Forest gardening

Forest gardening is a low maintenance sustainable plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Making use of companion planting, these can be intermixed to grow in a succession of layers, to build a woodland habitat.

Forest gardening is a prehistoric method of securing food in tropical areas. In the 1980s, Robert Hart coined the term "forest gardening" after adapting the principles and applying them to temperate climates.

History

Forest gardens are probably the world's oldest form of land use and most resilient agroecosystem. They originated in prehistoric times along jungle-clad river banks and in the wet foothills of monsoon regions. In the gradual process of families improving their immediate environment, useful tree and vine species were identified, protected and improved whilst undesirable species were eliminated. Eventually superior foreign species were selected and incorporated into the gardens.

Garden design

Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional garden designers have some training in horticulture and the principles of design, and some are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license. Amateur gardeners may also attain a high level of experience from extensive hours working in their own gardens, through casual study, serious study in Master Gardener Programs, or by joining gardening clubs.

Elements of garden design

Whether a garden is designed by a professional or an amateur, certain principles form the basis of effective garden design, resulting in the creation of gardens to meet the needs, goals and desires of the users or owners of the gardens.

Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking; as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choice of plants in terms of speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics.

Better Homes and Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens may refer to:

Homes & Gardens

Homes & Gardens is a monthly interior design and garden design magazine published by IPC Media. The magazine is based in London and has been in circulation since 1919.

History and profile

The magazine was launched in 1919. The magazine is based in London and is published on a monthly basis. It has been edited by Deborah Barker since 2004.

A regular feature in the magazine in the past has been pictorial visits to the homes of prominent public figures. A controversial issue from November 1938 featured an article signed by Ignatius Phayre, detailing a visit to the mountain home of Adolf Hitler at Berghof. The photographs included in the article were taken by Hitler's chief propaganda photographer Heinrich Hoffmann. The rediscovery of this issue of the magazine by Simon Waldman, journalist on The Guardian newspaper in 2003 led to threats of legal action against Waldman from the then publisher of Homes and Gardens, IPC Magazines.

For the second half of 2013 Homes and Gardens had a circulation of 122,230 copies.

Better Homes

Better Homes is a lifestyle game show that was broadcast on ITV from 4 January 1999 to 1 July 2003 and was presented by Carol Vorderman.

Format

Two houses get done up for television and the one that puts on the most value after the renovation wins the owners an additional £5,000 (or, in the latest series, a family holiday). So that's a done up house, a more expensive house and £5,000.

Transmissions

Better Homes

Specials

Better Gardens

Ratings

Episode Viewing figures from BARB.

Series 1

Series 2

Better Gardens

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

Series 6

References

External links