<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Hi,<br><br></div>I am an absolute beginner with OpenStreetMap, and have some experience as a Permaculture Designer, at present with a particular interest in co-creating community based "Forest Gardens" - lots of info on forest gardens on the net. One of the best in Europe has been growing for the last 40 years at Mouscron, in the south of Belgium.<br><br></div><div>You can see that forest gardens are multi-level, dynamic, and information might include "plant needs, uses and useful properties".<br><br></div><div>MULTI-LANGUAGE: One thing about Belgium, and especially Brussels, is that there are 3 official languages, French, Dutch, German, a well known language - English, THEN all the different languages preferred by the people who have come to live here, including Italian, Arab, Turkish, lots of Eastern European, including Russian, etc, etc.<br><br></div><div>I am English speaking, with basic French, but I want all these different language speakers to "feel at home".<br><br></div><div>ANY THOUGHTS on this might well be very useful - ESPECIALLY as I hoping to create a "turn-key solution" so anyone can use the "How to co-create forest gardens for themselves".<br><br></div><div>How to record progress over time, with plant growth, and new ideas would be useful too.<br><br></div><div>As I said, I am an absolute beginner with OpenStreetMap - but better to ask before making mistakes!<br><br></div><div>Thanks,<br><br></div><div>Nigel<br></div><div><br><font size="2"><b><span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">Forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">Gardens</span></b> - there is an excellent example of a <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">Forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">Garden</span> in Belgium at:<br><a href="https://saint-marthien.net/2013/09/12/fabuleux-jardin-urbain-1800-m2-en-permaculture-a-mouscron-en-belgique/" target="_blank">https://saint-marthien.net/201<wbr>3/09/12/fabuleux-jardin-urbain<wbr>-1800-m2-en-permaculture-a-mou<wbr>scron-en-belgique/</a><br><br>AND
- they have also created a human system of cooperators, for skills
exchange, seed exchange, and to ensure the future continuation of their
systems:<br><a href="http://fraternitesouvrieres.over-blog.com/" target="_blank">http://fraternitesouvrieres.ov<wbr>er-blog.com/</a><br><br></font><font size="2"><b>Architectural Basics of <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">Forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">Gardens</span>:</b><br>According to Robert Hart, a <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">garden</span> consists of 7 distinct layers.<br>1 - Tall, light demanding trees<br>2 - Short, shade tolerant trees<br>3 - Shrub layer<br>4 - Herbaceous layer<br>5 - Plants that spread horizontally<br>6 - Rhyzosphere - root plants<br>7 - Vertical layer - climbing plants<br>+ 1 - Mycorrhiza (mushrooms under the soil)<br><br>And
of course, there is the animal life - birds and bees etc in the air,
worms and insects, bacteria and fungi, in the soil, and those insects that like to run up and
down plants, such as ants.<br><br>And of course - there is TIME - over the years the form of a <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">garden</span> will change as trees grow and reach maturity.<br><br>A
natural output of good <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">gardening</span> is that the soil becomes more
rich, and more healthy, and able to hold water and air better.<br><br><b>THEIR SIZE:<br></b>The <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">garden</span> of Graham Bell, in Scotland is 800 meters square. The one at Mouscron is 1800 meters square.<br><br>I
am currently exploring, "what is the smallest effective <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">forest</span> <span class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-il">garden</span>?"
- both as a square or round, or more as a relatively thin, but more or
less long form.<br><b><br></b></font></div>THERE IS MORE INFORMATION ON SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS, if anyone wants that.<br><br><br><div><span id="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-m_2301111124758217962gmail-m_1176033687986470235gmail-m_8033896420470928821gmail-m_3250087322260790400gmail-result_box" class="gmail-m_-758559272256312637gmail-m_-7521033526828440943gmail-m_-354365825281544328gmail-m_-2885625629539629803gmail-m_-3793268205321692911gmail-m_2301111124758217962gmail-m_1176033687986470235gmail-m_8033896420470928821gmail-m_3250087322260790400gmail-" lang="fr"><span title="A natural output of good forest gardening is that the soil becomes more rich, and more healthy, and able to hold water and air better."></span></span></div></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br>
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