of forest gardening, Relationship with nature, Waiting, Watching | Tagged | 3 Comments

in praise of jostaberries

Posted on April 10, 2021 by Anni Kelsey

Sitting outside yesterday in the cool and damp of an early April afternoon I watched a procession of bumble bees visiting the first flowers on the jostaberry bushes. As well as being an early food store for the queen bumble … Continue reading →

Posted in Borderland Garden, Fruit | Tagged | 1 Comment

polyfloral polycultures

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

For the past year I have been taking photos of every flower that comes out in the garden, in more or less the order that they appear and posting them each month on my other blog – the garden of … Continue reading →

Posted in Borderland Garden, ecosystem, Forest Gardening, the garden of equal delights | Leave a comment

firmly rooted in mother earth

Posted on August 31, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

When I planted my fruit trees I did not pay heed to the conventional gardening advice.  I did not use any compost in the planting holes, I did not stake them or use tree guards.  I left these activities un-done … Continue reading →

Posted in a forest garden is gardened differently, Borderland Garden, forest garden development, Forest Gardening, Fruit trees, Principles of forest gardening | 3 Comments

15 August 2020 – a brief snapshot

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

I took the pictures below yesterday in response to a Facebook request by someone who wanted examples to show other people.  They show one part of the garden just as it was and these plants are visible (or invisible) within … Continue reading →

Posted in Borderland Garden, ecosystem, forest garden development, Forest Gardening, Fruit, Polycultures, Principles of forest gardening, the garden of equal delights | 1 Comment

hope, expectation, trust

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

We plant and sow our forest gardens in hope – hope of achieving our various goals, be they biodiversity, abundance, beauty and more.  Nevertheless experience guides our expectations and we understand the likelihood of all manner variability and vulnerability.  And yet, … Continue reading →

Posted in a different gardener, Borderland Garden, forest garden development, Forest Gardening, Principles of forest gardening, Relationship with nature, the garden of equal delights | Leave a comment

foundations for fruitfulness

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

Over the last two weeks or  so we have had persistent, relentless rain or battering winds or, at times, both!  However one evening recently there was a short, warm, sunny interlude and I went out to spend time in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Borderland Garden, forest garden development, Forest Gardening, Fruit, Fruit trees, Principles of forest gardening, Relationship with nature, the garden of equal delights | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

today is publication day!

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

It is nearly four years from when I first conceived of the possibility of unearthing some principles underlying forest gardening; there have been many hours, days, weeks, months of writing, re-writing, re-re-writing and editing, who knows how much watching and … Continue reading →

Posted in a different garden, a different gardener, a forest garden is gardened differently, Borderland Garden, Principles of forest gardening, Relationship with nature, the garden of equal delights | 4 Comments

we too are seeds

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

A seed is a latent speck of life. As it germinates and begins the metamorphosis to becoming a plant it gives up its solitary identity – cracking open is a precursor to profound change as it starts to interact with … Continue reading →

Posted in a different gardener, Borderland Garden, Forest Gardening, Principles of forest gardening, Relationship with nature, Seeds and seed saving, the garden of equal delights | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Taunton Deane kale in flower

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Anni Kelsey

This has never happened before – my Taunton Deane kale is just coming into flower.  I have had the plant for years and it has always been just leaves and I have propagated it with cuttings.  It’s a lovely plant … Continue reading →

Posted in Borderland Garden, perennial greens, Perennial Vegetables | Tagged | 2 Comments