We did it, a forest garden is in the ground, growing for future generations! It was a great event, lots of laughter and time to just be together. When we got down to the work of planting though it went so smoothly and easily it was amazing. It's stage one of the planting and mostly there are big rainforest trees in place, e.g. figs, lilly pillys etc with space for mid and lower story plantings later. We planted in a spiral and on the outside of this put in a circle of common acacia as a protective ring. They will help with reducing frost damage in winter and help produce a micro climate of shade and moisture in summer. We planted a used plastic 2 litre bottle beside each tree so when they need watering, the water goes directly to the roots and isn't lost to surface evaporation. Here's a photo of the team at the end of the planting.