Editing Robert Hart (horticulturist) (section)

==Forest garden project==

[[Image:Forestgarden2.jpg|thumb|Robert Hart's forest garden in Shropshire, England]]
Noting the maxim of [[Hippocrates]] to "make food your medicine and medicine your food", Hart adopted a [[veganism|vegan]], 90% [[raw veganism|raw food diet]]. The three main products from a forest garden are fruit, nuts and [[Leaf vegetable|green leafy vegetables]].<ref>{{cite book|title=How to Make a Forest Garden|author=Patrick Whitefield|year=2002|page=5|publisher=Permanent Publications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3rd3e69BnC8C|isbn=9781856230087}}</ref> Hart's forest garden at Wenlock Edge was a [[Vegan organic gardening|vegan organic]] food production system.

He also began to examine the interactions and relationships that take place between plants in natural systems, particularly in [[woodland]], the climax [[ecosystem]] of a cool temperate region such as the [[British Isles]]. This led him to evolve the [[agroforestry]] concept of the "Forest Garden": Based on the observation that the natural forest can be divided into distinct layers or 'storeys', he developed an existing small orchard of apples and pears into an edible landscape consisting of seven dimensions;

#A '[[canopy (trees)|canopy]]' layer consisting of the original mature fruit trees.
#A '[[low-tree layer]]' of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root stocks.
#A '[[shrub layer]]' of fruit bushes such as currants and berries.
#A '[[herbaceous layer]]' of perennial vegetables and herbs.
#A '[[ground cover]]' layer of edible plants that spread horizontally.
#A '[[rhizosphere]]' or 'underground' dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers.
#A vertical 'layer' of vines and climbers.

Hart had a vision for the spread of the forest garden throughout even the most heavily built up areas, as he explains:

{{quote|Obviously, few of us are in a position to restore the forests…But tens of millions of us have gardens, or access to open spaces such as industrial wastelands, where trees can be planted…and if full advantage can be taken of the potentialities that are available even in heavily built up areas, new 'city forests' can arise.}}