Soil turned over by wild boars at the foot of a spared plant ©AFAF
Herault department of France, December 2022
Since studying agronomy and forestry, Eudeline, a young market gardener, has embarked on a pioneering project in France. The plan is to plant a wide variety of trees on a small plot of sloping land. The aim is to plant 1,480 trees of 63 different species on 3.4 hectares. With the help of relatives and volunteers, Eudeline has already completed three planting phases. Over 1,480 trees, shrubs, bushes, and lianas have been planted over the course of the project.
The planting sites faced many challenges. Problems obtaining and transporting plants and equipment, the sloping terrain, damage caused by game animals, dense and thorny vegetation in places, trouble using machines on site for tilling, no irrigation, health issues, the weather…
Even though the young trees are adapted to the soil and weather conditions, during the extremely dry months after the 2019 planting phase, some died from a lack of water; because of the uneven terrain, suppling large quantities of water mechanically is impossible. All these trees were replaced during the winter of 2021/2022 and the planting dates brought forward to give them the best possible chances of recovery.
Photo of a ransacked tree guard and abused stakes ©AFAF
During the last two plantation surveys, on some plots the technicians noted significant damage from wild boar and deer. This meant some of the partially dug-up, young trees had to be replanted. In total, over 500 young trees have been destroyed by game animals.
The damage is twofold: when the wild boar destroys the protectors and turn over the soil, they sometimes leave the young trees intact; once exposed on the ground, they are then stripped of their bark and eaten by deer. This massive issue with wild boar is down to the location of the garden forest. It lies in a valley between two municipalities that have been recently feeding wild boar. A situation that creates much tension.
A young Japanese medlar tree well protected by blackthorn ©AFAF
Nevertheless, Eudeline is determined to keep going. She is keen to replace the dead trees and continue establishing the forest garden. She plans to do this by adopting a different approach: sowing and grafting some of the young trees, providing protection by surrounding them with brambles, watering them in two phases to avoid wetting the surface of the soil and planting them inside blackthorn hedges. Eudeline will be replanting this winter 2022/2023.
Despite her determination and hard work, it has proved nearly impossible to reach the target number of perennial trees – 1,480 – initially planned for the project. A Tree for You and its partner AFAF (French Agroforestry Association) have decided to support the young market gardener in her activities to the end, to commend her determination and courage. During a final visit in the spring of 2023, we will check the final survival rate of the trees planted and, together with Eudeline, make an assessment of the project as a whole.
